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To: Mylo
I don't believe Jefferson could accurately be called anti-Christian for denying the miracles of Jesus. I think it can fairly be argued that his beliefs accorded with those held by most conservative Christian Americans today, at least those who like myself do not refer to themselves as fundamentalists. Because I believe man to be corrupt, flawed, and sinful, I must be suspicious of every document physically written by man because it has corrupted the pure word of God in some way, intentionally or otherwise.

Despite subscribing to Judeo-Christian principles, I don't believe the Sun has ever stood still, or that two of every animal were ever put on a ship, or that thousands of people can literally eat from a couple loaves of bread.

Even the text of the New Testament never claims (so far as I've understood it) that Jesus's original followers would lay down a divine account of his life. If that were the case, they could not differ in their accounts--and the Gospels do so. Even the Gospel narratives show the various flaws of the disciples; imperfect beings could never lay down a perfect account, could they?

I believe and most Americans believe that the Ten Commandments are a binding eternal law and that we are by God as Christians to follow the merciful example of Christ in our daily lives. But if believing every supernatural story that some mortal scribe recorded on a scroll is necessary to be a "Christian," I would submit that there are quite likely less than a million true "Christians" in the whole of the Western world.

38 posted on 06/23/2005 3:12:58 AM PDT by American Soldier
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To: American Soldier
I didn't say Jefferson was anti-Christian. He treasured the teachings of Jesus and wrote his own version of the New Testament with all the supernatural taken out.

I said Thomas Paine was anti-Christian, it was his greatest downfall intellectually, socially, politically, and spiritually. His writings clearly show his anti-Christian thoughts, and he was clearly one of our more influential founding fathers; once more giving the lie to the notion that all our founding fathers were Christian and that they founded this nation on Christianity; Thomas Paine would give aid and comfort to no such enterprise.
40 posted on 06/23/2005 7:37:57 AM PDT by Mylo
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