Is The Bible Worth Reading, and Other EssaysWashburn, L. K. (Lemuel Kelley)
Religion
Is The Bible Worth Reading, and Other Essays
Washburn, L. K. (Lemuel Kelley)
Free thought
Has it ever been true that Christians had any immunity from danger that
others did not have, or that they could live in defiance of the laws of
Nature? Jesus told his followers that in his name they shall cast out
devils, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it
shall not hurt them and they shall have the power to cure the sick by
laying their hands upon them. Have men, who professed to follow Jesus,
ever done the things which he said they shall do? Is there any man to-day
who can do these things? Is there any evidence that Christians are treated
by any power of the universe differently from what others are treated? And
is there any evidence that they possess any gift that is not shared by
others? As far as we can see Christians are subject to the same laws of
Nature that all others must obey, and they cannot either defy those laws
or act independently of them. If they fool with deadly serpents they will
get bitten and probably die—just the same as would an infidel; if they
drink a cup of poison, they will suffer and perhaps die just the same as
an unbeliever; if they have any sickness, they do not trust to the
laying-on of hands by a fellow-Christian, but send for a doctor the same
as a freethinker. The fact is, the world has learned better than to put
faith in these teachings of Jesus.
The Christian faith belonged to the childhood of the race, and ought no
longer to be preached to man. No one attempts to put this faith into
practice, to carry into life the teachings of Jesus. And why not? Simply
because _it is known to be false_. Christianity is a rainbow religion, a
representation of things for which there is no warrant in Nature; a
picture painted in false colors; a view of life copied from a diseased
imagination; a falsehood fed by priests upon which they live.
There is not an intelligent man or woman living to-day who has any faith
in the rainbow religion taught by Jesus; not an intelligent man or woman
who believes that a heavenly Father or a God will provide food or drink or
clothes for a human being; nor an intelligent man or woman who has faith
that he or she can get good things by asking a "Father in heaven" for them
and not an intelligent man or woman who cares or dares to put the
declaration of Jesus to the test; that those who have faith in him can
play with serpents without danger, and drink deadly poison with no more
harm than attends quaffing a glass of water.
We are then to conclude that Christianity is held only by the ignorant.
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There is greater argument in one fact than in all the creeds.
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It is easier to believe that a man is honest who says the Bible is the
word of God than to believe that he is bright.
A CRUEL GOD
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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