Comment: - There are some
uplifting and instructive verses in the Bible.
The following are excerpts from Robert Ingersoll's document
"What Must We Do to be Saved" (1880). I think he describes some of the
good verses in the Bible better than I can. To get the full document and many
of his other documents check a good Web Site of most of Robert
G. Ingersoll
works of the 1800's -- these have been suppressed books
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
**** ****
This file, its printout, or copies of either
are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
The Works of ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
**** ****
PREFACE
1880
If what is known as the Christian Religion is true, nothing
can be more wonderful than the fact that Matthew, Mark and Luke say
nothing about "salvation by faith;" that they do not even hint at
the doctrine of the atonement, and are as silent as empty tombs as
to the necessity of believing anything to secure happiness in this
world or another.
For a good many years it has been claimed that the writers, of
these gospels knew something about the teachings of Christ, and
had, at least, a general knowledge of the conditions of salvation.
It now seems to be substantiated that the early Christians did not
place implicit confidence in the gospels, and did not hesitate to
make such changes and additions as they thought proper. Such
changes and additions are about the only passages in the New
Testament that the Evangelical Churches now consider sacred. That
Portion of the last chapter of Mark, in which unbelievers are so
cheerfully and promptly damned, has been shown to be an
interpolation, and it is asserted that in the revised edition of
the New Testament, soon to be issued, the infamous passages will
not appear. With these expunged, there is not one word in Matthew,
Mark, or Luke, even tending to show that belief in Christ has, or
can have, any effect upon the destiny of the soul.
The careful reader of the New Testament will find three
Christs described: -- One who wished to preserve Judaism -- one who
wished to reform it, and one who built a system of his own. The
apostles and their disciples, utterly unable to comprehend a
religion that did away with sacrifices, churches, priests, and
creeds, constructed a Christianity for themselves, so that the
orthodox churches of to-day rest -- first, upon what Christ
endeavored to destroy -- second, upon what he never said, and,
third, upon a misunderstanding of what he did say. If a certain
belief is necessary to insure the salvation of the soul, the church
ought to explain, and without any unnecessary delay, why such an
infinitely important fact was utterly ignored by Matthew, Mark and
Luke. There are only two explanations possible. Either belief is
unnecessary, or the writers of these three Gospels did not
understand the Christian system. The "sacredness" of the subject
cannot longer hide the absurdity of the "scheme of salvation." nor
the failure of Matthew, Mark and Luke to mention what is now
claimed to have been the entire mission of Christ. The church must
take from the New Testament the supernatural; the idea that an
intellectual conviction can subject an honest man to eternal pain
-- the awful doctrine that the innocent can justly suffer for the
guilty, and allow the remainder to be discussed, denied or believed
without punishment and without reward. No one will object to the
preaching of kindness, honesty and justice. To preach less is a
crime, and to practice more is impossible.
There is one thing that ought to be again impressed upon the
average theologian, and that is the utter futility of trying to
answer arguments with personal abuse. It should be understood once
for all that these questions are in no sense personal. If it should
turn out that all the professed Christians in the world are sinless
saints, the question of how Matthew, Mark, and Luke, came to say
nothing about the atonement and the scheme of salvation by faith,
would still be asked. And if it should then be shown that all the
doubters, deists, and atheists, are vile and vicious wretches, the
question still would wait for a reply.
Robert G. Ingersoll.
Washington, D.C.
October, 1880
WHAT MUST WE DO TO BE SAVED?
The whole world has been filled with fear. Ignorance has been
the refuge of the soul. For thousands of years the intellectual
ocean was ravaged by the buccaneers of reason. Pious souls clung to
the shore and looked at the lighthouse. The seas were filled with
monsters and the islands with sirens. The people were driven in the
middle of a narrow road while priests went before, beating the
hedges on either side to frighten the robbers from their lairs. The
poor followers seeing no robbers, thanked their brave leaders with
all their hearts.
Let us, if possible, banish all fear from the mind. Do not
imagine that there is some being in the infinite expanse who is not
willing that every man and woman should think for himself and
herself, Do not imagine that there is any being who would give to
his children the holy torch of reason, and then damn them for
following that sacred light. Let us have courage.
