"Teachings of Jesus?" The Jesus that said," …if anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other one also." Or the Jesus that said," Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." Or the the Jesus who said," Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
So many conflicting, contradictory passages in a book written by bronze age desert nomads and later then Hellenized descendants. What are actually his teachings (rhetorical - sects have been fighting over this for as long as people have been writing stories about him)?
My point is that you can find anything you want in those books to support nearly any position you want to take.
The so-called authors of the Book were uniformly illiterate. His teachings were presumably handed down word -of-mouth through genertaions until a literate person was able to put it to paper (papyrus?). How much distortion occurred over that interval of time?
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household” (Matthew 10:34-36).
I did not. I have seen Christians use this verse to support their militancy or actions that would directly contradict the other two (love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek).
There's another story in the gospels (Mark 11:12-25) where Jesus kills a fig tree because he was hungry and the tree didn't have any figs because it was out of season. Again, not peaceful, cheek turning Jesus.
"Teachings of Jesus?" The Jesus that said," …if anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other one also." Or the Jesus that said," Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." Or the the Jesus who said," Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
So many conflicting, contradictory passages in a book written by bronze age desert nomads and later then Hellenized descendants. What are actually his teachings (rhetorical - sects have been fighting over this for as long as people have been writing stories about him)?
My point is that you can find anything you want in those books to support nearly any position you want to take.
The so-called authors of the Book were uniformly illiterate. His teachings were presumably handed down word -of-mouth through genertaions until a literate person was able to put it to paper (papyrus?). How much distortion occurred over that interval of time?
Like a game of telephone...
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+10%3A34-36&version=NIV
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household” (Matthew 10:34-36).
I did not. I have seen Christians use this verse to support their militancy or actions that would directly contradict the other two (love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek).
There's another story in the gospels (Mark 11:12-25) where Jesus kills a fig tree because he was hungry and the tree didn't have any figs because it was out of season. Again, not peaceful, cheek turning Jesus.
Even if you were, "One of those Christians" I'd hope you'd read the Bulwark. I hope you read things that don't "confirm" your worldview now.