tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20271097.post967452823110216908..comments2023-05-11T05:33:36.857-04:00Comments on Persecuted Church Weblog: What Do We Do With the Past?Greg Musselmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15224965213121759243noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20271097.post-20857189899093161422007-03-03T11:37:00.000-05:002007-03-03T11:37:00.000-05:00Thank you for your very thoughtful response. lawre...Thank you for your very thoughtful response. lawrence. I agree with you entirely. Your comment that every book "is a child of its time" is significant and well worth remembering. I am presently looking through a recent book on Catholic martyrs and am finding it a very gracious response to the persecution that Catholics suffered under Henry VIII. This graciousness is definitely a result of the authors' modern sensitivitiy to the fact of Cathlic persecution just prior to that and an understanding that this was a historical mistakeGlenn Pennerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13775729921874246091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20271097.post-84722196359669368352007-03-03T03:07:00.000-05:002007-03-03T03:07:00.000-05:00The past is a record of what we humans are capable...The past is a record of what we humans are capable of doing - good or bad. Remembering our religious past is not digging up dirt - rather it is an act of homage to those who bought for us, with their mistakes and their sacrifices, the freedoms that we now enjoy. We need to be able to remind ourselves of this as a means of both encouragement and discouragement in the choices we make (and especially to remember the concept that the road to hell is paved with good intentions). <BR/><BR/>Books like Foxe's Book of Martyrs and Martyrs Mirror allow Christians to contemplate the consequences of imposing and defying intolerance. I have read only Foxe's Martyrs and would agree that it is anti-Catholic. Other books will show other perspectives. Each is a child of its time and, as with many a contemporary account, it holds the heat and the passion of those who lived through the events. The question to be posed is - so what? The way in which the books are written is in itself an insight into how easy it is to become intolerant. In their content, and the manner of their writing, they become both encouragement and warnings from the past. <BR/><BR/>The greatest concern I have is that choosing to do away with these books is to deliberately erase from the recorded memory of the Church episodes of total loyalty to Christ. Perhaps it is possible that those who prefer to see these books disappear are as uncomfortable with the portrayals of uncompromising loyalty to Christ as they are with the criticisms of branches of the Church and its leadership (and by inference its membership). <BR/><BR/>Access to books on persecution is essential to understanding. If a concession was made to avoid embarrasment to one denomination or another how long would it be before this precedent was followed by other concessions that then became extended so as to avoid embarrassment to other religions and states? Where would it end and at what point would VOM cease to have relevance?<BR/><BR/>If Christians cannot cope with uncomfortable episodes where we persecuted our own brothers and sisters how can we talk about the intolerance of others towards Christians?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20271097.post-1753456007231739122007-03-01T09:16:00.000-05:002007-03-01T09:16:00.000-05:00We only just received notice of this ourselves. I...We only just received notice of this ourselves. It will probably be in next week's Persecution and Prayer Alert (VOMC's weekly email news service).Glenn Pennerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13775729921874246091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20271097.post-24252802506479877192007-03-01T07:44:00.000-05:002007-03-01T07:44:00.000-05:00This is unrelated but I wasn't sure where else to ...This is unrelated but I wasn't sure where else to post it.<BR/>Are you going to send out a prayer alert for this:<BR/>http://www.gfa.org/militants-attack-gfa-bible-collegeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20271097.post-71228318882844108822007-02-28T15:27:00.000-05:002007-02-28T15:27:00.000-05:00We should not ignore the past nor should we be obs...We should not ignore the past nor should we be obsessed by it. I find I am challenged by the mistakes and triumphs of the past. When we face the sins of our past we are forced to deal with our pride and smugness.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20271097.post-5305609536952028522007-02-28T11:39:00.000-05:002007-02-28T11:39:00.000-05:00I wholly agree! It is altogether right for us to r...I wholly agree! It is altogether right for us to reckon with what our spiritual forefathers have done and be apologetic about their sins. We can learn a lot about how to work together well and love our brethren from the past mistakes that have been made and we can overcome a lot of hurt by bringing things up and working them out.crooked deep downhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17807079033464391000noreply@blogger.com