Priests have invented a crime called "blasphemy," and behind
that crime hypocrisy has crouched for thousands of years. There is
but one blasphemy, and that is injustice. There is but one worship,
and that is Justice!
You need not fear the anger of a god that you cannot injure.
Rather fear to injure your fellow-men. Do not be afraid of a crime
you can not commit. Rather be afraid of the one that you may
commit. The reason that you cannot injure God is that the Infinite
is conditionless. You cannot increase or diminish the happiness of
any being without changing that being's condition. If God is
conditionless, you can neither injure nor benefit him.
We have got what they call the Christian system of religion,
and thousands of people wonder how I can be wicked enough to attack
that system.
There are many good things about it, and I shall never attack
anything that I believe to be good! I shall never fear to attack
anything I honestly believe to be wrong! We have what they call the
Christian religion, and I find, Just in proportion that nations
have been religious, just in the proportion they have clung to the
religion of their founders, they have gone back to barbarism. I
find that Spain, Portugal, Italy, are the three worst nations in
Europe. I find that the nation nearest infidel is the most
prosperous -- France.
And so I say there can be no danger in the exercise of
absolute intellectual freeborn. I find among ourselves the men who
think are at least as good as those who do not.
We have, I say, a Christian system, and that system is founded
upon what they are pleased to call the "New Testament." Who wrote
the New Testament? I do not know. Who does know? Nobody. We have
found many manuscripts containing portions of the New Testament.
Some of these manuscripts leave out five or six books -- many of
them. Others more; others less. No two of these manuscripts agree.
Nobody knows who wrote these manuscripts. They are all written in
Greek. The disciples of Christ, so far as we know, knew only
Hebrew. Nobody ever saw, so far as we know, one of the original
Hebrew manuscripts.
Nobody ever saw anybody who had seen anybody who had heard of
anybody that had ever seen anybody that had ever seen one of the
original Hebrew manuscripts. No doubt the clergy of your city have
told you these facts thousands of times, and they will be obliged
to me for having repeated them once more. These manuscripts are
written in what are called capital Greek letters. They are called
Uncial manuscripts, and the New Testament was not divided into
chapters and verses, even, until the year of grace 1551. In the
original the manuscripts and gospels are signed by nobody. The
epistles are addressed to nobody; and they are signed by the same
person. All the addresses, all the pretended ear-marks showing to
whom they were written, and by whom they were written, are simply
interpolations, and everybody who has studied the subject knows it.
You must remember, also, one other thing. Christ never wrote
a solitary word of the New Testament -- not one word. There is an
account that he once stooped and wrote something in the sand, but
that has not been preserved. He never told anybody to write a word.
He never said: "Matthew, remember this. Mark, do not forget to put
that down. Luke, be sure that in your gospel you have this. John,
do not forget it." Not one word. And it has always seemed to me
that a being coming from another world, with a message of infinite
importance to mankind, should at least have verified that message
by his own signature. Is it not wonderful that not one word was
written by Christ? Is it not strange that he gave no orders to have
his words preserved -- words upon which hung the salvation of a
world?
Why was nothing written? I will tell you. In my Judgment they
expected the end of the world in a few days. That generation was
not to pass away until the heavens should be rolled up as a scroll,
and until the earth should melt with fervent heat. That was their
belief. They believed that the world was to be destroyed, and that
there was to be another coming, and that the saints were then to
govern the earth. And they even went so far among the apostles, as
we frequently do now before election, as to divide out the offices
in advance. This Testament, as it now is, was not written for
hundreds of years after the apostles were dust. Many of the
pretended facts lived in the open mouth of credulity, They were in
the wastebaskets of forgetfulness. They depended upon the
inaccuracy of legend, and for centuries these doctrines and stories
were blown about by the inconstant winds. And when reduced to
writing, some gentleman would write by the side of the passage his
idea of it, and the next copyist would put that in as a part of the
text. And, when it was mostly written, and the church got into
trouble, and wanted a passage to help it out, one was interpolated
to order. So that now it is among the easiest things in the world
to pick out at least one hundred interpolations in the Testament.
