Chapter 10 in conclusion

In the first part of The Age of Reason I spoke of three means of deceit, namely: Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy.Since I don't see anything in all the replies to this part of the work, it doesn't matter at least to the issues I'm talking about there.Therefore, I will not repeat unnecessary words in the second part of the book. I also spoke of what is called "revelation" in the first part, and pointed out the absurd misuse of this term for both the Old and New Testaments; Not a problem.What a man has done or seen does not need revelation to tell him how to do it, because he already knows it; nor does he need revelation to teach him how to speak or write.In this case, to use the term "revelation" is either ignorance or deceit; yet under this deceitful description, both the Bible and the New Testament are included among the works that are all revelation.

Since revelation at one time involves a relationship between God and man, it applies only to God revealing his will to men in certain matters, but although God's power to make such a decree must be recognized, because of that power All things are possible, but what is thus revealed (if there is such a revealed thing, which, by the way, cannot be proved) is a revelation to the one who receives it.His narration to others, is not Qiwei: and whoever believes that narration, believes the narrator, who may be deceived, or who may be dreaming, who may be a liar, or who may be a lie.There is no possible standard by which to judge the facts of what he says: for even a morality is no proof of revelation.In all such cases the proper reply is: "I believe the matter to be a revelation when it was revealed to me; The Word of God, and the placing of man in the place of God, are inappropriate." This is what I said in the first part of The Age of Reason; For all things are possible to Almighty God, as stated before, but the deception of one man to another is guarded against, and the evil application of false revelation is ruled out.

Though for my part I thus admit the possibility of revelation, I do not at all believe that God has ever spoken in any manner, by any language, or by any manifestation or manifestation, except that he has manifested himself generally in created things, Or communicate things to people in whatever way we feel. Because of this inconsistency, we have an inherent tendency to abhor the good. The most repulsive crimes, the most horrific cruelties, and the greatest misfortunes, which afflict mankind, have their origin in this thing called revelation or revealed religion.That is the most dishonorable belief against the character of God, and the greatest intrusion against the morality, peace, and happiness of mankind.This kind of propaganda has been going on since the beginning of mankind.We confess that, if it were possible, it would be far better to have a thousand devils (if there were any) left to roam about and openly proclaim their teachings, than to have one liar and wicked man like Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible The Prophets of the 1980s, come among us, speak the false word of God, and gain confidence.

The "Bible" is full of terrible incidents of killing men, women, and children from all over the world. Why do these things happen?The bloody persecutions and the tortures of death, and the wars of religion, which have since turned Europe to blood and ashes, why did these things come about, only because of this impiety called Revelation, only because God Is this absurd belief that people say? The lie in the Bible is one of its origins, and the other origin is the lie in the New Testament. Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not founded by the sword; but what period do they speak of?Twelve men could not have started with swords, they had no such strength; but as soon as the propagandists of Christianity had had enough strength to use swords, they used them, they used stakes, they also used wood; Mohammed did not Probably earlier than they did.In the same spirit, Peter cut off the ear of the high priest's servant (if the story is true): if he could he would cut off his head and his master's too.In addition, Christianity was originally based on the Bible, and the Bible

was enacted entirely by the sword, and made the worst possible use of the sword, not only for terror, but for destruction.The Jews don't convert people, they kill everyone. "The Bible" is the "New Testament" the originator of both; both are called the Word of God.Christians read both of these books, and pastors preach based on these two books. The so-called Christianity is composed of the two.Therefore, it is a lie to say that Christianity was not established by the sword. The only sect which does not use persecution is the Quakers; and the only reason is that they are Deists rather than Christians.They don't believe much in Jesus Christ, and they call the scriptures a "dead writing."They would be nearer to the truth if they had called the scriptures by a worse name.

He who reveres the character of God, whoever wishes to relieve man-made suffering, and to abolish the cause of persecution which has been planted in mankind, has the duty to reject all notions of revealed religion as a dangerous heresy, as a wicked deception .What can we learn from what is pretended to be "revelation religion"?Nothing is useful to man, and everything is disgraceful to the Creator. What does the Bible teach us? —plunder, brutality and murder. "New Testament" What does it teach us? —Teaching people to believe that God raped a married woman?Belief in such rape is called faith.

