The Jefferson Bible

[Doctor Cringelord]

Thomas Jefferson edited the New Testament Gospels, excising any mentions of the supernatural nature of Jesus or his supposed miracles, leaving only his core teachings. He thought the Christian Bible to be a corruption and distortion of those core teachings.

http://uuhouston.org/files/The_Jefferson_Bible.pdf

I too have made a wee little book, from the same materials, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus. it is a paradigma of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book, and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. a more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen. it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me infidel, and themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what it’s Author never said nor saw. they have compounded from the heathen mysteries a system beyond the comprehension of man, of which the great reformer of the vicious ethics and deism of the Jews, were he to return on earth, would not recognise one feature. if I had time I would add to my little book the Greek, Latin and French texts, in columns side by side, and I wish I could subjoin a translation of Gassendi’s Syntagma of the doctrines of Epicurus, which, notwithstanding the calumnies of the Stoics, and caricatures of Cicero, is the most rational system remaining of the philosophy of the ancients, as frugal of vicious indulgence, and fruitful of virtue as the hyperbolical extravagancies of his rival sects.

Thoughts?

 

[Justin of Flavia Neapolis]

Thoughts?

Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner, so...who cares? Tear down his statue, too.

j/k

Being a new Christian, so far I'm a fan of the Epistles. I've never been one for literature, but the nature of Jesus only works in the supernatural context, I believe. His divinity is essential for we are not saved without Him. It's a doctrine of surrendering to our Father through His Son.

The nature of the Trinity is to be illogical. Our rational minds cannot understand the Lord in His true nature.

This coming from a former subscriber of r/atheism.

 

[Qlip]

This sounds well in line with what I know about the people who were most influential in the beginning of our country. There wasn't really a such thing as Atheism back then, at least not at any significant scale. The term often was applied to anything other than a Christian, including Jews and Muslims. But we did have Deism, which is belief in a Christian God, but also the belief that God no longer influences anything in our world:

The Faiths of the Founding Fathers - Wikipedia

the largest group consisted of founders who retained Christian loyalties and practice but were influenced by Deism. They believed in little or none of the miracles and supernaturalism inherent in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Holmes finds a spectrum of such Deistic Christians among the founders,[citation needed] ranging from John Adams and George Washington on the conservative right to Benjamin Franklin and James Monroe on the skeptical left.

 

[Lark]

This sounds well in line with what I know about the people who were most influential in the beginning of our country. There wasn't really a such thing as Atheism back then, at least not at any significant scale. The term often was applied to anything other than a Christian, including Jews and Muslims. But we did have Deism, which is belief in a Christian God, but also the belief that God no longer influences anything in our world:

The Faiths of the Founding Fathers - Wikipedia

Was it not a hangover from the whole masonic traditions? There were a lot of the founders were masons, hence the design on the money, masonry in France attracted a lot of the revolutionaries, although I've read good explanations for that to do with with like minded people all flocking to a club which may not have originally been a vehicle for their ideas but once they did it then was or became known for it. Deism was definitely popular with the French revolutionaries, didnt they try to set up their "cult of reason" as a public or state religion? In their version God was reduced to the role of "creator" or hypothetical creator, arguably its a greater or more definitely atheistic strain of thinking.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner, so...who cares? Tear down his statue, too.

j/k

Being a new Christian, so far I'm a fan of the Epistles. I've never been one for literature, but the nature of Jesus only works in the supernatural context, I believe. His divinity is essential for we are not saved without Him. It's a doctrine of surrendering to our Father through His Son.

The nature of the Trinity is to be illogical. Our rational minds cannot understand the Lord in His true nature.

This coming from a former subscriber of r/atheism.

For an idea of how Christianity can work without the supernatural emphasis, Theravada Buddhism, Taoism, and to a lesser extent Gnostic Christianity are good reference points. I'm not suggesting all Trinitarian Christians abandon their faith, just disagreeing with you that it's the best and only way Christianity might work.

