So in 1531 some guy brings a traditional painting of Mary claiming it came from heaven, that virgin Mary painted it herself, and people believe him?! At least if he brought image that would be very hard to make, like a photo quality imprint of Mary, then maybe I could understand how people fall for it, but painting made with materials and methods of the sixteenth century, replete with standard artistic motifs clearly derived from earlier Spanish paintings, and with clear brush strokes marks on it is just scary gullible.
And she did this to convince a skeptical bishop - seems that scepticism doesn't reach a very high bar in Catholicism.
Is this the most ridiculous hoax in Christianity (aside from Gospels) or what?
And she did this to convince a skeptical bishop - seems that scepticism doesn't reach a very high bar in Catholicism.
Is this the most ridiculous hoax in Christianity (aside from Gospels) or what?
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"
