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قراءة كتاب Thoughts on the Christian Religion by a Deist
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THOUGHTS ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION BY A DEIST
TO WHICH ARE ADDED, A FEW IDEAS ON MIRACULOUS CONVERSION, AND RELIGION IN GENERAL.
By A Theophilanthropist
THOUGHTS ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION BY A DEIST
Religion, in some form or other, seems to have been observed by mankind, in all ages and all parts of the world; and considered as the most noble employment, of the most divine nature, and producing the most beneficial effects to society, of all the objects that ever engaged their attention: although from casual circumstances, and interested motives of individuals, there are as many modes and varieties of worship, as languages or nations on the face of the earth.
Europeans have in general embraced Christianity, as contained in the Bible, which they call the Word of God, as the only true and infallible system on earth, and which only can lead us to eternal happiness. This Bible, we have been taught to believe, is holy, just, perfect, and superior to the human understanding; so sacred, that to doubt or disbelieve it, would entail on us inevitable never-ending misery. This doctrine, being instilled into children by their nurses, and enforced by terror at a riper age, has long been assented to by the generality of people, who seldom think or enquire for themselves, but are always more or less the dupes of designing men.
But the times are now changing; the privilege of reasoning and believing for ourselves begins to be exercised—freedom of enquiry abounds; and the natural inherent right of speaking and acting according to the dictates of our own conscience (without injuring society) is happily enjoyed. Consequently, impositions of every kind, superstitious prejudices, and the long worshipped fabrics of civil and religious tyranny, are daily growing into contempt, and in all probability will soon be torn from their foundations, and consigned to that infamous oblivion which they so highly merit.
To come more immediately to the point—the Christian religion, as generally practised, presents itself as one of those monuments of ignorance and credulity, which the wisdom of the present generation is probably destined to overthrow, and to substitute a system more simple, more pure, and more agreeable to the dictates of reason. The Bible, upon examination, we shall find deficient in many of the virtues that have been ascribed to it. As a human composition, its merits have been greatly over-rated: it is exceeded in sentiment, invention, style, and every other literary qualification. The obscurity, incredibility, and obscenity, so conspicuous in many parts of it, would justly condemn the works of a modern writer. It contains a mixture of inconsistency and contradiction; to call which the word of God, is the highest pitch of extravagance: it is to attribute to the Deity that which any person of common sense would blush to confess himself the author of.
How are the rights and dignity of human nature insulted, degraded, and trampled upon! how are mankind blinded, deceived, and led away by this system! how is the honour and character of the Almighty affronted by the absurd and impious doctrines it contains! How is the sacred name of God abused and prostituted to the vilest and most execrable purposes, by his pretended worshippers! And all for one simple, evident end, to gratify the pride and avarice of unprincipled, designing men!
But something more than declamation is necessary to support these assertions. I shall therefore give the reasons why I disbelieve the Christian system, and all the arguments advanced in its favour.
As to the existing proofs of the divine authority of the Bible, whether internal or external, whether the evidence we feel in our own minds on examining it, or the miracles which are said to have attended its propagation, they are of no avail in convincing us of its divine origin: and I do not think, that independent of the prejudices of education, and the power of eloquence, there ever was a reasonable thinking man, who felt a sufficient internal evidence to convince him of the reality of the whole of its doctrines.
With respect to the public proofs exhibited by its founders, we find them no stronger than those in favour of Mahometanism, or perhaps any other system. Mahomet is said to have wrought as many miracles, preached as good doctrine, converted ten times as many followers, and was far more successful in all his enterprizes, however bold or difficult, than Jesus Christ. The Christians say, the Mahometan miracles were nothing but impostures; and the Mahometans say, with as much authority, that the Christian miracles were the same.
If the gospel system was so clear, so reasonable, and so powerful, as its advocates assert, what necessity could there have been for miracles to support it? If it had any foundation in reason and nature, there would have been no occasion for mystery, miracle, or revelation, to confirm it. A doctrine that is reasonable and true, will appear so to every unprejudiced mind, without the aid of any thing supernatural. Consequently, that system which requires miraculous assistance to establish it, and cannot be proved by human means, is neither reasonable nor true.
Supposing the Bible to have been written by divine inspiration, at the times, and by the persons mentioned in it, still it is next to impossible, that it could have been transmitted down to the present time pure and uncontaminated, even if there had been but one nation and one language upon earth. The variety of translations and editions it has passed through in the course of near 1800 years, if it has existed so long, (which I am inclined to disbelieve of many parts) and the continual improvements and alterations in human language, during that period, amount to a presumptive proof that the sense has been unavoidably mistaken, or wilfully perverted. A confirmation of this remark is open to all: let any one take the trouble of comparing different copies of the Bible, printed in the last and present centuries, or even in the same year, and he will often find a striking disagreement.
Admitting that the Bible contains the only doctrine by which we can obtain salvation and everlasting life, which of the numberless professions that have sprung out of it are we to embrace? One sect tells us that there is no salvation out of the pale of their church. Another tells us, that unless we believe and practise their doctrines, we shall surely be damned. Let us believe, therefore, in whatever particular profession we may, we shall be damned according to the principles of the others.
How gracious and beneficent is the Christian system! so perfect and pure that it creates so many different, distinct, and opposite denominations of believers; all of them