God Gave Us Reason, Not Religion
THINKonline!
December 2008
IN THIS ISSUE:
The Christmas Story via Thomas Paine
Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Mithras to All!
End of Year Deist Push!
News of Interest to Deists
Inspiring Thought Provoking Quotes
The Christmas Story via Thomas Paine
The Christmas Story via
Thomas Paine
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Out About Deism!
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Each card is loaded with
chapter and verse
citations that will help
awaken sincere believers
to the fact that both
"holy" books are
degrading to God, to
people and to reason!
by Bob Johnson
As Deists, we all value the wisdom and insight of Thomas
Paine. We're especially thankful for Paine's open
promotion of Deism. His active advancement of Deism
brought him much persecution and hatred from the
Christian world in which he lived. Fortunately, this had no
effect on his actions for Deism!
In his powerful book, The Age of Reason, Paine openly
and honestly examines the Bible in the most objective way.
In it, he examines the Biblical account of the conception
and birth of Jesus. Since this is the Christmas season, I'd
like to cover the Christmas story based on Paine's writings
in The Age of Reason.
Paine writes that the "fable of Jesus Christ, as told in the
New Testament" is "blasphemously obscene."
In his powerful and thought provoking direct style he writes,
"It (the New Testament) gives an account of a young
woman engaged to be married, and while under this
engagement she is, to speak in plain language, debauched
by a ghost, under the impious pretense (Luke 1:35), that
'the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
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Highest shall overshadow thee.' Notwithstanding which,
Joseph afterward marries her, cohabits with her as his
wife, and in his turn rivals the ghost. This is putting the
story into intelligible language, and when told in this
manner, there is not a priest but must be ashamed to own
it."
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From Catholic Priest to Deist!
Ray Fontaine was a Roman
Catholic priest for over 20 years.
After deep contemplation he
One issue that Paine addresses and which must be very
important to all sincere people who value the truth are the
two genealogies of Jesus, one given at Matthew 1:6 and
the other at Luke 3:23. The one in Matthew is 28
generations from Joseph to David but the genealogy in
Luke is 43 generations! (This point is clearly and
concisely made in the first set of Deist Reality Cards) This
is a great issue to raise with sincere Christians. As Paine
writes, "If they cannot be believed in their account of his
natural genealogy, how are we to believe them when they
tell us he was the Son of God begotten by a ghost, and
that an angel announced this in secret to his mother? If
they lied in one genealogy, why are we to believe them in
the other?
"If his natural genealogy be manufactured, which it
certainly is, why are we not to suppose that his celestial
genealogy is manufactured also, and that the whole is
fabulous? Can any man of serious reflection hazard his
future happiness upon the belief of a story naturally
impossible, repugnant to every idea of decency, and
related by persons already detected in falsehood? Is it not
more safe that we stop ourselves at the plain, pure and
unmixed belief of one God, which is Deism, than that we
commit ourselves on an ocean of improbable, irrational,
indecent and contradictory tales?"
realized that the Catholic Church,
Christianity and the Bible do not
bring us closer to God. Relying on
reason and courage, Ray became
an active Deist! His thought
provoking book, My Life With God
IN and OUT of the Church,
examines his life and the reasons
he evolved into a Deist. It's a great
read! To order this outstanding
I love Paine's direct honesty! It allows us to free ourselves
from the fear and superstition that has for far too long run
rampant across the earth and brought with it ignorance,
misery and death. When we look objectively at the
Christmas story we can only come to the same conclusion
that fellow Deist Elihu Palmer arrived at - if Jesus was a
real person he was nothing more than an illegitimate Jew,
and not God nor the Son of God. This is a very refreshing
realization since it frees us from attempting to make sense
book, please click here!
out of the nonsense of the Bible!
As Deists at this time of the year we can celebrate the
Winter Solstice (or Deists in the southern hemisphere can
celebrate the Summer Solstice) based on the reality of
what it is: a design in Nature that tells us there is a
Designer of Nature!
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Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Mithras to All!
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The below article first ran in the
December/January THINK!
Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Mithras to
All!
by Stephen Van Eck
One of the most tiresome and predictable
aspects of the holiday season is the annual
lament that we're "forgetting whose birthday
it is." Related to that is the exhortation to
"keep
Christ
in
Christmas."
Those who employ these tired slogans simply
do not understand Christmas at all. A review
of the true historical roots of Christmas might
help ease their confusion, and should be
diverting to those who've never been
bothered by the secular aspects of this
holiday.
Devout Christians are of the opinion that
Christmas has been corrupted, becoming
more secular in recent decades than in its
authentic form. Nothing can be further from
the truth. What they fail to understand is that
Christmas
is
actually
the
awkward
amalgamation
of
two
distinct
cultural
heritages,
pagans
Christian and
had
the
pagan. And the
holiday
first.
Unknown to many, Christmas has its origins in
the winter solstice festivals that virtually all
ancient civilizations observed. (The Romans
called it the Saturnalia.) The sun had ceased
its ebbing, and had started to return to the
world. Days stopped getting shorter, as if the
light were reborn. The occasion was marked
with
feasting
and
merrymaking.
The original Christian church spread itself into
cultures that had strong pagan traditions.
