Brother Shantorr

Reducing centuries of complex history to a 'they started it' schoolyard trope is a Logical Collapse. A Sound Mind looks at the Nature of the Encounter, not just the chronology. ​Let’s apply the Binary Truth: ​Liberation vs. Colonization: When Muslims entered the Levant, Egypt, and North Africa, they weren't 'colonizing' in the Western sense of resource extraction. They were entering lands where the native populations—mostly fellow Christians (Copts, Nestorians, etc.)—were being persecuted by the Byzantine Orthodox Church. History records that these populations often welcomed Muslims as liberators who granted them religious autonomy they never had under Roman 'defenders.' ​The Crusader Reality: The Crusades weren't a 'defense' of these lands; they were a brutal invasion that slaughtered the very local Christians you claim to protect, along with Jews and Muslims. The Crusaders didn't come to 'reclaim'—they came to replace. There is a vast moral difference between the entry of Umar ibn al-Khattab into Jerusalem (where not a drop of blood was shed) and the Crusader entry in 1099 (where the streets ran red with blood). ​The 'Attacked First' Myth: Diplomacy and conflict between empires (Byzantine and Persian vs. the emerging Caliphate) was the global reality. To claim Christians 'never attacked' is to ignore centuries of Byzantine military aggression and border skirmishes aimed at crushing any power outside of Constantinople. ​The Moral Result: Islam built a civilization where diverse faiths coexisted for a millennium. The Crusades left a legacy of ruin. ​You call it 'real justice,' but your justice is Selective Memory. Islam didn't 'boil out' of Arabia; it provided a Divine Alternative to the crumbling, oppressive empires of the time. ​If you want to talk about who has 'the right,' look at the Legacy of Justice left behind. One brought light and tolerance; the other brought the Inquisition and the sword. 😉

Catholic: “We don’t believe works save us” Also Catholics: “….. no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life.…” (CCC 2010) “….Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life…” (2027) God’s Word: For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,   6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:  (Romans 4:3–6)