The problem is that Christians are taught to avoid those of another persuasion and avoid the exchange of ideas through dialogue. Remember, for them to have other ideas that are outside of Bible is to be punished with Hell and ideas that are outside of the Bible can only be wrong and are possessed by those with less than honorable motives.
Christian beliefs are not to be questioned or doubted and dogmatic sentiments are clearly evident in such verses as Romans 16:17-18, "I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who created dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded." By "simple minded" one can only assume Paul is referring to his own followers, and who is in a better position to know?
Similar verses are 2 Timothy 2:16-17, "Avoid such godless chatter, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will eat its way like gangrene";
1 Timothy 6:20, "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and the oppositions of science falsely so called";
1 Timothy 6:3-5, "If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing; he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among men";
But of course some Christians in order to accept ideas that are outside the Bible simply proclaimed that they are in accordance with the Bible, like some Croatians do with evolution and big band and modern medicine and few other things.
Christian beliefs are not to be questioned or doubted and dogmatic sentiments are clearly evident in such verses as Romans 16:17-18, "I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who created dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded." By "simple minded" one can only assume Paul is referring to his own followers, and who is in a better position to know?
Similar verses are 2 Timothy 2:16-17, "Avoid such godless chatter, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will eat its way like gangrene";
1 Timothy 6:20, "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and the oppositions of science falsely so called";
1 Timothy 6:3-5, "If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing; he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among men";
But of course some Christians in order to accept ideas that are outside the Bible simply proclaimed that they are in accordance with the Bible, like some Croatians do with evolution and big band and modern medicine and few other things.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
