(June 4, 2020 at 8:40 am)Ryantology Wrote: Take Jesus, as an example. Now, you won't say anything about the religion I haven't, but as a historical figure (and I accept that he was), he had some good ideas about love, compassion and toleration [...] I would hang out with him and encourage the spread of that message.
And when he had anti-love ideas? What would you do then? When he said that who doesn't hate his own family and friends can't be his follower? Or when he said people should kill their own children as Moses commanded? And when he said people should cut their own hands and eyes when they admire nice looking women? Or that he will burn people in hell?
Would you preach that as well?
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"
