Jesus said that "Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery", which is no longer true. Those who permit remarriage after divorce should admit an error on Jesus' part.
"But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil." This instruction should be reversed, should it not? Evil should be resisted in every possible way that does not involve evil in itself. What modern ethical teacher will say that evil should not be resisted, or that this advice of Jesus was perfection? If his instruction was intended to refer to physical resistance, then no righteous person should fight in any war, no police should be delegated to arrest criminals. If the phrase has merely a spiritual meaning, it is certainly unsound advice, for evil should be overcome by good.
A fanatical attitude towards the law was recommended when Jesus said: "If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." Extreme generosity and non-resistance are taught, but the illustration was not well thought out, for if the man had already won his suit and taken the coat, it is evident that the owner of the coat had put up a legal fight instead of giving away his coat and cloak as Jesus implies he should. Yielding more than a legal opponent wins in court is not compatible with defending the suit, nor is it a principle that would meet the approval of most of Jesus' followers today.
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." If Jesus referred to Jehovah as his Father in heaven, the standard of perfection advocated was very low, for Jehovah was, as Thomas Jefferson put it, "cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust."
The Lord's Prayer is not the simple, clear, devotional petition that is usually supposed. Take it literally, as was undoubtedly intended, and its irrelevance to actual life is at once apparent.
"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." This is a proper invocation only if there is a heaven in which God's will is done. None such has been discovered.
"Give us this day our daily bread" indicates that God would not give our daily sustenance without being asked, whereas there is no apparent distinction in actual living between those who pray for bread and those who do not.
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" intimates that divine forgiveness is not to be superior to that of men.
"And lead us not into temptation"—as if God were anxious to lead us there and would be deterred by our prayer.
It may seem like petty cavil to criticize the prayer that has been acclaimed for many centuries as ideal, but, seriously, what valuable principle for guidance through life does the Lord's Prayer contain? Do its requests represent the best modern conception of prayer as an inward aspiration rather than as petitionary? Is it not vain repetition to recite it again and again?