As for the few fragments of morality scattered in those books, they cannot form a part of a falsely revealed religion.They are the natural dictates of conscience, the bonds that hold society together, without which society cannot exist, and are almost the same in all religions and in all societies.In this matter the New Testament teaches nothing new, and where it tries to stand out it becomes vile.The doctrine of non-retaliation for harm is much better stated in the New Testament than in the New Testament.It was collected from pagans and Jews.In chapter twenty-five, verse 21, it says, "If your enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, give him water." But in the "New Testament," it says, "If someone beats you The right cheek, and even the left cheek is turned to him;" This is to destroy human dignity and make people become lackeys.

Loving your enemies is another bogus moral dogma, and it doesn't make much sense either.As a moral person, it is his duty not to retaliate when he is hurt, and it is also good in a political sense, because revenge has no end; revenge is called justice; but love and harm are equal. Proportion, even if it could be done, would be the reward for crime.Besides this, the term "enemy" is too vague and general to be used in a moral code, which should always be interpreted clearly and regulatedly, like an aphorism.If one person is the enemy of another by misunderstanding and prejudice, as is the case with religious opinions and sometimes in politics, this person is not the same as the enemy of sin; Christ's Sermon on the Mount, in which, apart from some good things, quotes much bogus morality; where it is plain that he says that the doctrine of tolerance, or non-retaliation for harm, is not at all a Jewish doctrine; but this doctrine is found in; according to this This saying must have been copied from the pagans, from whom Christ learned.Those who had been reviled as heretics by Jewish and Christian idolaters had better and clearer ideas of justice and morality than could be found in the Old and New Testaments.Solon replied to this question, saying that the question is "Which is the most perfect and popular government?"No one since him has given a better answer, because it contains a maxim about political morality.He said, "The slightest injury to the humblest individual may be considered an insult to the whole." Solon lived some five hundred years before Christ. --author

It is our unshirkable responsibility to give the most appropriate explanation for our feelings, and it is also conducive to our own stability.But even if he has this wrong motive, it cannot be the motive of love for other parts.It is a moral and natural law impossibility that we can love voluntarily without motivation. Morality is injured by imposing its duties, which are in the first place impossible to perform; which, if performed, would have evil consequences; or, as I have said, encourage crime.Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, does not include the strange dogma of loving one's enemies; for no man expects his crimes and his enemies to be loved by others.

Those who preach the love of one's enemies are generally the greatest persecutors, and they do so consistently, because the dogma is hypocritical, and hypocrisy is the natural thing to do contrary to its propaganda.As far as I am concerned, I do not recognize this dogma, which I regard as a hypocritical or absurd morality; yet there is no one who can say that I have persecuted him.Neither in the American Revolution nor in the French Revolution has anyone or a group of people ever said that, or that I have ever repaid evil with evil.But man is not obliged to repay good for bad, or good for evil.If there is such a thing, it is voluntary, not an obligation.It would also be absurd to think that such dogmas form part of revealed religion.We imitate the moral character of God by tolerating one another, for he bears all things; but the implication of this creed is that he loves, not in proportion to his good, but in proportion to his evil.

