A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Thomas Paine critiques the New Testament, questioning its validity as revealed religion due to apparent contradictions.
In this quote, Thomas Paine expresses his skepticism about the New Testament by highlighting its contradictions and absurdities. He suggests that labeling it as a revealed religion is almost sacrilegious, as it raises questions about its divine inspiration and reliability as a moral guide.
Themes
New TestamentBlasphemyReligionContradictionsFaith
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on religious texts, this quote can illustrate the need for critical examination.
More from Thomas Paine
All quotes βThat 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.
Thomas PaineRead
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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