A handbook of Freethought : $b containing in condensed and systematized form a vast amount of evidence against the superstitious doctrines of Christianity
Religion
A handbook of Freethought : $b containing in condensed and systematized form a vast amount of evidence against the superstitious doctrines of Christianity
Christianity -- Controversial literature; Free thought
"John 2 : 3-11: 'And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith
unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have
I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto
the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set
there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of
the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto
them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up to
the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the
governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast
had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was
(but the servants which drew the water knew), the governor of the
feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the
beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk,
then that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine until
now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and
manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.'
"John 4 : 46: 'So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he
made the water wine.'
"The first miracle which Jesus performed was to convert six pots
of water into wine! And this feat convinced his disciples of his
supernatural origin and powers! And he did this to manifest forth
his glory! Either this is true or the Bible is false. Whether true or
not, it has been a most powerful argument against abstinence; it has
resulted directly in making drunkards, as it has indirectly in making
hypocrites and Jesuitical sophists. I of course mean by this last
sentence that the seeming necessity to prove the Bible a temperance
work has made any number of Christian apologists resort to all kinds
of specious arguments and make any number of false claims in order to
make good their assertions. The assumption that this wine was not of
an intoxicating nature is purely gratuitous. There is not even the
ghost of a fact to be found in support of it. Hundreds of passages,
which I have quoted under their appropriate heads, prove beyond a
doubt that the wine so often mentioned in the Bible was intoxicating;
the words of the governor prove that this miraculously produced portion
of it certainly was of the very best, for it is against all reason to
suppose that men accustomed to the taste and effects of wine would
pronounce simple grape-juice to be better than all that had already
been served to them at the feast; and, finally, the declaration that
this act of Jesus was a miracle and that it made his disciples to
'believe on him,' gives the last stroke to the already nearly dead
'non-intoxicating' theory.
"Col. 2 : 16: 'Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or
in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days.'
"In other words, judge for yourselves in all these matters, submit
to no dictation from without. How does that strike you, Messrs. Bible
Prohibitionists?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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