If we consider the nature of the situation, we must see that there is no need for such a thing as revealed religion.What do we need to know?Is the creation of the universe as we see it preaching to us that a divine power reigns and governs?Is not this evidence of creation that we feel infinitely more secure than what we can read in books and concoct by impostors to call God's word?As for moral knowledge, it resides in the conscience of every human being. There is.The existence of the power of God is sufficient to show us that we cannot and cannot conceive the nature and manner of its existence.We cannot figure out how we got here ourselves, but we know for a fact that we have come.We must also know the power to teach our being, if it pleases and as it pleases, to teach us the way we live here.So, without exploring other motives for this belief, it is reasonable to believe that he will do so because we know in advance that he can.The probabilities, even the probabilities, of the event are all we ought to know, for if we knew it as a fact we would only be slaves to terror, faith would be worthless, and our best actions would not be Virtue too. Deism has no possibility of deceiving, but teaches us all that we need and ought to know.Creation is the Deist's bible.He read in the Creator's handwriting the inevitability of God's existence and the immutability of his power, and all other scriptures and covenants were forged to him.The possibility that we will hereafter be asked to describe something has, for a thinking being, a religious influence; for facts are not what our belief or unbelief can make or destroy.Since we are in this state, and as agents of freedom, it is fitting that we should be in this state.Only fools, not philosophers, or prudent people, live as if there were no God. But the belief in a God is greatly weakened by the strange allegories of the Christian creeds, the savage adventures of the Bible, and the obscure and obscene nonsense of the New Testament, which makes the mind Feeling confused, like falling into a fog.Seeing all these things in a mass of confusion, he confuses fact with fable; and since he cannot believe them all, he feels a tendency to deny everything.But belief in a God should be distinguished from everything else, and should not be confused with anything.The idea of ​​a trinity of God weakens belief in one God.Diversity of beliefs creates differences of beliefs.As with any division, faith is correspondingly weakened. Religion by such means becomes form, instead of fact, becomes idea instead of principle; morality is abolished, leaving place for the imaginary, which is called faith, which originates in an imaginary debauchery ; it is a man and not God that is preached, and a death sentence is the object of vengeance; the missionaries anoint themselves with blood, like a company of murderers, and pretend to envy the splendor it bestows upon them; their merit in execution sermons; then praise the death sentence of Jesus Christ, and rebuke the Jews for such a thing. A man who hears all this nonsense that is confused with preaching, and who confuses the Creator God with the God of the Christian imagination, lives as if there were no God. Of all devised religious systems, none is more destructive to God, less instructive to man, more contrary to reason, and more contradictory, than that which is called Christianity.Too absurd, too inconvincing, too inconsistent with practice for belief, so that it makes the heart unfeeling, or produces only atheists or fanatics.Like a power machine, it served the ends of absolutism, and as a means of enrichment to gratify the avarice of the clergy. But as far as the happiness of the average person is concerned, in this life or afterward, it does not serve as a guide. The only religion not made up, in which all the evidences of divine origin are found, is pure and simple deism.It must be the first and possibly the last faith of man.But the purity and simplicity of deism do not serve the purpose of despotism.Those governments cannot hold religion as an engine, but confuse it with a human figment, and make their own power a part of it; Its own and their functions are united with it, making it, like the government, an integral part of the system.It is this which forms the otherwise inconceivable association of Church and State; the Church is benevolent, the State despotic. If a man is sufficiently and strongly impressed with the belief in God, his moral life should be governed by the power of that belief; he should be in awe of God and himself, and not do things which are hidden from God or from himself.For this belief to have full force, it must be given independent action. This is deism. But according to the plan of the Christian Trinity, one part of God is represented by a dying man, and the other part called the Holy Spirit is represented by a flying dove. Faith cannot attach itself to this primitive concept.It is a trick of Christianity and other fictitious religious systems to keep men ignorant of God, just as governments keep people ignorant of their rights.The one system is as fictitious as the other, and is intended to support each other.Theology, as in the Christian Church, studies nothing; it rests on nothing, rests on no principles, and conducts itself on no authority; it has no data; it proves nothing, and neither No conclusions can be drawn.Not everything can be studied as a science unless we have a grasp of the principles upon which it is based; but this is not the case with Christian theology, so its study is a castle in the air. In place of the present theological studies of the Old and New Testaments—the significance of which has been disputed and their authenticity denied—it is necessary to mention The Bible of Creation.The principles we find there are eternal and of divine origin.They are the world ① "Matthew" chapter 3 chapter 16 says that the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove; it can also be said that it is like a goose; The claims are also lies. In the second and third verses of the second chapter of "Acts of the Apostles", it is said that suddenly there was a sound from heaven, like a strong wind blowing, and it seemed that eleven tongues appeared: maybe eleven feet.Such nonsense only works in witch and wizard stories. --author The foundation of all existing science must also be the foundation of theology. We can only know God from the works he has done, we do not get a concept from an attribute, but from the principles that lead to that concept.We have only a confused idea of ​​the power of God if we do not have extensive means of knowing certain things.We have no conception of his wisdom except the order and manner in which it acts.The principles of science lead to this knowledge: because the