"In your first quote, Jesus was speaking metaphorically, "

   I am glad that you have such a knowledge of what he meant... Does he talk to you often? (as opposed to talking to the rest of us...)


Is it a metaphor because you don't want to admit that Jesus was a violent revolutionary?

Sometimes, I think that one has to accept the words as they were said, rather than as on would want them to be.

The Church made enough changes to back up their viewpoint and authority. The parts they could not change were too well know for them to alter.