The need for history...

Someone recently said to me:
The past is in the past, what I look at is right now.
We cannot forget the past, so it will not repeat itself.

I always considered myself a Christian simply because I believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ.
His teachings made sense, and are a good guideline as to how we should be to our fellow man.

The rest of the bible, in my understanding of it, is literally the history of the Christian Faith.

But I never quite understood why the religious always stuck with that history...
Many of which still repeating parts of that history...
And making the whole faith look bad.

Now I get it...
After watching this documentary:
http://documentaryheaven.com/the-trouble-with-atheism/

The teachings of Christ are what really matters.
To love and to be compassionate towards one another.
To resepct each other and care for those around us.

But we need to know, and remember the history...
Simply so we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.