creator of man is the creator of science, and only through this medium can man see God, as face to face. If man could be placed in a situation, endowed with the power of the imagination, to observe a point of view, to contemplate the structure of the universe, to notice the motions of several planets, the causes of their apparent changes, the exact order in which they turn (even to the farthest comet), their interrelationships and interdependence, and knowing the system of laws established by God to govern and govern the whole, he can conceive far beyond what any church theology has taught him, namely The power, wisdom, vastness and magnanimity of God.Then he sees that all scientific knowledge of man, and all mechanical skill, flow from this source; and by using these he can make his situation a little more comfortable here.His mind is enhanced by this condition, and is convinced by the facts; his knowledge increases, and his gratitude increases; his religion or worship is combined with his improvement as a man; His vocation is connected with the principle of creation, as is everything in agriculture, science, and mechanical technology, and will teach him about God and his gratitude to God more than any Christian theology he now hears.Great purpose inspires great thought; great bearing inspires deep gratitude; but the stories of servility in the Bible and the New Testament are only fit to inspire contempt. Though man cannot, at least in this world, attain to the true condition I have described, yet he can indicate it because he has knowledge of the principles upon which creation is based.We know that the largest projects can be represented by models, and the universe can be represented in the same way.The same principles by which we measure an inch or an acre of land apply to millions of acres.A circle one inch in diameter has the same geometrical properties as the circle that encloses the universe.The nature of a triangle that shows the course of a ship on paper also shows the course of a ship on the ocean; applies to things called celestial bodies, and can also be used to detect eclipses (solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, etc.) Minutes, although these celestial bodies are millions of miles away from us.This kind of knowledge originates from God, and man learns it from the Creator's "Bible", not from the stupid church "Bible" that teaches people nothing. All of man's scientific and mechanical knowledge, by means of which he can make his life on earth comfortable; great machines and structures.Our ancestors, in the early days of the imaginary world, brought this knowledge to the earth through their constant and indefatigable observations of the motion and rotation of the celestial bodies. This was not done by Moses and the prophets, nor by Jesus Christ and his apostles.God is Creation. The makers of the Bible set out to give us an account of creation in the first chapter of Genesis; and in doing so they show nothing but their ignorance.They say that after three days and three nights, evening and morning, there is only one sun; when the sun rises and sets, it is the cause of day and night—that is, what are sunrise and sunset, and what are morning and evening?Beyond that, it is child's play and despicable thought to conceive of God meeting, "Let there be light."It's like an imperative used by a juggler when he says to Cup and Ball, "Come on"-probably from this side, because Moses and his descendants are like a magician And his baton, Longina called the claim sublime.On the same principle, the magician is also sublime, for such a statement is equally definite and grammatically the same. When writers and critics speak of the sublime, they fail to see how close it is to fallacy.The sublime of a critic, like the sublime and graceful parts of Edelman Burke, like a windmill seen in a fog, may be distorted in the imagination into a flying mountain, a chief of angels, or a herd of wild animals. Goose. --author Great craftsman of all creations; first philosopher and first teacher of all sciences;--then let me learn to respect our masters, and let us not forget the toils of our ancestors. If we had no knowledge of machinery today, if man could have an idea of ​​the machinery and structure of the universe, as I have said before, he would soon conceive at least some idea of ​​making our present machinery, so conceived Advocates will continue to advance in practice.His mind would arrive at the same insight if a model of the universe, like an orrery, could be set before him and set in motion.Such a purpose and such a subject, for him as a person and a member of society, while advancing knowledge that is useful and interesting to himself, gives him a sense of What is far more beneficial than the boring original text of the "New Testament" made him impress on the knowledge and belief about God, as well as the respect and gratitude that people should have for God.According to the above nonsense scriptures, pastors, however capable they may be, can only preach foolish preaching.If a man must preach, let him preach something instructive and based on scriptures which are held true. The content of the Creator's "Bible" is infinite.Every part of science, whether related to the geometry of the universe, to the system of animal or vegetable life, or to the nature of inanimate matter, is at once a text of philosophy, a text of faith, a text of human progress, and It is a scripture of thanksgiving.It may be said that if there is such a revolution in the religious system, every priest should be a philosopher.This is most certain; every house of piety is a school of science. By departing from the inalterable laws of science, and from the correct use of reason, to establish a fiction called revealed religion, many barbaric and blasphemous fantasies have become creations of God.The Jews regarded it as a genocide in order to make room for the Jewish religion.The Christians made him their own murderer and the founder of a new religion to replace and exclude that of the Jews.To excuse and admit these things; they must assume that his power and wisdom are imperfect, that his will is variable; and that the inconstancy of his will is due to defect in judgment.Philosophers know that the laws of the Creator never change, either as regards the principles of science or the nature of matter.So why do you think that the laws of people have changed? I conclude my discussion of this subject here.I have shown in previous parts of this work that the Old and New Testaments are frauds and forgeries; The views put forward in the conclusion of the book remain in the mind of the reader; and I am sure that when opinions are freely expressed, whether in matters of government or religion, truth will always triumph greatly.