Was Jesus a good guy?

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>CLAIRE

>Pat, I am about to parrot something that my theology instructor told

>me:


I hope that you are offering this explanation because you genuinely believe
it to be true rather than simply because an authority told you it was true.

  Rabbis and Jewish teachers often used exaggeration to make their

>points. Jesus was saying that you have to put God first (before your

>family). If your family is preventing you from following Christ (e.g.,

>by insisting that you go into some worldly business which hurts people,

>then you should "hate" your family, i.e., disobey them).


Then you are reading the relevant passage metaphorically rather than
literally. Pray tell, by what right/justification do you do so? What makes
you think that it is *supposed* to be read metaphorically rather than
literally?

Austin Cline: German Department, Princeton University
                     Publicity Coordinator, Campus Freethought Alliance

--- The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher
      esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

               - Nietzsche "The Dawn" (1881)

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