Posted on 06/22/2005 2:30:43 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Yes, he was, by his own profession. I stated also he was a Unitarian christian. Unitarian Christians (not unitarian universalists, a big difference) do not believe in the divinity of Christ. They do not believe in the Trinity. But they are Christians much like those who lived 300 years before the Catholic church was established. They followed Christ and spread the Gospels.
Jefferson also referred to himself as a rational Christian. But he was a disciple of Christ and hoped that the entire world could one day be Christian.
"My views...are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the anti-christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus Himself. I am Christian in the only sense He wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others..."
-- Thomas Jefferson, April 21 1803 to Benjamin Rush
"A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am real Christian; that is to say a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."
-- Thomas Jefferson, Jan 9, 1816 letter to Charles Thomson.
"I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to men..."
-- Thomas Jefferson, Nov 4, 1820 letter to Jared Sparks
"Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus." -- Thomas Jefferson, Writings, Vol XIII pg 377
"Had the doctrines of Jesus always been preached always as pure as they came from His lips the whole civilized world would now have been Christians."
-- Thomas Jefferson. Tyron Edwards New Dictionary of Thoughts- A Cyclopaedia of Quotations (1852) p.91
"I have always said, I always will say, that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands."
-- Thomas Jefferson. Tyron Edwards New Dictionary of Thoughts- A Cyclopaedia of Quotations (1852) p.46
-- Thomas Jefferson, Life of Jefferson, by Stephen Abbot Northropp pp252-253
- The doctrines of Jesus are simple and tend to the happiness of man.
- There is only One God and He is all perfect.
- There is a future state of rewards and punishment.
- To love God with all the heart and thy neighbor as thyself is the sum of all.
"No one sees with greater pleasure than myself the progress of reason and its advance towards rational Christianity, and my opinion is that if nothing had ever been added to what flowed from His lips, the whole world would at this day been Christian.... Had there never been a commentor there never would have been an infidel. I have little doubt that the whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator, and, I hope, to the pure doctrines of Jesus also."
-- Thomas Jefferson, Library of American Literature, Vol III pp 283-284 Stephen Abbot Northrop
"The Christian Religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity to its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind."
-- Thomas Jefferson, Mar 23rd, 1801 letter to Moses Robinson
That and SO many others...We are socialistic now and I fear there is no hope of regaining the original intent at the voting booth...it was a nice idea while it lasted, though.
Most history books written in the past 40 years have taken great pains to expurge the influence of Christianity on the founding fathers.
Few people today know that John Leland used to be considered one of the top 5 most important founding fathers. Why? He fought and won the Bill of Rights for the Constitution. Madison refused to insert a BoR until Baptist Preacher John Leland "forced" him to include it by running against him in Orange county and acquiring sufficient votes to win. lelalnd wrote a letter of 10 points on which to establish a Bill of Rights, the most important of which was freedom of religion, and promised to back out of the race and throw his votes to Madison if Madison promised to include the BoR in the Constitution.
A Baptist preacher is singularly most responsible for freedom of religion in the USA.
The notion that Christians would create a theocracy is simple nonsense. Protestants used to have 100% control over the US and they wrote the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
I'm sorry, but people who don't believe in the divinity of Christ are not Christians. This should not even be controversial.
His AUTOBIOGRAPHY! That was not written in the past 40 years, and he wrote it. So is that a no? No validation for your assertion that Franklin repudiated Deism?
In his autobiography he wrote...
Some books against Deism fell into my hands. ... They wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I became a thorough Deist.[1]
A THOROUGH Deist. Any evidence to contradict this?
You thought correctly and thank you for posting this. It contains not one bit of information that I did not already know. However, to see what I know validated by the original document gives me a very comforting feeling, and a few shivers. I once visited St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia where the Second Virginia Convention convened on 20 March 1775. I stood on the exact spot on the very same wooden floor timbers that Patrick Henry had stood on 23 March 1775 when he delivered that famous speech. That also gave me shivers.
I can only hope that future Americans, 100 years hence, don't start quoting Dick Turbin or John McCain.
Jefferson certainly believed in the supernatural. He believed in God. He believed in angels, and Satan, he believed in Prayer and believed that God did intervene in the lives of men. (I have dozens of letters, quotes, from jefferson supporting this)
Jefferson despised the corruption of Christ's words by men who tried to seek advantage over other men. He despised the corruptions of the Catholic church. he did not agree that Christ was God, nor do I. Christ was the Son of God, not God Himself.
Funny, Mylo, but you choose to ignore the many more quotes of Jefferson when he claims to be Christian.
In Protestantism no man tells another man whether they are Christian or not. Each man himself claims their discipleship to Christ.
You can also be Christian without belonging to any specific church (though Jefferson attended several on a regular basis depending whether he was in Virginia or Washington)
Jefferson prayed to God, followed the teachings of Christ and shared the Gospel with others (he wrote books about Christ). I have hundreds of quotes of his supplications to God.
By definition Deists do not pray to God, nor do they believe in an afterlife. Jefferson did both.
You cannot deny Jeffersons own profession of faith in Christ.
You cannot ignore Jeffersons belief in an afterlife and judgment by God.
"We are not in a world ungoverned by the laws and the power of a Superior Agent. Our efforts are in His hand, and directed by it; and He will give them their effect in His own time." -- Thomas Jefferson To David Barrow, Monticello, 1815
Thanks for the link! I've been hunting around for something like this...
Also any evidence that the "Thorough Deist" (his own words about himself) Benjamin Franklin rejected Deism?
*The Left's reading of the 1st Amendment.
Denial of divinity of Christ is a heresy like it was in the case of Arians/followers of Arius. But such heretics are still Christian if they believe that Jesus is Christ/Messiah.
Christian Unitarians are similiar doctrinally to Arians. That is why so called Polish Brethren were also called Arianie/Arians.
Christian Unitarianism is a logical conclusion of progression of the Reformation. Lutherans put individual judgment as arbiter of the Christian doctrine (based on private reading of the Gospels), Calvinism made the human reason the key part of this individual judgement (denying the reality of sacraments) and Unitarianism rejected the mysteries of the Faith like Holy Trinity.
That is why Lutheran Church was named Evangelical Church, Calvinist Church was named Reformed Evangelical Church and Unitarians were called Minor Reformed Church.
later pingout for sure.
Despite subscribing to Judeo-Christian principles, I don't believe the Sun has ever stood still, or that two of every animal were ever put on a ship, or that thousands of people can literally eat from a couple loaves of bread.
Even the text of the New Testament never claims (so far as I've understood it) that Jesus's original followers would lay down a divine account of his life. If that were the case, they could not differ in their accounts--and the Gospels do so. Even the Gospel narratives show the various flaws of the disciples; imperfect beings could never lay down a perfect account, could they?
I believe and most Americans believe that the Ten Commandments are a binding eternal law and that we are by God as Christians to follow the merciful example of Christ in our daily lives. But if believing every supernatural story that some mortal scribe recorded on a scroll is necessary to be a "Christian," I would submit that there are quite likely less than a million true "Christians" in the whole of the Western world.
"...except on public property*..."
or within eagle-eyes view of the same, at least per the ACLU, eh?
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