Dake Bible Discussion Board ⇒ Thomas Jefferson designed Washington for pagan gods!

[bibleman]

I just saw this and it was surprising to me!

Anyone ever heard of this before?

The Roman Pantheon -- the circular domed rotunda dedicated to all pagan gods -- was suggested by Jefferson, who later shepherded it through several transformations. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/s2.html

[victoryword]

I have never known this and wonder ho true it is. But searching for Thomas Jefferson concerning Christianity you get two bias sides. The Christians quote all of the quotes by Jefferson confirming that he was a staunch Christian (though a Calvinist"). Others continually claim that he was a deist and seem to have proof of that (if their quotes are true).

One claims that Jefferson said, "But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

[branham1965]

i never knew any of this.dear God.

I have never known this and wonder ho true it is. But searching for Thomas Jefferson concerning Christianity you get two bias sides. The Christians quote all of the quotes by Jefferson confirming that he was a staunch Christian (though a Calvinist"). Others continually claim that he was a deist and seem to have proof of that (if their quotes are true).

One claims that Jefferson said, "But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

[titus213]

http://goo.gl/2lJDku

1823 April 11. (Jefferson to John Adams). "The truth is that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in his genuine words. 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 Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors."

[branham1965]

IS NOT OUR CALENDER ROMAN????

i once heard Judge Rutherford told a well meaning student Clayton Woodworth that he was nuts trying to say forget the calender.

[Ironman]

The 'Jefferson Bible' was Thomas Jefferson's attempt to extract an authentic Jesus from the Gospel accounts.
by Marilyn Mellowes
The White House, Washington, D.C. 1804.

Thomas Jefferson was frustrated. It was not the burdens of office that bothered him. It was his Bible.

Jefferson was convinced that the authentic words of Jesus written in the New Testament had been contaminated. Early Christians, overly eager to make their religion appealing to the pagans, had obscured the words of Jesus with the philosophy of the ancient Greeks and the teachings of Plato. These "Platonists" had thoroughly muddled Jesus' original message. Jefferson assured his friend and rival, John Adams, that the authentic words of Jesus were still there. The task, as he put it, was one of

abstracting what is really his from the rubbish in which it is buried, easily distinguished by its lustre from the dross of his biographers, and as separate from that as the diamond from the dung hill.

With the confidence and optimistic energy characteristic of the Enlightenment, Jefferson proceeded to dig out the diamonds. Candles burning late at night, his quill pen scratching "too hastily" as he later admitted, Jefferson composed a short monograph titled The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth. The subtitle explains that the work is "extracted from the account of his life and the doctrines as given by Matthew, Mark, Luke & John." In it, Jefferson presented what he understood was the true message of Jesus.

Jefferson set aside his New Testament research, returning to it again in the summer of 1820. This time, he completed a more ambitious work, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Extracted Textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French and English. The text of the New Testament appears in four parallel columns in four languages. Jefferson omitted the words that he thought were inauthentic and retained those he believed were original. The resulting work is commonly known as the "Jefferson Bible."

Who was the Jesus that Jefferson found? He was not the familiar figure of the New Testament. In Jefferson's Bible, there is no account of the beginning and the end of the Gospel story. There is no story of the annunciation, the virgin birth or the appearance of the angels to the shepherds. The resurrection is not even mentioned.

Jefferson discovered a Jesus who was a great Teacher of Common Sense. His message was the morality of absolute love and service. Its authenticity was not dependent upon the dogma of the Trinity or even the claim that Jesus was uniquely inspired by God. Jefferson saw Jesus as

a man, of illegitimate birth, of a benevolent heart, (and an) enthusiastic mind, who set out without pretensions of divinity, ended in believing them, and was punished capitally for sedition by being gibbeted according to the Roman law.

In short, Mr. Jefferson's Jesus, modeled on the ideals of the Enlightenment thinkers of his day, bore a striking resemblance to Jefferson himself. Thomas Jefferson Wrote His Own Bible, Which Eliminated Christ's Virgin Birth And Deity.

