These good preachers must admit that blowing horns could not throw down the walls of a city, that it was horrible for Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter, that the day was not lengthened and the moon stopped for the sake of Joshua, that the dead Samuel was not raised by a witch, that a man was not carried to heaven in a chariot of fire, that the river Jordan was not divided by the stroke of a cloak, that the bears did not destroy children for laughing at a prophet, that a wandering soothsayer did not collect lightnings from heaven to destroy the lives of innocent men, that he did not cause rain and make iron float, that ravens did not keep a hotel where preachers got board and lodging free, that the shadow on a dial was not turned back ten degrees to show that a king was going to recover from a boil, that Ezekiel was not told by God how to prepare a dinner, that Jonah did not take cabin passage in a fish -- and that all the miracles in the old Testament are not allegories, or poems, but just old-fashioned lies. And the dear preachers will be compelled to admit that there never was a miraculous babe without a natural father, that Christ, if he lived, was a man and nothing more. That he did not cast devils out of folks -- that he did not cure blindness with spittle and clay, nor turn water into wine, nor make fishes and loaves of bread out of nothing -- that he did not know where to catch fishes with money in their mouths -- that he did not take a walk on the water -- that he did not at will become invisible -- that he did not pass through closed doors -- that he did not raise the dead -- that angels never rolled stones from a sepulchre -- that Christ did not rise from the dead and did not ascend to heaven. All these mistakes and illusions and delusions -- all these miracles and myths must fade from the minds of intelligent men. My dear preachers, I beg you to tell the truth. Tell your congregations that Moses was not the author of the Pentateuch. Tell them that nobody knows who wrote the five books. Tell them that Deuteronomy was not written until about six hundred years before Christ. Tell them that nobody knows who wrote Joshua, or Judges, or Ruth, Samuel, Kings, or Chronicles, Job, or the Psalms, or the Song of Solomon. Be honest, tell the truth. Tell them that nobody knows who wrote Esther -- that Ecclesiastes was written long after Christ -- that many of the prophecies were written after the events pretended to be foretold had happened. Tell them that Ezekiel and Daniel were insane. Tell them that nobody knows who wrote the gospels, and tell them that no line about Christ written by a contemporary has been found. Tell them it is all guess -- and may be, and perhaps. Be honest. Tell the truth, develop your brains, use all your senses and hold high the torch of Reason. In a few years the pulpits will be filled with teachers instead of preachers -- with thoughtful brave, and honest men. The congregations will be civilized -- intellectually honest and hospitable. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 17:05:41 +0000
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