 

[Qlip]

Was it not a hangover from the whole masonic traditions? There were a lot of the founders were masons, hence the design on the money, masonry in France attracted a lot of the revolutionaries, although I've read good explanations for that to do with with like minded people all flocking to a club which may not have originally been a vehicle for their ideas but once they did it then was or became known for it. Deism was definitely popular with the French revolutionaries, didnt they try to set up their "cult of reason" as a public or state religion? In their version God was reduced to the role of "creator" or hypothetical creator, arguably its a greater or more definitely atheistic strain of thinking.

I wonder. I just figured it was the world riding high on new Enlightenment.

 

[Justin of Flavia Neapolis]

For an idea of how Christianity can work without the supernatural emphasis, Theravada Buddhism, Taoism, and to a lesser extent Gnostic Christianity are good reference points. I'm not suggesting all Trinitarian Christians abandon their faith, just disagreeing with you that it's the best and only way Christianity might work.

TBQH, I'm not yet fully convinced about the supernatural aspects myself. My church brothers and sisters are insisting it is a core requirement to believe those things... My faith is closer to that of JP.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

TBQH, I'm not yet fully convinced about the supernatural aspects myself. My church brothers and sisters are insisting it is a core requirement to believe those things... My faith is closer to that of JP.

Careful, you'll get branded a Nazi right winger by certain members in these parts for sharing Jordan Peterson videos.

 

[Justin of Flavia Neapolis]

Careful, you'll get branded a Nazi right winger by certain members in these parts for sharing Jordan Peterson videos.

That doesn't make sense because I'm a colored fellow.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

That doesn't make sense because I'm a colored fellow.

Then they'll probably say you're some sort of traitor or suffering Stockholm syndrome

 

[Justin of Flavia Neapolis]

Then they'll probably say you're some sort of traitor or suffering Stockholm syndrome

Christ came for the slanderers and whores.

 

[Lark]

I wonder. I just figured it was the world riding high on new Enlightenment.

Would it have been new by then though?

I dont know, in any case its liable to have been fanciful elite ideas, all things considered, most people are fighting for their "three aches and a cow", although the same could be said for just about any big up heavel in history.

 

[LucieCat]

Ah the Jefferson Bible... First time I heard of it was in the 8th grade when a teacher told me that Jefferson is currently rotting in Hell because of omitting the divine nature of Jesus (I do not even think she explained it that much though I think that is what she meant. The whole thing sounded to me like Jefferson is in hell because he didn’t mention Jesus enough). Ah... American right wing Christian education... Fascinating system... I would have loved to engage the teacher in a debate, but such critical thinking was not exactly welcome. But given where this school got their curriculum, it should not come as much of a surprise. It could have been worse though apparently.

The religious right is a terrifying movement.

Personally, I do not see anything logically wrong or spiritually corrupt with the Jefferson Bible. But, then again, I am quite liberal religiously. What is worse is manipulating the Bible to spread hate and discriminate. We can get into a theological debate about it, but I am not a biblical literist. Plus, the Bible is gasp potentially fallable? How do we know it was not manipulated by man over its thousands of years of existence? By faith, sure. But plenty of the same people are disregardful of other things the Bible says literally while encouraging racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, rigid gender roles, not even allowing a woman the choice of an abortion when she would literally die without one, and going around condemning people to hell. In my opinion, those things are far worse. And I have seen enough of that hypocrisy to keep me from associating with my religion much other than acknowledging it is my belief system- and even then I am not very specific much of the time. Religion for me is taking what I believe to be the overarching theme of the Bible (love for all and the potential for anyone’s redemption either here or in the afterlife) and trying to embody that, which lots of people fail to do in my mind.

 

[deathwarmedup]

Thomas Jefferson edited the New Testament Gospels, excising any mentions of the supernatural nature of Jesus or his supposed miracles



Thoughts?

On what TJ had to say? Not much, but on the matter of the divinity of Jesus I've long since had a sneaking sympathy for the occasionally-mentioned notion that Jesus of Nazareth was a talented mystic who got a little too carried away with his own importance, perhaps rather like the the 7th century Sufi master Mansur al-Halaj, with whom many comparisons can be made. Both paid a high price for their indiscretions. My reading between the lines of the gospels sometimes suggests to me that there was a human Jesus and a mystical Jesus and that the two were sometimes in uneasy conflict.