And I will pick some of them out before I get through.
And let me say here, once for all, that for the man Christ I
have infinite respect. Let me say, once for all, that the place
where man has died for man is holy ground. And let me say, once for
all, that to that great and serene man I gladly pay, I gladly pay,
the tribute of my admiration and my tears. He was a reformer in his
day. He was an infidel in his time. He was regarded as a
blasphemer, and his life was destroyed by hypocrites, who have, in
all ages, done what they could to trample freedom and manhood out
of the human mind. Had I lived at that time I would have been his
friend, and should he come again he will not find a better friend
than I will be.
That is for the man. For the theological creation I have a
different feeling. If he was, in fact, God, he knew there was no
such thing as death. He knew that what we called death was but the
eternal opening of the golden gates of everlasting joy; and it took
no heroism to face a death that was eternal life.
For the man who, in the darkness, said: "My God, why hast thou forsaken
me?" -- for that man I have nothing but respect, admiration, and
love. Back of the theological shreds, rags, and patches, hiding the
real Christ, I see a genuine man.
A while ago I made up my mind to find out what was necessary
for me to do in order to be saved. If I have got a soul, I want it
saved. I do not wish to lose anything that is of value.
For thousands of years the world has been asking that
question:
"What must we do to be saved?"
Saved from poverty? No. Saved from crime? No. Tyranny? No. But
"What must we do to be saved from the eternal wrath of the God who
made us all?"
I made up my mind, I say, to see what I had to do in order to
save my soul according to the Testament, and thereupon I read it.
I read the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and found that
the church had been deceiving me. I found that the clergy did not
understand their own book; that they had been building upon
passages that had been interpolated; upon passages that were
entirely untrue, and I will tell you why I think so.
II
THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
ACCORDING to the church, the first gospel was written by
Matthew. As a matter of fact he never wrote a word of it -- never
saw it, never heard of it and probably never will. But for the
purposes of this lecture I admit that he wrote it. I will admit
that he was with Christ for three years; that he was his constant
companion; that he shared his sorrows and his triumphs: that he
heard his words by the lonely lakes, the barren hill, in synagogue
and street, and that he knew his heart and became acquainted with
his thoughts and aims.
Now let us see what Matthew says we must do in order to be
saved. And I take it that, if this is true, Matthew is as good
authority as any minister in the world.
The first thing I find. upon the subject of salvation is in
the fifth chapter of Matthew, and is embraced in what is commonly
known as the Sermon on the Mount. It is as follows:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven." Good!
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Good!
Whether they belonged to any church or not; whether they believed
the Bible or not?
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Good!
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children
of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Good!
In the same sermon he says: "Think not that I am come to
destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfill." And then he makes use of this remarkable language, almost
as applicable to-day as it was then: "For I say unto you that
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of
heaven." Good!
In the sixth chapter I find the following, and it comes
directly after the prayer known as the Lord's prayer: "For if ye
forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also
forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither
will your father forgive your trespasses."
I accept the condition. There is an offer; I accept it. If you
will forgive men that trespass against you, God will forgive your
trespasses against him. I accept the terms, and I never will ask
any God to treat me better than I treat my fellow-men. There is a
square promise. There is a contract. If you will forgive others God
will forgive you. And it does not say you must believe in the Old
Testament, or be baptized, or join the church, or keep Sunday; that
you must count beads, or pray, or become a nun, or a priest; that
you must preach sermons or hear them, build churches or fill them.
Not one word is said about eating or fasting, denying or believing.
It simply says, if you forgive others God will forgive you; and it
must of necessity be true. No god could afford to damn a forgiving
man. Suppose God should damn to everlasting fire a man so great and
good, that he, looking from the abyss of hell, would forgive God,
-- how would a god feel then?
Now let me make myself plain upon one subject, perfectly
plain. For instance, I hate Presbyterianism, but I know hundreds of
splendid Presbyterians. Understand me. I hate Methodism, and yet I
know hundreds of splendid Methodists. I hate Catholicism, and like
Catholics. I hate insanity but not the insane.
I do not war against men. I do not war against persons. I war
against certain doctrines that I believe to be wrong. But I give to
every other man-being every right that I claim for myself.
