I have read the excuses, but that was a slight on Christendom, as much as people want to say that it wasn't. The 'halo' above the person in the middle, etc...Regardless, the fact that some guy had his genitalia popping out of his pants right beside a young girl...
The point is, even if it was, so what? Jesus endured far worse. And he told us to do the same.
And the Donald Trump son of man thing is just insanity. I will never understand the love Christians have for politics. It's the same evil bird, left wing or right wing.
I'm glad you see that. One emperor is as bad as another.
As for not reading the bible...There's a reason why most people had no access to the bible in the dark ages. Thus they are called, the dark ages. The Roman Catholic church made sure people couldn't get access to it and that ever day people needed to go to the 'priests' to get interpretation of Scripture.
It's not just about the Dark Ages. Christians had no Bible for three centuries before the church settled on the canon. Even the manuscripts that were floating around weren't available to all Christians, and most of them were too illiterate to read what was available. Even outside the Catholic church during the Dark Ages, most were illiterate and unable to read. Plus, the technology to make the Bible available to the masses wasn't available until the 15th century. That wasn't the Church's fault. Even after Gutenberg, it would be hundreds of years before most people could read a Bible, long after the Protestant Reformation. Churches introduced Sunday School in the 18th century to teach poor children to read using the Bible as the curriculum. Point: It wasn't until the 19th century that reading became so common. Ergo, most people throughout history learned about Jesus by word of mouth.
True, I don't expect anyone to 'feel sorry' for Christianity. Philippians 1:29 for reference lol
There was the Hebrew bible, passed down from generation to generation from the early church. It stayed 'underground' for some time, but people still read it. Yeh, oral reciting was a big part of the early spread of the gospel...But the bible even before the NT, was always on parchment and scrolls of somekind.
Personally, I think the less believers rely on 'priests and experts' to tell us what the bible says, and find out for ourselves, the better. Which is why the bible is so important.
Of course, people.should read the Bible for themselves. Paul praised the Bereans for pursuing their own studies rather than take his word for it that the Messiah had come. Still, my point was that most Christians throughout history were too illiterate to do that. Even today, when the majority of us can do that, I've found that many Christians use it as a weapon when it should be deployed as a mirror.