Paine’s Christianity (Part 1)

Sierra Times ^ | Steve Farrell

[Sir Gawain]

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[freekitty]

Well, we are in the scientific age.

[=Intervention=]

And who decreed it so?

[=Intervention=]

Excellent find!

[Huck]

Paine is remembered very well. When I was in elementary school in the 70s, we were still learning about "Common Sense" and the role of pamphlets in the Revolutionary period.

In Morristown, NJ there is a monument commemorating Thomas Paine.

I do agree with the author that Paine's anti-Christian writings were out of step with his peers.

[joesnuffy]

The reach of course is to compare a moral man of courage a founding father with today's
miscreant atheists and pagans of the ACLU - People for the American Way- People for the Separation of Church & State-Southern Poverty Law Center- ad nauseum

There is no moral equivilancy ..not even close...never will be...

Pain wasnt trying to side with the Brits and return us under bondage of the king or as theses Marxists wish the 'State' as King

The problem here is the moral morass these traitors are promoting...to cling to the image of them as "Thomas Paines"...is like Al Sharpton. Cindy McKinney and Jesse Jackson clinging to the image of Martin Luther King as their own..
imo

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP

[CobaltBlue]

Google hits for "Thomas Paine" OR "Tom Paine" = 131,000

Google hits for "Gouverneur Morris" = 6060

Coincidence? I think not. Tom Paine still matters, Gouverneur Morris doesn't. Old Tom has the last laugh.

[reasonseeker]

"Yet, I prefer to remember Thomas Paine when he was still every whit a Christian..."

It is wishful thinking on your part to assert that Paine was ever "every whit a Christian," since he says right in "The Age of Reason":

"From the time I was capable of conceiving an idea and acting upon it by reflection, I either doubted the truth of the Christian system or thought it to be a strange affair; I scarcely knew which it was, but I well remember, when about seven or eight years of age, hearing a sermon read by a relation of mine, who was a great devotee of the Church, upon the subject of what is called redemption by the death of the Son of God. After the sermon was ended, I went into the garden, and as I was going down the garden steps (for I perfectly recollect the spot) I revolted at the recollection of what I had heard, and thought to myself that it was making God Almighty act like a passionate man, that killed his son when he could not revenge himself in any other way, and as I was sure a man would be hanged that did such a thing, I could not see for what purpose they preached such sermons. This was not one of that kind of thoughts that had anything in it of childish levity; it was to me a serious reflection, arising from the idea I had that God was too good to do such an action, and also too almighty to be under any necessity of doing it. I believe in the same manner at this moment; and I moreover believe, that any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system."

[reasonseeker]

If Paine made a mistake, it was in pandering to the "common folk" by using Bible passages to help justify a break with England (probably as a result of suggestions from Benjamin Rush) in "Common Sense." It was a calculated move that, judging by his later remarks in "The Age of Reason," showed that he didn't really believe the truth of the Bible even then, and so wasn't completely forthright in writing "Common Sense." Also, the snub he got when he returned to America had to do with more than his writing "The Age of Reason." He had also severely criticized Washington in print, and that hardly helped matters. However, the snub Paine got was not a reflection on him, but on the ungrateful people of America, who had quickly forgotten Paine's great contribution to the formation of the United States.

[PhilipFreneau]

"The moral duty of man consists in imitating the moral goodness and beneficence of God manifested in the creation toward all his creatures. That seeing, as we daily do, the goodness of God to all men, it is an example calling upon all men to practice the same toward each other." -- Thomas Paine

Paine may not have realized it, but he was recommending everyone live according to the law of the Lord, which reads, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law . . ." (Matthew 7:12).

[Lorianne]

Compare and contrast Paine with the Christian slave owners and slavery appeasers among our Founders.

We should take care to remember our Founders were great men, but fallible men, not Gods incarnate .... no matter their religious beliefs.

[Russell Scott]

Paine was an amazing man. He had an incredible prophetic dream, which many people wrongly interpreted to be about the revolutionary war, when in fact it was about Christ's coming Kingdom on Earth, and the time we are living in.

You can read it here.

[freekitty]

Many people. You can call it technology, spiritual or whatever. I believe our last age was industrial and the age before that was agricultural.

Any more accusations?

[=Intervention=]

The article-writer lays out specific and compelling evidence otherwise.

[=Intervention=]

No-one is arguing that they were gods....

[=Intervention=]

When you say "THIS IS..." I'm quite interested in how it came to be. The sole source of this being the scientific age is your own belief. That's all well and good, but it certainly doesn't make it true for anyone but yourself.

[=Intervention=]

Oh I'm sorry...the beliefs of many unnamed people...Nice, but not convincing...

[freekitty]

Are we on the same page? Where did I say this is?