The next thing that I find is in the seventh chapter and the
second verse: "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged;
and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."
Good! That suits me!
And in the twelfth chapter of Matthew: "For whosoever shall do
the will of my Father that is in heaven, the same is my brother and
sister and mother. For the son of man shall come in the glory of
his father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man
according ..." To the church he belongs to? No. To the manner in
which he was baptized? No. According to his creed? No. "Then he
shall reward every man according to his works." Good! I subscribe
to that doctrine.
And in the eighteenth chapter: "And Jesus called a little
child to him and stood him in the midst; and said, 'Verily I say
unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'" I do not wonder that
in his day, surrounded by scribes and Pharisees, he turned lovingly
to little children.
And yet, see what children the little children of God have
been. What an interesting dimpled darling John Calvin was. Think of
that prattling babe, Jonathan Edwards! Think of the infants that
founded the Inquisition, that invented instruments of torture to
tear human flesh. They were the ones who had become as little
children. They were the children of faith.
So I find in the nineteenth chapter: "And behold, one came and
said unto him: 'Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may
have eternal life?' And he said unto him, 'Why callest thou me
good? There is none good but one, that is God: but if thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments.' He saith unto him,
'which?'"
Now, there is a fair issue. Here is a child of God asking God
what is necessary for him to do in order to inherit eternal life.
And God said to him: Keep the commandments. And the child said to
the Almighty: "Which?" Now, if there ever has been an opportunity
given to the Almighty to furnish a man of an inquiring mind with
the necessary information upon that subject, here was the
opportunity. "He said unto him, which? And Jesus said: Thou shalt
do no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal;
thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy father and mother; and
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
He did not say to him: "You must believe in me -- that I am
the only begotten son of the living God." He did not say: "You must
be born again." He did not say: "You must believe the Bible." He
did not say: "You must remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
He simply said: "Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit
adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Honor thy father and thy mother; and thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself." And thereupon the young man, who I think was mistaken,
said unto him: "All these things have I kept from my youth up."
What right has the church to add conditions of salvation? Why
should we suppose that Christ failed to tell the young man all that
was necessary for him to do? Is it possible that he left out some
important thing simply to mislead? Will some minister tell us why
he thinks that Christ kept back the "scheme"?
Now comes an interpolation. In the old times when the church
got a little scarce of money, they always put in a passage praising
poverty. So they had this young man ask: "What lack I yet? And
Jesus said unto him: If thou wilt be perfect, go, and sell that
thou hast and give to, the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven."
The church has always been willing to swap off treasures in
heaven for cash down. And when the next verse was written the
church must have been nearly bankrupt. "And again I say unto you,
it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Did you ever know a
wealthy disciple to unload on account of that verse?
And then comes another verse, which I believe is an
interpolation: "And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children,
or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and
shall inherit everlasting life."
Christ never said it. Never. "Whosoever shall forsake father
and mother."
Why, he said to this man that asked him, "What shall I do to
inherit eternal life?" among other things, he said: "Honor thy
father and thy mother." And we turn over the page and he says
again: "If you will desert your father and mother you shall have
everlasting life." It will not do. If you will desert your wife and
your little children, or your lands -- the idea of putting a house
and lot on equality with wife and children! Think of that! I do not
accept the terms. I will never desert the one I love for the
promise of any god.
It is far more important to love your wife than to love God,
and I will tell you why. You cannot help him, but you can help her.
You can fill her life with the perfume of perpetual joy. It is far
more important that you love your children than that you love Jesus
Christ. And why? If he is God you cannot help him, but you can
plant a little flower of happiness in every footstep of the child,
from the cradle until you die in that child's arms. Let me tell you
to-day it is far more important to build a home than to erect a
church. The holiest temple beneath the stars is a home that love
has built. And the holiest altar in all the wide world is the
fireside around which gather father and mother and the sweet babes.
