Professor Says Duke is Wrong! Reader Email

This is an email I received from a college professor who questions my characterization of Thomas Jefferson as a Deist in my piece Evil.

             Mr. Duke:

I teach college English (composition and literature) in a small college
in the mountains of western N.C.  I read NewsWithViews articles
religiously.  I most often like and find general agreement with your
articles especially.  However, in your recent article entitled "Evil"
dated Oct. 18, 2007, I find an gross inaccuracy to which I must
respond.

You say that God "can prevent the immeasurable pain and suffering we
inflict on one another with the blink of an eternal eye.  Why doesn't He
do it?  Perhaps this problem is what caused people such as Thomas
Jefferson to embrace deism, the belief that God set the Universe in
motion but then receded into the background, indifferent to our
plight."

Mr. Duke, Thomas Jefferson was NOT a deist.  He was a Christian and he
says so more than once in his own words.  Others, too, have evidence to
support this contention.  For instance,

"Moreover, his 'Notes on Religion,' nine documents Jefferson wrote in
1776, are 'very orthodox statements about the inspiration of Scripture
and Jesus as the Christ,' according to Mark Beliles, a Providence
Foundation scholar and author of an enlightening essay on Jefferson's
religious life."  (as quoted by D. James Kennedy in a June 2002 article
for WND).

Also, in Jefferson's own words, we have the following:

"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of
Jesus." [Letter to Benjamin Rush April 21, 1803]

“It [the Bible] is a document in proof that I am a real Christian,
that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."
[Jan 9, 1816 Letter to Charles Thomson]

Not only these examples, Mr. Duke, but we have numerous documents which
support the fact that Jefferson prayed both in private and in public.

Now, why would a Deist pray?  To whom would a Deist pray?  If God has
removed Himself from this realm, and is no longer actively involved in
Earth's doings, then He is not present to receive prayers, according to
Deistic thinking.  It is tantamount to a lone apartment dweller
returning home to his empty dwelling after a hard day of classes and/or
work, opening the apartment door, and heartily announcing, "I'm home !"
Alas, to no one there.  To whom would such an apt dweller be speaking?
Just the same, to whom would a Deist be praying?  Simple logic, it
appears, would lead us to the conclusion that since (A)  Jefferson
prayed to God (in public and in private), and (B) Jefferson states
openly that he is a Christian, therefore, (C) Jefferson could not have
been a Deist.

I find it disturbing that those of us who are fortunate enough to be
able to reach such a vast audience as is accessible through such
esteemed media as NewWithViews.com might disseminate such inaccuracies
because too many of our public already believe that Jefferson was a
Deist, and because so many of us believe in what you say, now, many of
us are misinformed about the true Thomas Jefferson.  I am disappointed,
Sir, but such an error will not stop my reading your articles.  I just
wish you could issue a correction so that yet another of our Founding
Fathers is not unnecessarily vilified.

Thank you for indulging this old mind.

Ren Decatur
English Dept.
A-B Tech Comm. College
Asheville, NC

Dear Professor Decatur,

Thank you for writing and for your input.  I certainly realize that much propaganda has been peddled with regard to the Founding Fathers' faith.  There are many who wish to cast them as having been indifferent to Christianity -- if not hostile toward it -- for the purposes of facilitating the denuding of the public square of Christian expression and symbols.   Why, there are those who would have us believe that all the founders were Deists, a truly preposterous assertion.  There were 56 Founding Fathers, 27 of whom were trained as ministers; moreover, virtually all belonged to mainstream denominations.

However, it was my understanding that Jefferson was an exception, as one of the few Deists among them.  To say the least, I have certainly heard conflicting information about him.

Having said this, I know the propaganda is thick and can be hard to slice through; thus, I know I'm not immune from falling victim to misinformation.  So, I'm open to what you say.   However, I still consider the issue open to debate.

But let's analyze one quotation.  Jefferson said,

"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."

This can be taken two ways.  It could mean that he had faith in Christ, but it could also mean something else.  Note that he did not say he was a disciple of Jesus; rather, he said he was a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.  One could say -- and I do not present this as a firm position but rather as food for thought -- that this sounds much like what today's liberals might assert when being scornful of authentic Christians.  "Why, I believe in what Jesus actually taught, like when He told us to be peaceful, loving and to help the poor," secularists may say, with the implication that traditional believers don't actually practice Christianity. 

Again, I don't say that this was definitely his meaning; I just want to be fair.  I don't want to take a leaf out of the leftists' book and hew to a belief simply because it accords with my agenda or satisfies me emotionally.  This is a common frailty of man, and we all should be on guard for it.

But you may be correct, Professor Decatur, and I welcome you and anyone else to post information here that may shed further light on the matter.  After all, everyone is supposed to be learning every day, and shining the light of Truth on issues is what we do here. 

God bless you,

Selwyn Duke

Comments

[Cadence Storm]

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[Brian R. McFarlane, CITT, P.MM]

The Compelling Evidence of God
The argument against evolution leading the reader into the striking portrait of special creation by divine intervention and proof for the existence of God.
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,.....
.....And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him......
.....Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
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[Dr Richmann]

Let me shed some light on this issue for you Mr Duke.

Jefferson did not have any set beliefs. Not being Catholic, he was adrift in a sea of whatifs and maybes.
Jefferson was smart enough not to be satisfied with the lame Protestant church he belonged to, and yet not fortunate enough to find his way into the one and only true Church. Essentially he was a lost lamb. Diest or not, he was obviously confused. One need only read his writings to understand that.

Quite frankly, all Protestants are confused.

Do Protestants really believe that god set up his chruch only to abandon it 1500 years later?

Do Protestants understand that it is the Catholoic Chruch that put together the Bible they are always waiving aoubt?

Do Protestants understand that nowhere in the Bible does it say that Scripture is the be all and end all?
After all Jesus never told anyone to write anything down. He started a chruch and promised that the gates of hell shall no prevail against it.

So the question isn't whether Jefferson was a Diest or not. The question is why such a smart man was not a Catholic.

NOt having the whole truth is sad, very sad.

[Isabel Wity]

Telepathy 1970s-2007 Isabel NZ
Probability...
Somewhere there is a Planet
named "God":incorrect reporting
in a by-gone era resulted in
a notion that God is a person.
Another likelihood is
that someone is joking from
outer-space....UFOs perhaps ?
yrs. etc. Isabel Witty NZ
(telepathy /ESP/ 1970s-2007