The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 04 (of 12): Dresden Edition—LecturesIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 04 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Lectures
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
All the passages about witches and those having familiar spirits were
born of a belief in the Devil.
When a man who loved Jehovah wanted revenge on his enemy he fell on his
holy knees, and from a heart full of religion he cried: "Let Satan stand
at his right hand."
III. TAKE THE DEVIL FROM THE DRAMA OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE PLOT IS GONE.
The next question is: Does the New Testament teach the existence of the
Devil?
As a matter of fact, the New Testament is far more explicit than the
Old. The Jews, believing that Jehovah was God, had very little business
for a devil. Jehovah was wicked enough and malicious enough to take the
Devil's place.
The first reference in the New Testament to the Devil is in the fourth
chapter of Matthew. We are told that Jesus was led by the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil.
It seems that he was not led by the Devil into the wilderness, but by
the Spirit; that the Spirit and the Devil were acting together in a kind
of pious conspiracy.
In the wilderness Jesus fasted forty days, and then the Devil asked him
to turn stones into bread. The Devil also took him to Jerusalem and set
him on a pinnacle of the temple, and tried to induce him to leap to the
earth. The Devil also took him to the top of a mountain and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world and offered them all to him in exchange
for his worship. Jesus refused. The Devil went away and angels came and
ministered to Christ.
Now, the question is: Did the author of this account believe in the
existence of the Devil, or did he regard this Devil as a personification
of evil, and did he intend that his account should be understood as an
allegory, or as a poem, or as a myth.
Was Jesus tempted? If he was tempted, who tempted him? Did anybody offer
him the kingdoms of the world?
Did the writer of the account try to convey to the reader the thought
that Christ was tempted by the Devil?
If Christ was not tempted by the Devil, then the temptation was bom in
his own heart. If that be true, can it be said that he was divine? If
these adders, these vipers, were coiled in his bosom, was he the son of
God? Was he pure?
In the same chapter we are told that Christ healed "those which were
possessed of devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had
the palsy." From this it is evident that a distinction was made between
those possessed with devils and those whose minds were affected and
those who were afflicted with diseases.
In the eighth chapter we are told that people brought unto Christ many
that were possessed with devils, and that he cast out the spirits
with his word. Now, can we say that these people were possessed with
personifications of evil, and that these personifications of evil were
cast out? Are these personifications entities? Have they form and shape?
Do they occupy space?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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