Posted on 11/20/2012 1:47:47 PM PST by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
It never ceases to amuse – if not infuriate – how often atheists claim as one of their own much-revered historic figures who happen to make the news for some reason or another.
So it was when Neil Armstrong went to be with the Lord this past August.
So it was when Albert Einstein’s so-called “God Letter” went on auction last month.
And so it is now with Abraham Lincoln.
The nation’s 16th president is the subject of a new motion picture, helmed by Stephen Spielberg, the Oscar-winning director, with the screenplay penned by Tony Kushner, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner.
The Great Emancipator also is the subject of a new book, “Lincoln’s Battle with God: A President’s Struggle with Faith and What it Meant for America,” authored by Stephen Mansfield, who has previously produced several New York Times best-sellers.
If you check out some of the atheist web sites, with names like Atheist Empire and Positive Atheists, they insist that Lincoln was a non-believer, a “freethinker.” And to support their contention, they trot out second-hand quotes attributed to the rail-splitter.
“The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession,” Joseph Lewis, claims Lincoln said.
“The unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing years, and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them,” Lincoln reputedly wrote to Judge J.S. Wakefield.
Now I do not rule out entirely that Lincoln may have spoken or written those words at some point in his life, although there is no hard evidence to that effect. Nor do I rule out the possibility that Lincoln struggled with his faith at some point in his life, as many of us have.
But I am absolutely convinced the great president, who saved the Republic following the Civil War, died a true believer.
Otherwise, he couldn’t have written the spirit-filled words he spoke in his second inaugural address, which followed Civil War, and which Lincoln delivered one month before his assassination:
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Mansfield, the author, writes, “The truth is that Lincoln was, in fact, a religious pilgrim.” I take that to mean that, as a young man, the future president was a religious skeptic, but grew strong over time in his walk with God.
He may even have been like Saul of Tarsus, who actually denounced Christians before being struck blind on the road to Damascus; who was transformed into the Apostle Paul, a servant of Christ.
Interestingly, Kushner, the scriptwriter, who actually describes himself as “an agnostic,” said that working on the Lincoln movie led him to believe that a higher power must have been involved in Lincoln’s life.
“Every once in a while,” said Kushner, “in politics and history, you get this sneaky feeling that somebody shows up at a historical moment when they’re really needed…
It’s eerie that they show up out of nowhere: They seem to be the perfect person for the task, like somebody must be designing this. And there’s no example like this in American history as great as Lincoln showing up when he did.”
Kushner is right. Abraham Lincoln was the perfect person for the task set before him. And I believe the scriptwriter’s suspicions also were right. That the nation’s 16th president did not show up on the scene by accident of history.
There was, indeed, somebody designing that. And that somebody was God Almighty.
Jefferson was a non-Christian and was likely a Deist.
Lincoln was likely not a Christian either, but definitely a monotheist.
The fact that someone quotes from Scripture doesn’t necessarily make him a Christian. Certainly Lincoln, like everybody in his time, was influenced by Christianity and the Bible, it was inevitable. The question is, was Lincoln personally a Christian believer?
Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus. In fact he compiled his own New Testament. He edited out all references to miracles or any super natural events. What was left were the moral and ethical teachings, which Jefferson admired greatly. His edited version is called the Jefferson Bible.
Jefferson did not believe in the supernatural.
The only Christian signer of the Declaration was John Jay.
The only Christian signer of the Declaration was John Jay.
Washington was not a Christian believer.
8 posts at once...is divine Providence.
Most of the testimony we have from those who knew Lincoln earlier in life was that he was never a Christian believer, but they didn't have much contact with him in his later years and simply assumed he didn't change.
My understanding is based on Allen Guelzo's idea of Lincoln's "Calvinized Deism." You could read his book Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President and see if you agree.
“George Washington’s adopted daughter, having spent twenty years of her life in his presence, declared that one might as well question Washington’s patriotism as question his Christianity. Certainly, no one questions his patriotism; so is it not rather ridiculous to question his Christianity? George Washington was a devout Episcopalian; and although as an Episcopalian he would not be classified as an outspoken and extrovert “evangelical” Founder as were Founding Fathers like Benjamin Rush, Roger Sherman, and Thomas McKean, nevertheless, being an Episcopalian makes George Washington no less of a Christian.”
http://christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-g011.html
That does not make him an athiest.
Baptist ping
Actually, only God, Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington know for sure.
My favorite quote of Lincoln was during a national day of prayer during the civil war. A group of Methodist ministers said to Pres. Lincoln, “We pray that God is on our side.” My Lincoln replied, “That is not my concern. But that we are on God’s side is my concern!”
And Muslims claim that they worship the same G-d as Jews & Christians.
Whoop-tee-doo, whatever feeds your agenda, hijack it for your own. Bet that Lincoln was a secret Muslim, too.
He was a Spiritualist —he held seances in the White House.
The internet is chock full of fake quotes ascribing religious sentiments to Washington and Lincoln.
But it appears to also be true that there is not a good source for either of the anti-religion quotes in the article.
“Then little Willie died, the apple of his eye, his beloved son, his little boy. Lincoln was absolutely crushed. He was so overwhelmed with grief that he set aside every Thursday to mourn his death. He would see no one on that day, but wept and mourned and lamented the death of his son Willie.
Dr. Francis Vinton, rector of Trinity Church, came down to Washington from New York. He was a friend of the family, and was allowed in to see the President. Not wanting to beat around the bush, he told him it was not right to mourn like this over his son. He said, “Your son is alive in paradise with Christ, and you must not continue.” Lincoln sat there as though he were in a stupor, and then his mind caught onto the words that Dr. Vinton had said. He exclaimed, “Alive! Alive! Surely, sir, you mock me.” “No, Mr. President, it is a great doctrine of the church. Jesus himself said that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Lincoln leaped to his feet and threw his arms around this pastor. He wept openly and sobbed, saying, “Alive! Alive! My boy is alive!” From that day on there began a change in Lincoln that even his wife Mary noticed.
His religious views began to dramatically change. There is a remarkable letter from an Illinois clergyman who talked to Lincoln after this time. He said this to Mr. Lincoln, “Mr. President, do you love Jesus?” After a long pause, Mr. Lincoln solemnly replied: “When I left Springfield, I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus.”
http://www.timetracts.com/Was%20Abraham%20Lincoln%20a%20Christian.htm
What if they were? Would G-d cease to exist if George Washington or Thomas Jefferson didn't believe in Him?
As an American I revere our Founders, but I don't consider them religious authorities. My beliefs come from a much more ancient source.
I love how the left uses Jefferson’s above mentioned letter against us while ignoring his 17,000 some odd other letters.
Thomas Jefferson was a deist (as was Madison, and perhaps Washington and Franklin as well). Had he lived after Darwin he would probably have been an atheist.
True, he considered himself a chrstian, in the sense of admiring J*sus as a great moral philosopher. He rejected the supernatural, and orthodox chrstianity of any form demands the supernatural (though it seems to have forgotten that lately).
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