I have this hair-brained idea about one of them. This idea is a recent development for me but it has a lot to do with where I am at this time in my own life - it's a "walk a mile in a guy's moccasins" sort of thing.
Jefferson is widely viewed as a deist by many scholars. Then there are those that point to his mentions of the Creator in the Declaration of Independence as well as other writings. He wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and other documents that led people to believe that he had an interest in spirituality, theology and religion.
One quote attributed to him seems to cause some disturbance among church folks and, if he did say this, leads me to my theory.
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."
Questioning the existence of God. Who does he think he is? Must be a deist
Or perhaps, along with being one of the first southerners, Jefferson was one of the first post-Evangelical Christians. Yeah, that sounds crazy and far-fetched. After all, it would be another two centuries before Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Donald Miller, et al showed up on the scene. But give this idea a chance. Weigh it all out.
Jefferson was quite a free thinker whose life was thrown into revolutionary times. He personally set one of the many coffin nails to the time-honored tradition of "Divine right of Kings". He was an inventor of modern gadgets that would change the way many things were done world wide. He was a scientist that experimented with the world around him. He founded a fine institute of higher learning, even to the extent of designing the buildings.
And then there is that one little thing that has kept my theory hidden in a shroud all these years - Jefferson "wrote his own Bible". Turns out, that is a bit of a misstatement - not a Richard Blumenthal misstatement, but a real, honest confusion about the facts. What Jefferson actually did was take out his handy-dandy Bapt...er....King James Version and a sharp pair of scissors. Then he proceeded to edit out everything he saw as supernatural or superfluous. What was the extra stuff he removed? Anything that did not pass between the lips of Jesus Christ - specifically sparing His teachings. He went on to present his edited version to Dr. Benjamin Rush via a letter in which he said.
Jefferson was quite a free thinker whose life was thrown into revolutionary times. He personally set one of the many coffin nails to the time-honored tradition of "Divine right of Kings". He was an inventor of modern gadgets that would change the way many things were done world wide. He was a scientist that experimented with the world around him. He founded a fine institute of higher learning, even to the extent of designing the buildings.
And then there is that one little thing that has kept my theory hidden in a shroud all these years - Jefferson "wrote his own Bible". Turns out, that is a bit of a misstatement - not a Richard Blumenthal misstatement, but a real, honest confusion about the facts. What Jefferson actually did was take out his handy-dandy Bapt...er....King James Version and a sharp pair of scissors. Then he proceeded to edit out everything he saw as supernatural or superfluous. What was the extra stuff he removed? Anything that did not pass between the lips of Jesus Christ - specifically sparing His teachings. He went on to present his edited version to Dr. Benjamin Rush via a letter in which he said.
"In some of the delightful conversations with you in the evenings of 1798-99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you that one day or other I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that 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."
And yes, he also goes on to share some points of contention that would get him branded as a heretic and shunned by most evangelical churches of today. He expressed fears to both Rush and William Short of what might happen if Americans at large were to discover his beliefs and assertions. Even in his day there was grave danger in swimming against the current - the President of the united States was not exempt from this scrutiny. But despite the other "heresies", the above statement, specifically the last statement of it, haunts me....because I say that very thing myself nearly every day of my life to people who are thinking the very same thing.
Jefferson was searching. He was on a quest for God. He was looking for the existence that he was encouraging us to question. He wasn't saying this in a spirit of atheistic evangelism but rather calling us to engage in that new activity of The Enlightenment - thinking for ourselves. Perhaps Jefferson was paraphrasing Philippians 2:12-13 - exhorting us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that God seeks our own devotion, our own faith, our own commitment, not that of our pastor or forefathers. He figured God must delight in the person that looks honestly and even skeptically for God and yet, still finds Him. Many Christians, including C.S. Lewis, started off as atheists that set out to disprove the existence of God but found Him to be the only viable option.
Maybe T.J. was on to something
...and maybe I'm a quack...you'll have to seek that out for yourself...
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