Tiger74 said:
On the first point, I thought the Catholic church uses the Bible (don't know exact) to show that their church (as the church of Peter) has a mandate from Jesus. Don't know the precise details, just recall reading it previously.
On the second, to some extent. That "civilization" only came at a pretty high price for the masses (church demanded its tithe, and their fuedal master got the rest. Also if you study papal history, you will find they ironically tended to support the tyrannical leaders, and were usually one themselves. They tended to support whoever looked after them best financially, and the number of wars the Vatican razed it actually quite funny. Since the modern area, especially when the Papal States lost most of their territory to the newly created Kingdom of Italy, I agree things have changed a lot.
Hitler was a very proud Christian, and had a degree of Papal support. He was a madman, but you cannot consider him an athiest.
**EDIT***
Just been doing some Googling. Seems while Hitler was "an admirer of Jesus" he had a number of rants against Christianity. A lot of the sites carry agendas one way or the other, so trying to look through them with the bias removed is a tad painful. Having had only a cursory glace, I would say Hitler considered himself a Christian, but hated the powerbase Christianity provided the churches - he was a meglomaniac after all.
I should also not one thing I forgot in the original post. Even if he was acting as a Christian, its absurd to say his acts were in line with any fair teaching of Christ.
Okay. On all of this Hitler was a Christian stuff, I think it is obvious to everyone, except possibly himself, that he wasn't. Having said that I haven't read anywhere that he actually considered himself a Christian. Regardless, God should not be held accountable for any atrocities that Hitler, or any other misguided fool for that matter, caused if what they did is in clear violation of God's law. Clearly Jesus taught us to love one other, turn the other cheek, love your neighbour as yourself, do unto others as you would have them do unto you etc. People who have done bad things in God's name have done much damage to the reputation of God and Christians over the centuries. God will judge these people just like he will everyone else and you can be sure that they will not get away with these atrocities just because they 'claimed' to be a Christian whilst here on Earth. The Bible actually speaks of such people in Matthew 7:15-23 -
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Finally, as for these people who say that Christians hate the Jews, I would suggest that any true Christian certainly shouldn't hate them and moreso should have an attachment and warmth for the Jews. I know I do. They are the chosen people of God and Jesus, God in human form, was a Jew. Yes, they rejected and mistreated him but that doesn't make the Jews much different to any other race on Earth.
