A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
The Church was resolved to have a New Testament, and as, after the lapse of more than three hundred years, no handwriting could be proved or disproved, the Church, which like former impostors had then gotten possession of the State, had everything its own way. It invented creeds, such as that called the Apostle's Creed, the Nicean Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and out of the loads of rubbish that were presented it voted four to be Gospels, and others to be Epistles, as we now find them arranged.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the Church's control over religious texts and the arbitrary nature of their selection process.
In this quote, Thomas Paine expresses skepticism about the compilation of the New Testament by the Church, suggesting that it was shaped by those in power rather than by divine inspiration. He highlights the lack of verifiable evidence for many writings and criticizes the Church for its role in creating doctrines and texts that served its purposes, thereby questioning the authenticity of the Christian canon.
Themes
ReligionChurchNew TestamentCreedsPowerHistoryFaithTruth
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a debate discussing the historical accuracy of religious texts.
More from Thomas Paine
All quotes →That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
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I consider the war of America against Britain as the country's war, the public's war, or the war of the people in their own behalf, for the security of their natural rights, and the protection of their own property.
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Had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it.
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The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression.
Thomas PaineRead
To reason with goverments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that reforms can be expected
Thomas PaineRead
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