Posted on 01/22/2023 3:57:33 PM PST by SeekAndFind
There is a concerted effort to destroy the very foundations of our constitutional republic. Public schools have been ground zero of this attack for decades, though it has been hidden from view from those not paying attention. But it is now out in full view, with the radical advancement of Critical Race Theory and the rewriting of American History.
Fake History’s ultimate target is the foundation of the United States and the Founders themselves. If you can discredit or marginalize the Founders, you can marginalize their ideas and principles and then discard them.
As we just passed Religious Freedom Day, January 16th, which celebrates the Religious Freedom Statutes of 1786 signed by then Governor Thomas Jefferson, I want to take a moment to debunk a hoax created about Thomas Jefferson that began to get real traction toward the end of the last century. The purpose of this hoax is to marginalize Thomas Jefferson in the minds of the public, but particularly in the eyes of people of faith, so that in turn his ideas can be marginalized and thereafter nullified and discarded.
The essence of the Jefferson Bible Hoax is this:
“Thomas Jefferson was very irreligious. He dismissed the divinity of Jesus. He hated the idea of miracles. So he took a Bible, cut out all the miracles and pasted the new pages together to create his own Bible and then named it the Jefferson Bible.”
Here are some samples from modern historians propagating this hoax:
“Hunched over his desk, penknife in hand, Thomas Jefferson sliced carefully at the pages of Holy Scripture, excising select passages and pasting them together to create a Bible more to his liking. The "Jefferson Bible." A book he could feel comfortable with.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I consider myself a ‘Christian’.
But it’s been suggested numerous times on this forum that I’m NOT a Christian, since I don’t believe everything in the NT exactly as one of my interlocutors do.
quote?
it’s not a quote until you cite the source.
source please.
Jefferson Letter to Benjamin Rush, dated April 21, 1803.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0178-0001
The purported hoax is:
“Thomas Jefferson was very irreligious. He dismissed the divinity of Jesus. He hated the idea of miracles.
But none of the quotes claim this. All they claim is that he wrote the thing. Which he did.
As far as the term "Jefferson Bible", That colloquial title has been around for at least 60 years. It's nothing new.
That is simply illogical. Rather than the secularization of Jefferson being in order to marginalizing his ideas and thereafter be nullified and discarded, it supports the more secular position.
The essence of the Jefferson Bible Hoax is this: “Thomas Jefferson was very irreligious. He dismissed the divinity of Jesus. He hated the idea of miracles. So he took a Bible, cut out all the miracles and pasted the new pages together to create his own Bible and then named it the Jefferson Bible.”
Actually it seems that Jefferson did cut out numerous sections from the New Testament, excluding all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels that contain the Resurrection and most other miracles, and passages that portray Jesus as divine, and held views contrary to them, as he considered them uninspired additions and seek to present Jesus mainly as a philosopher.
In a letter to John Adams dated October 12, 1813:[8]
In extracting the pure principles which he taught, we should have to strip off the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests, who have travestied them into various forms, as instruments of riches and power to them. We must dismiss the Platonists & Plotinists, the Stagyrites & Gamalielites, the Eclectics the Gnostics & Scholastics, Logos & Demi-urgos, Aeons & Daemons male & female, with a long train of Etc. Etc. Etc. or, shall I say at once, of Nonsense. We must reduce our volume to the simple evangelists, select, even from them, the very words only of Jesus, paring off the Amphibologisms into which they have been led, by forgetting often, or not understanding, what had fallen from him, by giving their own misconceptions as his dicta, and expressing unintelligibly for others what they had not understood themselves. There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as easily distinguishable as diamonds in a dunghill. The result is an 8vo of 46 pages of pure and unsophisticated doctrines - Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 12 October 1813, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0431
Jefferson never referred to his work as a Bible, and the full title of this 1804 version was The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, being Extracted from the Account of His Life and Doctrines Given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; Being an Abridgement of the New Testament for the Use of the Indians, Unembarrased [uncomplicated] with Matters of Fact or Faith beyond the Level of their Comprehensions.
