“He supposed that the intent of the Gospels was to teach people, among other things, to be merciful, even to the lowest of the low. But the Gospels actually taught this: Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes.”

“The Gospels actually taught this: Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. so it goes.”

“It was The Gospel From Outer Space, by Kilgore Trout. It was about a visitor from outer space...[who] made a serious study of Christianity, to learn, if he could, why Christians found it so easy to be cruel. He concluded that at least part of the trouble was slipshod storytelling in the New Testament. He supposed that the intent of the Gospels was to teach people, among other things, to be merciful, even to the lowest of the low. But the Gospels actually taught this: Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes. The flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn't look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being in the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought...: "Oh, boy - they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time!" And that thought had a brother: "There are right people to lynch." Who? People not well connected. So it goes.”

“But the Gospels actually taught this: Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn’t well connected.”

“Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes.”

“Somebody says that a student is down here at BYU and he's a member of the church, but he's a mess. And I say, "Yes, I agree. But you ought to see him what the fellow would be like if it weren't for the Church." And that's what the gospel does. It takes all of us with our faults and makes us better. It's a wonderful thing, and there isn't anything like the gospel. If we can live close to it and approach, at least, the life of the Savior in a kind of way that we put other people's interests before our own and in general try to be helpful, we can have a heaven on earth, and life will be a wonderful thing.”