There was a time when people believed the infamy commanded in
this frightful passage. There was a time when they did desert
fathers and mothers and wives and children. St. Augustine says to
the devotee: Fly to the desert, and though your wife put her arms
around your neck, tear her hands away; she is a temptation of the
devil. Though your father and mother throw their bodies athwart
your threshold, step over them; and though your children pursue,
and with weeping eyes beseech you to return, listen not. It is the
temptation of the evil one. Fly to the desert and save your soul.
Think of such a soul being worth saving. While I live I propose to
stand by the ones I love.
There is another condition of salvation. I find it in the
twenty-fifth chapter: "Then shall the King say unto them on his
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an
hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink;
I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked and ye clothed me; I was
sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came unto me." Good!
I tell you to-night that God will not punish with eternal
thirst the man who has put the cup of cold water to the lips of his
neighbor. God will not leave in the eternal nakedness of pain the
man who has clothed his fellow-men.
For instance, here is a shipwreck, and here is some brave
sailor who stands aside and allows a woman whom he never saw before
to take his place in the boat, and he stands there, grand and
serene as the wide sea, and he goes down. Do you tell me that
there's any God who will push the lifeboat from the shore of
eternal life, when that man wishes to step in? Do you tell me that
God can be unpitying to the pitiful, that he can be unforgiving to
the forgiving? I deny it; and from the aspersions of the pulpit I
seek to rescue the reputation of the Deity.
Now, I have read you substantially everything in Matthew on
the subject of salvation. That is all there is. Not one word about
believing anything. It is the gospel of deed, the gospel of
charity, the gospel of self-denial; and if only that gospel had
been preached, persecution never would have shed one drop of blood.
Not one.
According to the testimony Matthew was well acquainted with
Christ. According to the testimony, he had been with him, and his
companion for years, and if it was necessary to believe anything in
order to get to heaven, Matthew should have told us. But he forgot
it, or he did not believe it, or he never heard of it. You can take
your choice.
In Matthew, we find that heaven is promised, first, to the
poor in spirit. Second, to the merciful. Third, to the pure in
heart. Fourth, to the peacemakers. Fifth, to those who are
persecuted for righteousness' sake. Sixth, to those who keep and
teach the commandments. Seventh, to, those who forgive men that
trespass against them. Eighth, that we will be Judged as we Judge
others. Eighth, that they who receive prophets and righteous men
shall receive a prophet's reward. Tenth, to those who do the will
of God. Eleventh, that every man shall be rewarded according to his
works. Twelfth, to those who become as little children. Thirteenth,
to those who forgive the trespasses of others. Fourteenth, to the,
perfect: they who sell all that they have and give to the poor.
Fifteenth, to them who forsake houses, and brethren, and sisters,
and father, and mother, and wife, and children, and lands for the
sake of Christ's name, sixteenth, to those who feed the hungry,
give drink to the thirsty, shelter to the stranger, clothes to the
naked, comfort to the sick, and who visit the prisoner.
Nothing else is said with regard to salvation in the gospel
according to St. Matthew. Not one word about believing the Old
Testament to have been inspired; not one word about being baptized
or joining a church; not one word about believing in any miracle;
not even a hint that it was necessary to believe that Christ was
the son of God, or that he did any wonderful or miraculous things,
or that he was born of a virgin, or that his coming had been
foretold by the Jewish prophets. Not one word about believing in
the Trinity, or in foreordination or predestination. Matthew had
not understood from Christ that any such things were necessary to
ensure the salvation of the soul.
According to the testimony, Matthew had been in the company of
Christ, some say three years and some say one, but at least he had
been with him long enough to find out some of his ideas upon this
great subject. And yet Matthew never got the impression that it was
necessary to believe something in order to get to heaven. He
supposed that if a man forgave others God would forgive him; he
believed that God would show mercy to the merciful; that he would
not allow those who fed the hungry to starve; that he would not put
in the flames of hell those who had given cold water to the
thirsty; that he would not cast into the eternal dungeon of his
wrath those who had visited the imprisoned; and that he would not
damn men who forgave others.
Matthew had it in his mind that God would treat us very much
as we treated other people; and that in the next world he would
treat with kindness those who had been loving and gentle in their
lives. It may be the apostle was mistaken; but evidently it was his
opinion.