They found these practices difficult to
eradicate, and instead settled on a policy of
consciously co-opting them. Pagan traditions
continued, but in a new Christian context. This
is what happened with the winter solstice
festivals.
There is no record whatsoever of the specific
date of Jesus' birth, but December 25th is
extremely unlikely. (While shepherds watched
their flocks by night? Not in the winter they
didn't!)
The Church quite deliberately selected
December 25th as a way of co-opting the
solstice celebration. Since it was the time of
the light coming back into the world, it had a
practical symbolic tie-in that served their
purposes
well.
It could have been December 21st, a typical
date for the actual solstice, but December
25th happened to be the birthday of Mithras,
a Persian savior-god who was himself
considered the light of the world. Mithras had
a sizable cult within the Roman Empire during
the first two centuries of the Christian Era,
and by appropriating his birthday for their
Savior, Christians could more easily convert
Mithraites with a remarkably similar tale. As
Mithras is forgotten today, it's clear the
strategy
was
a
rousing
success.
But Christmas continued as a schizophrenic
holiday, part pagan festival, part Christian
narrative. Along the way it absorbed more
pagan elements that had absolutely nothing to
do with Christian theology. Such things as
decorating fir trees, hanging mistletoe, and
sleigh bells in the snow simply do not pertain
to ancient Palestine or Christian dogma at all,
but they've had a strong appeal to our
civilization just the same. It's a true reflection
of
our
forgotten
pagan
heritage.
Eventually, most Christians were no longer
aware of the pagan origin of Christmas, which
only created confusion over its persistent
pagan aspects. The Puritans, however, did
recognize its essential pagan character, and
some early American colonies actually
prohibited the celebration of Christmas.
One suspects they may have been disturbed
not just by the paganism, but by the prospect
that some people might actually cut loose and
have fun. To them, December 25th was
strictly to be just another working day, to be
faced as sternly and joylessly as possible. The
present-day Jehovah's Witnesses attitude,
when it comes to the legitimacy of Christmas,
is
pretty
much
the
same.
The increasing secularism of the Christmas
season, then, represents not a corruption of
its original form, but a re-emphasis on the
paganism that lies at its very foundation.
Paganism that, since it was the original source
of the holiday, has a more legitimate right to
define what that holiday is. And let's face it all these pagan customs are actually rather
enjoyable.
You'll get no "bah humbug" from me - I'll
leave that to the Christians, who failed to coopt the holiday completely, and are now upset
that to most of us, it means something
besides drab indoctrination. Merry Mithras to
all, and to all a good night.
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End of Year Deist Push!
End of Year Deist Push!
As we end 2008 I'd like to thank everyone who has helped us to
get the word out about Deism! Without you, Deism would not be
growing as it is. Thank you!!!
Deism is the most solid and sound idea about God known to
humanity. Because it strongly embraces our God given reason,
it's positive potential is limitless. It is a true honor to be a Deist
and to do all we can to help make other people aware of
Deism. We do this in a nonintrusive way in keeping with the
principle in the membership application of our World Union of
Deists which states, "Further, I respect the right of all people to
believe, or not to believe, in God, as they choose and I will
never attempt to deny anyone that basic freedom. I will,
however, promote Deism to the best of my ability."
It's common sense to know that an idea requires resources to
become known. Deism is pitted against the huge and powerful
"revealed" religions who have seemingly limitless resources to
spread their superstitions and manmade dogmas and fears. I'm
asking all Deists to help us compete with these giants
by making an end of year donation to the World Union of
Deists. To do this please click on the DONATE button at the
lower left corner of www.deism.com to make a secure online
donation, or you can mail your donation to World Union of
Deists, Box 4052, Clearwater, FL 33758.
Thank you very much for taking a positive role in the promotion
of Deism! With your help we will make our 16th year, 2009, the
best year ever for the growth of Deism!!!
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News of Interest to Deists
News of Interest to Deists
A Christian liar who runs a home to help troubled girls is caught
in his lie. He claimed Mercy Ministries of Australia was not
performing exorcisms on the girls. However, an exorcism
handbook from Mercy Ministries has been uncovered!
A former Catholic priest admits he molested children while a
priest. He even admits to molesting kids who are now adults but
can't get any justice because of statute of limitations problems.
How Christian superstition is killing our kids.
A rabbi says a vote for the Shas Party will win the voter
heavenly rewards! How Biblical!
Israel prevented a boat full of medical supplies from reaching
Gaza and breaking its blockade of the Palestinians who voted
the wrong way when they overwhelmingly and under the eye of
international monitors voted for Hamas. So much for
"democracy" in the Middle East!
It's in the genes! A recent genetic study reveals that many more
Sephardic Jews converted to Christianity in 1490s Spain than
previously thought.
Religious violence in Africa.
Witches find work in Sweden!
The business of exorcising demons from children.
Obama sounding more like Bush on foreign policy.
The Vatican forgives John Lennon for saying the Beatle's are
more popular than Jesus!
Inspiring and Thought
Provoking Quotes
"Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to
whatever is dictated to it. "
"The greatest remedy for anger is delay."
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom
must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
"Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he
whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves
his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death."
Thomas Paine
"I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue
us for calling him 'father' ."
"The best way out of a difficulty is through it."
Will Rogers
"Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected."
"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial
fire, called conscience."
"Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to
light."
George Washington
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