The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 07 (of 12): Dresden Edition—DiscussionsIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 07 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Discussions
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
If it does, never will I have another word to say against Christianity.
It never has taught it. Christianity--orthodox Christianity--teaches
that when you draw your last breath you have lost the last opportunity
for reformation. Christianity teaches that this little world is the
eternal line between time and eternity, and if you do not get religion
in this life, you will be eternally damned in the next. That is
Christianity. They say: "Now is the accepted time." If you put it off
until you die, that is too late; and the doctrine of the Christian world
is that there is no opportunity for reformation in another world. The
doctrine of orthodox Christianity is that you must believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ here in this life, and it will not do to believe on him in
the next world. You must believe on him here and that if you fail here,
God in his infinite wisdom will never give you another chance. That
is orthodox Christianity; and according to orthodox Christianity, the
greatest, the best and the sublimest of the world are now in hell. And
why is it that they say it is not orthodox Christianity? I have made
them ashamed of their doctrine. When I called to their attention the
fact that such men as Darwin, such men as Emerson, Dickens, Longfellow,
Laplace, Shakespeare, and Humboldt, were in hell, it struck them all at
once that the company in heaven would not be very interesting with such
men left out.
And now they begin to say: "We think the Lord will give those men
another chance." I have succeeded in my mission beyond my most sanguine
expectations. I have made orthodox ministers deny their creeds; I have
made them ashamed of their doctrine--and that is glory enough. They will
let me in, a few years after I am dead. I admit that the doctrine that
God will treat us as we treat others--I admit that is taught by Matthew,
Mark, and Luke; but it is not taught by the Orthodox church. I want that
understood. I admit also that Dr. Thomas is not orthodox, and that he
was driven out of the church because he thought God too good to damn
men forever without giving them the slightest chance. Why, the Catholic
Church is a thousand times better than your Protestant Church upon that
question. The Catholic Church believes in purgatory--that is, a place
where a fellow can get a chance to make a motion for a new trial.
Dr. Thomas, all I ask of you is to tell all that you think. Tell
your congregation whether you believe the Bible was written by divine
inspiration. Have the courage and the grandeur to tell your people
whether, in your judgment, God ever upheld slavery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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