IV
THE GOSPEL OF MARK
Let us now see what Mark thought it necessary for a man to do
to save his soul. In the fourth chapter, after Jesus had given to
the multitude by the sea the parable of the sower, his disciples,
when they were again alone, asked him the meaning of the parable.
Jesus replied:
"Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of
God: but unto them that are Without, all these things are done in
parables.
"That seeing, they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they
may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be
converted, and their sins should be forgiven them."
It is a little hard to understand why he should have preached
to people that he did not intend should know his meaning. Neither
is it quite clear why he objected to their being converted. This,
I suppose, is one of the mysteries that we should simply believe
without endeavoring to comprehend.
With the above exception, and one other that I will mention
hereafter, Mark substantially agrees with Matthew, and says that
God will be merciful to the merciful, that he will be kind to the
kind, that he will pity the pitying, and love the loving. Mark
upholds the religion of Matthew until we come to the fifteenth and
sixteenth verses of the sixteenth chanter, and then I strike an
interpolation put in by hypocrisy, put in by priests who longed to
grasp with bloody hands the scepter of universal power. Let me read
it to you. It is the most infamous passage in the Bible. Christ
never said it. No sensible man ever said it.
"And He said unto them" (that is, unto his disciples), "go ye
into, all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned."
That passage was written so that fear would give alms to
hypocrisy. Now, I propose to prove to you that this is an
interpolation. How will I do it? In the first place, not one word
is said about belief, in Matthew. In the next place. not one word
about belief, in Mark, until I come to that verse, and where is
that said to have beer spoken? According to Mark, it is a part of
the last conversation of Jesus Christ, -- just before, according to
the account, he ascended bodily before their eyes. If there ever
was any important thing happened in this world that was it. If
there is any conversation that people would be apt to recollect, it
would be the last conversation with a god before he rose visibly
through the air and seated himself upon the throne of the infinite.
We have in this Testament five accounts of the last conversation
happening between Jesus Christ and his apostles. Matthew gives it,
and yet Matthew does not state that in that conversation Christ
said: "Whoso believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and whoso
believeth not shall be damned." And if he did say those words they
were the most important that ever fell from lips. Matthew did not
hear it, or did not believe it, or forgot it.
Then I turn to Luke, and he gives an account of this same last
conversation, and not one word does he say upon that subject. Luke
does not pretend that Christ said that whoso believeth not shall be
damned. Luke certainly did not hear it. Maybe he forgot it. Perhaps
he did not think that it was worth recording. Now, it is the most
important thing, if Christ said it, that he ever said.
Then I turn to John, and he gives an account of the last
conversation, but not one solitary word on the subject of belief or
unbelief. Not one solitary word on the subject of damnation. Not
one. John might not have been listening.
Then I turn to the first chapter of the Acts, and there I find
an account of the last conversation; and in that conversation there
is not one word upon this subject. This is a demonstration that the
passage in Mark is an interpolation. What other reason have I got?
There is not one particle of sense in it. Why? No man can control
his belief. You hear evidence for and against, and the integrity of
the soul stands at the scales and tells which side rises and which
side falls. You can not believe as you wish. You must believe as
you must. And he might as well have said. "Go into the world and
preach the gospel, and whosoever has red hair shall be saved, and
whosoever hath not shall be damned."
I have another reason. I am much obliged to the gentleman who
interpolated these passages. I am much obliged to him that he put
in some more -- two more. Now hear:
"And these signs shall follow them that believe "Good!
"In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with
new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any
deadly thing it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the
sick and they shall recover."
Bring on your believer! Let him cast out a devil. I do not ask
for a large one. Just a little one for a cent. Let him take up
serpents. "And if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt
them." Let me mix up a dose for the believer, and if it does not
hurt him I will join a church. "Oh! but," they say, "those things
only lasted through the Apostolic age." Let us see. "Go into all
the world and preach the gospel, and whosoever believes and is
baptized shall be saved, and these signs shall follow them that
believe."
