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As I have reviewed the threads on Biblical inerrancy and all the various dialogs on how to keep Christianity relevant without internal inconsistency I thought of Thomas Jefferson. He didn’t believe that Jesus was divine, but he felt that Jesus had some valuable things to say.
Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short, April 13, 1820Jefferson also goes on to say…
And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.
-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823Thomas Jefferson made his own Bible which consisted of the teachings of Jesus without the miracles. He appreciated the philosophy of Jesus, but reason was supreme in his view.
Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.”
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp, 30 July, 1816
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.
-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822.When I was deconstructing my own belief in Christianity the issue of life after death was a significant emotional hurdle in maintaining meaning for my life. This included issues with the claims that Jesus died for my sins and a whole lot of complex incongruities. I have since moved through that. I think if Christianity could clarify a philosophy of Jesus devoid of the whole atonement for sin idea and the miracles, Christianity might retain some relevance to day to day life and provide a way to engage in the wider secular discussion of values.
A helpful book in my transition was a book by Kenneth Leong called The Zen Teachings of Jesus. He does a good job of integrating Jesus into a much wider dialog. While I have worked through my own beliefs around Jesus I realize that the figure of Jesus is going to be compelling for a long time. I think it might be useful to develop some type of syncretic evolution of a philosophy of Jesus.
That first quote should be on the front of Bibles. Just my opinion.
I’m sorry if this looks like I’m having a conversation with myself, but that maybe that is the ultimate conversation. There is a book that was discovered near Nag Hammadi in 1945 called The Gospel According to Thomas. This book was later condemned as heretical with all non canonical books being condemned after 347 A.D. by the Archbishop of Alexandria. What is interesting is that this gospel probably predated the canonical gospels. The earliest manuscripts we have for the 4 gospels are written in Greek. There are certain concepts taught in the Bible that rely on the Greek language for understanding. Jesus spoke Aramaic and some aramaic words don’t translate over to Greek very well. The earliest gospel is estimated to have been written around 70 A.D. The Gospel of Thomas was estimated to have been written as early as 50 A.D. There is some evidence that it was translated from Syriac, which is a dialect of ancient Aramaic, the language that Jesus would have spoken.
The Gospel of Thomas has no descriptive language. It is basically a series of 115 sayings of Jesus with no interpretation. Many of these saying are found in the canonical gospels. One of these sayings that might be relatable to what is happening with many people here on The Lasting Supper is as follows…
Jesus said: “Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all”
AnonymousI really appreciate your commitment to your intellect in your faith, Richard. I was also very impressed with Thomas Jefferson’s take on our faith and scriptures. I thought his biblical design had some really important and beneficial aspects for Christians to consider. I believe seeking the truth is at times completely challenging to the folk who believe in biblical inerrancy or the biblical idolaters as I seem to see them. In my walk of faith and truth seeking, I was led through the bible many times and through it in different languages. After thirty years I was released from it to move on. I wish more people who are trapped in the fear of somehow disrespecting the bible by admitting God may be speaking through other writings, could become free. Maybe they will. All I know is, I was set free to seek outside the normal bounds and it has been wonderful for my soul to realize my benevolent God lives and reigns outside the bible. If we could somehow get the people of the fundamental church to realize their idolatry we could save the church from it’s bloody and fearful self.
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