Belacqua Wrote:In the above, you have asserted that the priests' motives are malicious, that they intentionally tell false stories which they want their followers to take as true.
That is what priests frequently do, like when they say that the devil exists, that exorcism is real, that women should be subdued, that slavery is acceptable, etc.
Belacqua Wrote:I don't recall if he addresses that question specifically.
I recall what Augustine said about Adam, and you always ignore it, is that Adam existed along with his sin which is transmitted even today in semen on new people. Paul also said similar thing, so to say that these tow are not literalists is false.
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"