No supernatural acts of Christ are included at all in this regard, while the few things of a supernatural nature include receiving of the Holy Spirit, angels, Noah's Ark and the Great Flood, the Tribulation, the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, a future kingdom, and eternal life, Heaven, Hell and punishment in everlasting fire, the Devil, and the soldiers falling backwards to the ground in response to Jesus stating, "I am he." - Jefferson, Thomas. "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth". Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Indirect source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible which also says,
"There is no record of this or its successor being for "the Use of the Indians", despite the stated intent of the 1804 version being that purpose."
Jefferson is no poster child for Christianity, and as support for US Christian foundation, there are far better examples, as in HISTORICAL QUOTES IN CONTRAST
The book is called the life and morals of Jesus of Nazareth. Not Jefferson bible
Quite frankly, since what Jefferson believed or not about Scripture has no bearing on my faith, I do not see the point of debating an issue that is as contentious as this.
Both sides have what they believe is evidence to support their position, but to what avail?
Nobody is going to convince anyone else, and even if one side proves their point, it will not affect my own personal relationship with Jesus Christ in the least. Nor will I discount the other worthwhile things Jefferson had to say or did.
Jefferson was a deist and he read Latin and Greek. I believe he referred to reading the Bible in the original Greek as most fulfilling.
The colloquial title has been used for a long, long, long time. It's nothing new.
I have a Jefferson Bible. It has the miracles removed.
I think Jesus said something about ‘blessed is the peacemaker’, and ‘agree quickly with thine adversary - which both have been interpreted in different ways :-)
No where in that letter did Jefferson say he was not a Christian or didn’t believe in Christian. You have poor reading skills
The word ‘Bible’ in the original Greek simply meant ‘Book’ - or sometimes ‘scroll’ or ‘parchment’.
We didn’t come to use the word significantly for the OT and NT until long after the books in question were written.
Yes it’s has but has no truth in what Jefferson wrote down, anyway it does not matter except to people who wish to destroy this country.
Jefferson never said “I am not a Christian” but it is obvious from his writings that his definition of Christian was not that of an orthodox believer in Christ.
I have a modern facsimile replica version. It’s in Greek, Latin, English, and French. Each page has the same clippings he did so he could compare back and forth between versions.
He definitely needed two copies of each version to finish that version he made.
Before judging what he did, I would recommend someone first achieve his level of scholarship and accomplishment. It’s the rare person who meets that standard.
thanks for the source. my first reading of that particular letter.
ok, my initial take on the letter:
under the Holy Spirit, i read the whole letter very carefully. a couple of times. i’ve read Jefferson’s treatise on Christian morality (not a Bible and am assured that Jefferson wouldn’t have claimed that). i’ve of course read the Declaration.
anyway, after a very close reading, while i see where you are getting your interpretation, i don’t agree that you can stretch that letter to the point you are making. a positive interpretation leaves me convinced that i am seeing the fruits of a Christian. other than that, i’d never judge another man’s claim of faith.
first, i have nothing against the letter read in context which in my judgement is a discussion focused on ‘religion’ and morality. even the first part of the quote you gave out of context, i would have no problem with. would like to read the cited essay on Jesus and Socrates. often thought that there was an interesting comparison there, too. of course he penned the Declaration which bases human rights on God. and i notice at the end of the letter he again implicitly agrees that God gives everyman the right of religious conscience.
the quote you cite is fine and not even in question, i think until you get to the last clause:
“...& believing he never claimed any other.”
but when i think back over scripture, Jefferson may indeed have a point about that. Jefferson a tremendous intellect and a very close reader, i’m sure would have noticed many things about the Bible that others would gloss. now, i recall many others ascribing Godhood to Jesus, and of course the Father’s witness. but himself? many times He demurred. many times he let other’s faith lead them to a belief that he was God. and many times he said believe the works if you don’t believe my followers.
anyway. i thank you for the source. i’m now going to to back and read the Scriptures with Jefferson’s quote in mind. it should be very fruitful.
may God bless you!
In Jefferson’s day, educated people learned Latin and Greek.
Even my father, who would have gone through the American public education system in the late teens through 1920s, was far more educated than most kids who come out of school or even college today.
(And that’s not even mentioning the moral education, which I think was largely on Jefferson’s mind in this endeavor.)
Thank you. I appreciate your civility.
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