The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 05 (of 12): Dresden Edition—DiscussionsIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 05 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Discussions
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
_Answer_. Of course they have. Infidels are not
honest.
_Question_. Could any additional evidence have
been furnished?
_Answer_. With perfect ease.
_Question_. Would God allow a soul to suffer
426
eternal agony rather than furnish evidence of the
truth of his Bible?
_Answer_. God has furnished plenty of evidence,
and altogether more than was really necessary. We
should read the Bible in a believing spirit.
_Question_. Are all parts of the inspired books
equally true?
_Answer_. Necessarily.
_Question_. According to Saint Matthew, God
promises to forgive all who will forgive others; not
one word is said about believing in Christ, or believ-
ing in the miracles, or in any Bible; did Matthew tell
the truth?
_Answer_. The Bible must be taken as a whole;
and if other conditions are added somewhere else,
then you must comply with those other conditions.
Matthew may not have stated all the conditions.
_Question_. I find in another part of the New
Testament, that a young man came to Christ and
asked him what was necessary for him to do in order
that he might inherit eternal life. Christ did not tell
him that he must believe the Bible, or that he must
believe in him, or that he must keep the Sabbath-
day; was Christ honest with that young man?
_Answer_. Well, I suppose he was.
427
_Question_. You will also recollect that Zaccheus
said to Christ, that where he had wronged any man
he had made restitution, and further, that half his
goods he had given to the poor; and you will re-
member that Christ said to Zaccheus: "This day
"hath salvation come to thy house." Why did not
Christ tell Zaccheus that he "must be born again;"
that he must "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ"?
_Answer_. Of course there are mysteries in our
holy religion that only those who have been "born
"again" can understand. You must remember that
"the carnal mind is enmity with God."
_Question_. Is it not strange that Christ, in his Ser-
mon on the Mount, did not speak of "regeneration,"
or of the "scheme of salvation"?
_Answer_. Well, it may be.
_Question_. Can a man be saved now by living
exactly in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount?
_Answer_. He can not.
_Question_. Would then a man, by following the
course of conduct prescribed by Christ in the Sermon
on the Mount, lose his soul?
_Answer_. He most certainly would, because there
is not one word in the Sermon on the Mount about
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ; not one word
428
about believing in the Bible; not one word about the
"atonement;" not one word about "regeneration."
So that, if the Presbyterian Church is right, it is abso-
lutely certain that a man might follow the teachings
of the Sermon on the Mount, and live in accordance
with its every word, and yet deserve and receive the
eternal condemnation of God. But we must remem-
ber that the Sermon on the Mount was preached be-
fore Christianity existed. Christ was talking to Jews.
_Question_. Did Christ write anything himself, in
the New Testament?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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