rs, persecution of Protestants and Freethinkers, burning of witches, crusades against infidels, the Inquisition, has not been a peacemaker. Calling the real peacemakers "the children of God" has not been of any benefit in bringing about peace, for there has been no peace; wars are more frequent destructive and bitter than ever. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake." This blessing, without practical value, would include blessings on the millions of people who have been persecuted by the Christian church for standing for the righteousness of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from oppression and religious persecution, freedom from slavery, the things, the Christian church has fought for ages.
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you; falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is great in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets before you."
But here again we have many different prophets, and sects and churches and branches of them, all saying the others are wrong, all reviling the others and all claiming they do it in Christ's name; in fact, all their prayers are asked in Christ's name, including the prayers the Allied Nations made against the Axis forces, and the prayers of the Axis against the allied, all finished, "In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask." Both sides thought they were blessed, both sides thought they were doing things for Christ's sake, each side reviled the other.
"Ye, (his disciples) are the light of the world," but the truth is that his followers, with his morbid philosophy, by persecution, sword, faggot and fire, intolerance and hatred, brought on the Dark Ages, and it was only when liberalism emerged that the darkness of a thousand years began to grow less.
Then Christ reminds us of the commandment not to kill. But later on tells his followers that he came to bring "not peace but a sword," and to set father against brother and daughter against mother. He also says it is wrong for one to be angry with his brother, but at the same time he criticizes the Pharisees and Scribes (Scribes were those who were professional letter writers, as the populace, including Christ, were illiterate -- Christ left no written works). Here again was opposition to advancement, because he attacked those who had tried to improve themselves by learning to write.
Then Christ advises men to agree with "thine adversary quickly, lest he deliver thee to the judge and put thee in prison." This is the opposite of the previous advice for men to be cowardly and to fail to stand by their principles. Here Christ warns the people they will pay the uttermost farthing before they come out of the prison. The connection, or the importance of this connection, is not clear.
Christian philosophy is morbid. Christ not only reminds the people of adultery, but says that anyone who has desires for a woman, which if carried out would result in adultery, is an adulterer anyway. Thinking of a crime makes the thinker just as guilty as the criminal who commits such a crime. The thinker does no damage, and it is ridiculous to compare the two. Men who are attracted by pretty women, as nature intended them to be, cannot rightly be called sinful because they have normal desires. Had there been a just God he would not have created men with desires and then condemned them to eternal damnation because they thought of the desires.
Practical men will say that the man who has the desire to do something wrong, and who suppresses that desire is a more courageous man than the man who has no desire at all. From a reasonable standpoint, if no wrong is done, no blame should attach to the individual. It is only the extreme of fanaticism which would hold otherwise.
"If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out" also seems to be fanatical and unreasonable advice. If something is wrong with the hand or eye, the condition should be corrected. It is no crime for a man to feel desire when he sees an attr