The Jefferson Bible
The Life and Morales of Jesus of Nazareth
Christians
like to assert that Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, et al., founded these
United States of American on Christian principles and especially the Ten
Commandments. However, those who assert such appear to discount one of
Thomas Jefferson’s activities regarding The Bible.
On
3/16/2011, this headline appeared in the Hoffington Post: “Will the
Jefferson Bible Spark New Smithsonian Controversy?” The article read,
in part: “The Smithsonian recently began the painstaking restoration of
one of America’s great hidden treasures: what is called the “Jefferson
Bible.” Composed through a process of rigorous editing, Thomas Jefferson
assembled a spare, concise book that was devoid of supernatural events
from six different biblical texts. Even the crowning moment of the
Christian story, the Resurrection, is completely deleted from
Jefferson’s version. . . .
“[Religious]
pundits . . . would have you believe that the Founding Fathers were
devout believers who saw America as a Christian nation. They point to
the phrase in the Declaration of Independence,* noting that natural
rights are ‘endowed by a Creator’‡ . . .
“[T]he
Founding Fathers shared little consensus on religion. Benjamin
Franklin and Thomas Paine were explicit deists. Franklin’s writings
revealed ‘some doubts as to [Jesus’s] divinity' . . .” [Presidents
Jefferson and Madison were charged with being atheists.] “Madison, the
author of the Constitution and no friend to organized religion, composed
a ‘Detached Memoranda’ to the Constitutional Conventions decrying
religious influence as injurious to public life. . .”
Concerning
the “Ten Commandments,” Jefferson selected only six for his version of
The Bible. He included these: Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not
commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false
witness, Honour thy father and thy mother; and Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. These are the same six that Jesus gave in Matthew
19:17-19. Historically, it should be noted that in 787 the 7th
Ecumenical Council nullified the 2nd commandment. This was done so the
Roman Catholic Church could have its statues, paintings, icons and
images of God, the Holy Family and all the saints.
People
who are not familiar with this effort by Jefferson will probably be
mortified to learn that one of our Founding Fathers mutilated the Bible.
Jefferson literally took scissors and cut out the portions he liked
and glued them together – making him perhaps the first great American
Cafeteria Christian.
NOTE: The Jefferson Bible can be downloaded for free from the internet. An 8½- by 11-inch version contains 33 pages.
- - - - - - - - - -
*
Contrary to popular belief, there is no such document in U.S. history
that is titled “The Declaration of Independence.” The heading on the
first broadside as printed by John Dunlap is: “A Declaration by the
Representatives of the United States of American in General Congress
Assembled.” The embossed official document – the hand-written version
by Timothy Matlack – has the title: “The unanimous Declaration of the
united States of America.” Notice it is not the United States of
America – with an upper case “U”. And, history shows that it was not
“unanimous.”
‡
When Thomas Jefferson submitted the hand-written version of the
so-called “Declaration of Independence” to the printer – John Dunlap –
the word “creator” appeared with a lower case letter “c.” There seems
to be no historical record as to who changed the word “creator” to
“Creator.” It was probably some unknown typesetter in the Dunlop
printing office on the night of July 4, 1776. Also note, the phrase is
“endowed by their creator,” not, “endowed by the Creator.”
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