America has never been a Christian nation . . .

Thomas Jefferson put it most poignantly:


No government can continue good but under the control of the people; and people so demoralized [lacking good morals] and depraved as to be incapable of exercising a wholesome control, their reformation must be taken up ab incunabulis. Their minds [must] be informed by education what is right and what wrong, be encouraged in habits of virtue and deterred from those of vice by the dread of punishments, proportioned indeed, but irremissible. In all cases, follow truth as the only safe guide and eschew error which bewilders us in one false consequence after another in endless succession. These are the inculcations necessary to render the people a sure basis for the structure of order and good government. – Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (1819. ME 15:234)

Religion, as well as reason, confirms the soundness of those principles on which our government has been founded and its rights asserted. – Thomas Jefferson to P. H. Wendover, (1815. ME 14:283)

[Ironman]

IS NOT OUR CALENDER ROMAN????

i once heard Judge Rutherford told a well meaning student Clayton Woodworth that he was nuts trying to say forget the calender.

"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." —Colossians 1:18

Mankind's system of tracking time is centered in the Person of Jesus Christ. There is nothing any more prevalent, important and necessary in the life of every human being than time, and yet we so wonderfully see how God has incorporated the preeminence of Jesus Christ into time. Even the vilest of Godless heathens, atheists, and God-haters cannot escape the preeminence of Jesus Christ. It is commonly thought that "B.C." stands for "before Christ" and "A.D." stands for "after death."

This is only half correct. How could 1 B.C. have been "before Christ" and 1 A.D. been "after death"? B.C. does indeed mean "before Christ"; BUT, A.D. actually stands for the Latin phrase "Anno Domini" which means "In the year of our Lord." The B.C./A.D. dating system is not taught in the Bible. Though the Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 A.D., it was not until the 8th century that the system began being adopted in Western Europe.

If Jesus was born in 5 B.C. (The Bible Almanac, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1980) and if He died about at 33 years of age, that would fix his death around 29 A.D. The first Roman calendar was off four years. Today's calendar is a product of the Julian & Gregorian calendars. There was a 1 BC and a 1 A.D. but there was no "0" between B.C. and A.D. Counting 33 years forward from His birth in 5 B.C. would fix his death in 29 A.D. Herod the Great, who ordered the murder of all the babies less that two years old in Bethlehem, died in 4 BC. Therefore Jesus had to be born prior to his death and therefore Jesus probably was born in 5 B.C. or earlier.

The B.C./A.D. dating system was to make the birth of Jesus Christ the dividing point of world history. Clearly, we see the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout history, for our very system of time centers upon His birth into the world. The Creator dwelt amongst humanity. John 1:10, "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not." In this we see God's hand of providence and the preeminence of Jesus Christ in everything, including time. The birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ are the "turning points" of world history.

"B.C." meant "before Christ"; and since His birth, we have been living "in the year of our Lord." Philippians 2:9-11 states;

V. 9, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: V.10, That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; V. 11, And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

[branham1965]

AMAZING MATE.

[Reuben]

Washington was a Mason. The Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Va is deemed in his honor. At Mt. Vernon, artists depiction of Washington in Masonic garb is authentic that celebrated his induction. Washington DC was mapped out accordingly and the spot in the rotunda of the Capitol is the center of the city from which the city was built and branched out from.

Though the faith of some of these men such as Washington and Jefferson could be called in question, their principles for a republic were unequivocally based upon the bible. Also, don't forget the many preachers who were involved in the writing of our founding documents.

[branham1965]

REVEREND

It is just great to see your name here.Thank you for that information.

Washington was a Mason. The Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Va is deemed in his honor. At Mt. Vernon, artists depiction of Washington in Masonic garb is authentic that celebrated his induction. Washington DC was mapped out accordingly and the spot in the rotunda of the Capitol is the center of the city from which the city was built and branched out from.

Though the faith of some of these men such as Washington and Jefferson could be called in question, their principles for a republic were unequivocally based upon the bible. Also, don't forget the many preachers who were involved in the writing of our founding documents.