How long? I think at least until they had gone into all the
world. Certainly those signs should follow until all the world had
been visited. And yet if that declaration was in the mouth of
Christ, he then knew that one-half of the world was unknown, and
that he would be dead fourteen hundred and fifty-nine years before
his disciples would know that there was another continent. And yet
he said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," and he knew
then that it would be fourteen hundred and fifty-nine years before
anybody could go. Well, if it was worth while to have signs follow
believers in the Old World, surely it was worth while to have signs
follow believers in the New. And the very reason that signs should
follow would be to convince the unbeliever, and there are as many
unbelievers now as ever, and the signs are as necessary to-day as
they ever were. I would like a few myself.
This frightful declaration, "He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned," has
filled the world with agony and crime. Every letter of this passage
has been sword and fagot; every word has been dungeon and chain.
That passage made the sword of persecution drip with innocent blood
through centuries of agony and crime. That passage made the horizon
of a thousand years lurid with the fagot's flames. That passage
contradicts the Sermon on the Mount; travesties the Lord's prayer;
turns the splendid religion of deed and duty into the superstition
of creed and cruelty. I deny it. It is infamous! Christ never said
it.
IV
THE GOSPEL OF LUKE.
It is sufficient to say that Luke agrees substantially with
Matthew and Mark.
"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."
Good!
"Judge not and ye shall not be Judged: condemn not and ye
shall not be condemned: forgive and ye shall be Forgiven." Good!
"Give and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed
down, and shaken together, and running over." Good! I like it.
"For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be
measured to you again."
He agrees substantially with Mark; he agrees substantially
with Matthew; and I come at last to the nineteenth chapter.
"And Zaccheus stood and said unto the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, the
half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything
from any man by false accusation, I restore him four fold.' And
Jesus said unto him, 'this day is salvation come to this house.
That is good doctrine. He did not ask Zaccheus what he
believed. He did not ask him, "Do you believe in the Bible? Do you
believe in the five points? Have you ever been baptized --
sprinkled? Oh! immersed? "Half of my goods I give to the poor, and
if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I
restore him four fold." "And Christ said, this day is salvation
come to this house." Good!
I read also in Luke that Christ when upon the cross forgave
his murderers, and that is considered the shining gem in the crown
of his mercy. He forgave his murderers. He forgave the men who
drove the nails in his hands, in his feet, that plunged a spear in
his side; the soldier that in the hour of death offered him in
mockery the bitterness to drink. He forgave them all freely, and
yet. although he would forgive them, he will in the nineteenth
century, as we are told by the orthodox church, damn to eternal
fire a noble man for the expression of his honest thoughts. That
will not do. I find, too, in Luke, an account of two thieves that
were crucified at the same time. The other gospels speak of them.
One says they both railed upon him. Another says nothing about it.
In Luke we are told that one railed upon him, but one of the
thieves looked and pitied Christ, and Christ said to that thief:
"To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."
Why did he say that? Because the thief pitied him. God can not
afford to trample beneath the feet of his infinite wrath the
smallest blossom of pity that ever shed its perfume in the human
heart!
Who was this thief? To what church did he belong? I do not
know. The fact that he was a thief throws no light on that
question. Who was he? What did he believe? I do not know. Did he
believe in the Old Testament? In the miracles? I do not know. Did
he believe that Christ was God? I do not know. Why then was the
promise made to him that he should meet Christ in Paradise? Simply
because he pitied suffering innocence upon the cross.
God can not afford to damn any man who is capable of pitying
anybody.
V
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.
And now we come to John, and that is where the trouble
commences.
The other gospels teach that God will be merciful to the
merciful, forgiving to the forgiving, kind to the kind, loving to
the loving, Just to the just, merciful to the good.
Now we come to John, and here is another doctrine. And allow
me to say that John was not written until long after the others.
John was mostly written by the church.
"Jesus answered and said unto him: verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of
God."
Why did he not tell Matthew that? Why did he not tell Luke
that? Why did he not tell Mark: that? They never heard of it, or
forgot it, or they did not believe it.
"Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he can not
enter into the kingdom of God." Why?
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye
must be born again." "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and he might have
added, that which is born of water is water.
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, 'ye must be born again.'"
And then the reason is given, and I admit I did not understand it
myself until I read the reason, and when you hear the reason, you
will understand it as well as I do; and here it is: "The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth." So, I find
in the book of John the idea of the Real Presence.
