Why Can't Christians Win the Argument

Christianity has major dilemmas. Some Christians recognize the dilemmas exist but some do not. I found fascinating a review of the dilemmas by none other than a Jesuit Priest. He died recently but was the kind of Christian I wish I would encounter regularly. 

There is a small army of people studying Jesus, giving lectures about Jesus and writing about Jesus. The link author points out that while these might help answer some questions about the historical Jesus, they will never answer all of them. That is because there is very little historical information to study.

The context of this is the new form of Christianity which takes a pass on the Old Testament and the cruel figure, God. We have something better, Jesus. This Jesus turned the other cheek and had lots of forgiveness and did not judge so much. He was not in favor of giving the rich the break they think they deserve. Because of all the good things Jesus did and had to say, let's just stick with that and leave the other stuff of the faith behind.

One problem with this new version is that Jesus, with his bull whip, was not always a nice fellow. Those who claimed to know what he said and did find him somewhat cranky. On top of that, what really did he say and what really did he do? The link rightfully raises questions. 

The dilemmas presented by modern reading of the Bible make it an uphill slog for Christianity, even if it is restricted mostly to Jesus and leaves out the God that kill for fun. 

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