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must the Son of man be lifted up;"
"That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life."
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have
everlasting life,"
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved."
"He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God."
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he
that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of
God abideth on him."
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life."
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now
is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they
that hear shall live."
"And shall come forth; they that have done good unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation."
"And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and
I will raise him up at the last day."
"No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me,
draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day."
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life."
"I am that bread of life."
"Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead."
"This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man
may eat thereof, and not die."
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man
eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I will
give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
"Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you,
except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye
have no life in you."
"Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
"For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed."
"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in
me, and I in him."
"As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father;
so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me."
"This is that bread which came down from heaven; not as your
fathers did eat manna, and are dead; he that eateth of this bread
shall live forever."
"And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come
unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die."
"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his
life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal."
So I find in the book of John, that in order to be saved we
must not only believe in Jesus Christ, but we must eat the flesh
and we must drink the blood of Jesus Christ. If that gospel is
true, the Catholic Church is right. But it is not true. I can not
believe it, and yet for all that, it may be true. But I do not
believe it. Neither do I believe there Is any god in the universe
who will damn a man simply for expressing his belief.
"Why," they say to me, "suppose all this should turn out to be
true, and you should come to the day of Judgment and find all these
things to be true. What would you do then?" I would walk up like a
man, and say, "I was mistaken."
"And suppose God was about to pass judgment upon you, what
would you say?" I would say to him, "Do unto others as you would
that others should do unto you." Why not?
I am told that I must render good for evil. I am told that if
smitten on one cheek I must turn the other. I am told that I must
overcome evil with good. I am told that I must love my enemies; and
will it do for this God who tells me to love my enemies to damn
his? No, it will not do. It will not do.
In the book of John all these doctrines of regeneration --
that it is necessary to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; that
salvation depends upon belief -- in this book of John all these
doctrines find their warrant; nowhere else.
Read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then read John, and you will
agree with me that the three first gospels teach that if we are
kind and forgiving to our fellows, God will be kind and forgiving
to us. In John we are told that another man can be good for us, or
bad for us, and that the only way to get to heaven is to believe
something that we know is not so.
All these passages about believing in Christ, drinking his
blood and eating his flesh, are afterthoughts. They were written by
the theologians, and in a few years they will be considered
unworthy of the lips of Christ.
I have made up my mind that if there is a God, he will be
merciful to the merciful.
Upon that rock I stand. --
That he will not torture the forgiving. --
Upon that rock I stand. --
That every man should be true to himself, and that there is no
world, no star, in which honesty is a crime.
Upon that rock I stand. --
The honest man, the good woman, the happy child, have nothing
to fear, either in this world or the world to come.
Upon that rock I stand.
**** ****
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
**** ****
The Bank of Wisdom is a collection of the most thoughtful,
scholarly and factual books. These computer books are reprints of
suppressed books and will cover American and world history; the
Biographies and writings of famous persons, and especially of our
nations Founding Fathers. They will include philosophy and
religion. all these subjects, and more, will be made available to
the public in electronic form, easily copied and distributed, so
that America can again become what its Founders intended --
The Free Market-Place of Ideas.
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
and information for today. If you have such books please contact
us, we need to give them back to America.
Bank Of Wisdom
The Bank Of Wisdom is run by Emmett F.Fields out of his home in Kentucky. He painstakingly scanned in these works and put them on disks for others to have available. Mr. Fields makes these disks available for only the cost of the media.
Files made available from the Bank Of Wisdom may be freely reproduced and given away, but may not be sold.
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
The Bank of Wisdom is a collection of the most thoughtful, scholarly and factual books.
These computer books are reprints of suppressed books and will cover American and world
history; the Biographies and writings of famous persons, and especially of our nations
Founding Fathers. They will include philosophy and religion. all these subjects, and more,
will be made available to the public in electronic form, easily copied and distributed, so
that America can again become what its Founders intended --
The Free Market-Place of Ideas.
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old, hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts and information for today. If you have such books please contact us, we need to give them back to America.
Bank of Wisdom,
Box 926,
Louisville, KY 40201