Born Again Christians Compared to Inquisitors of the Inquisitions

orthadox priests - khanya - born again Christains

Born Again Christians are Now Compared to Inquisitors of the Inquisitions

This is a very interesting article written shortly after my critique of the Amahoro Gathering where Brian McLaren graced everyone with his presence in South Africa in June 2009.

Steve from khanya.wordpress.com says that my critique of the opening speech at Amahoro by Claude Nikondeha “….reflects the very worst of modernity.”   But that’s no surprise considering the Emergent Church (Interfaith, Ecumenical, One World Religion) is Postmodern – Socialism disguised as ‘good’ works, ‘good’ fruit and the acceptance of a One World Religion.  The fruit they speak of looks nice on the outside but is rotten on the inside for they oppose what the Bible has to say in every way possible.

Post-Modernity opposes the Word of God in that:

– There is no such thing as right or wrong
– There is no such thing as good or evil
– There is no such thing as sin
– There is no such thing as truth.  Truth is a lie.

Because born again Christians prefer to hold onto the Word of God (which is the Truth) they are now saying that we are like the Inquisitors of the Inquisition.  They are now insinuating that wewill most probably physically persecute those who believe in freedom (um…socialism), the idea that everything else is the truth, except the Bible.

The Inquisitions that took place was in response to people who wanted to break away from the apostate or heretical Roman Catholic Church – who dominated and branded those who refused to belong to the Mother Church as heretics.  They needed to be removed, eradicated, tortured, murdered in the most terrible of ways.  Of course many other people of other faiths also received the long end of their stick.   They tolerated no one, no matter who you were, if you did want to accept their god you were branded.

Today genuine Christians are now being called Bastards or Infidels as Francois Arouet De Voltaire (1694 – 1778) put it all those years ago.  And adherents of the Emergent movement in 2009 are now saying the same thing.

Voltaire – ‘a French Enlightenmentwriter’ – opposed Roman Catholicism fiercely which he considered to be Christian.  Quite frankly I don’t blame him for thinking this way; but because of his hatred for what he thought was Christianity, he claimed that the Gospels were figments of someone’s imagination and Jesus did not exist.  The lies of the Roman Catholic church and their insistence that they were and still are Christian has made a very volatile situation for born again Christians.

Voltaire despised ‘Christianity’ / Roman Catholic church for they imposed an absolute truth which was their version of taking the Gospels and applying it to their evil ideals.  They used the Bible and the name of God to torture and murder hundreds of thousands of people who would not believe what they said was the truth.  Their version of the truth was that what the Pope spoke was infallible, not the Word of God, if Rome said the gospel meant ‘this’ then that was that – agree and live, argue and die.  The Catholic Church placed themselves above the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only ones who could understand what God was saying – and of course that is a complete lie for ALL who are truly born again can understand the Word of God as everyone is lead by the Holy Spirit into all truth, understanding and remembrance of Jesus Christ.

Anyhow, the world is now coming to a very very dangerous pinnacle where they blame Christianity for the evils that have taken place through-out the centuries.  The West have caused nothing but destruction therefore post-modernity is the way to go. The capitalist system needs to be eradicated no matter what it takes to be replaced by a Post-Modern form of socialism under the disguise of good works.  But they FAIL to realise that Roman Catholicism is not Christian.   But this does not matter.  As per the Word of God born again Christians will be HATED not because of the LIE that we cause nothing but hostility, but because we adhere to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and this is something that the One World Religion just can’t handle – that we hold onto the Bible for dear life.

My family line has a history of French Hugenout’s who escaped from France when Christians amongst others were being persecuted.

Huguenots became known for their criticisms of worship as performed in the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the focus on ritual and what they viewed as an obsession with death and the dead. They believed the ritual, images, saints, pilgrimages, prayers, and hierarchy of the Catholic Church did not help anyone toward redemption.  In other words, no SALVATION could come from the teachings of Roman Catholicism, only spiritual destruction.

The Roman Catholic Church fanatically opposed the Huguenots, attacking pastors and congregants as they attempted to meet in secret for worship. The Huguenots, in self-defense against the Roman Catholic Church, at times took up arms, even taking a few Catholic controlled cities.

On Sunday, March 12th, 2002, the Pope John Paul II apologized for the errors of his church for the last 2000 years. 

“… we cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions.”  [note:  some of our brethren…and sometimes hostle attitutudes?  LOL.  How to ‘apologise and not to apologise’ at the same time.  Hmmm, lets see who ordered these crimes…]

The Vatican’s Papal bulls, briefs and addresses and apologies to the public are nothing but LIES.

We give you a strict command that, by whatever means you can, you destroy all these heresies and expel from your diocese all who are polluted with them. You shall exercise the rigor of the ecclesiastical power against them and all those who have made themselves suspected by associating with them. They may not appeal from your judgments, and if necessary, you may cause the princes and people to suppress them with the sword.   – Medieval Sourcebook, Innocent III: Letters on Papal Policies.  Letter to the Archbishob of Auch, 1198.

Christians were martyred by Roman ‘fake-Christian’ Catholicism – Direct orders from God, sorry I mean the Popes!

Steve says regarding my article:  Amahoro – Transfiguration to Take Over Africa and Then the World …

 What makes the critique so boring is that it reflects the very worst of modernity.

John Ralston Saul, in his book Voltaire’s bastards: the dictatorship of reason in the West, writes:

The Inquisitors were the first to formalize the idea that to every question there is a right answer. The answer is known but the question must be asked and correctly answered. Relativism, humanism, common sense and moral beliefs were all irrelevant to this process because they assume doubt. Since the Inquisitors knew the answer, doubt was impossible. Process, however, was essential for efficient governance and process required that questions be asked in order to produce the correct answer.

The writer of the critique on Claude Nikondeha’s paper seems to have a similar attitude. [note:  that’s me]  Because there is a right answer to every question, and the answers are known, [note: yes there is an answer to everything, it’s called the Bible, which you want nothing to do with] there is no need to explain “where he is coming from”.  [note:  coming from the Bible] Anyone who disagrees with him/her is ipso facto a heretic. [note:  of course quoting Latin makes one seem non heretical (like the Vatican) and super-apostle like as ‘intelligence’ detracts one from the fact that they mock, insult and deny Jesus Christ by ripping the bible in half ] And of course if he/she did say where he/she was coming from, and stated his/her unstated assumptions, he/she might reveal himself/herself as a heretic. [note:  um, where did you miss that I am coming from a Bible believing genuine Christian perspective?  Which as you say reveals me as a heretic.]

And it is this kind of oracular authority that represents the worst that modernity has to offer. Read the tale of the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky’s The brothers Karamazov to see where this kind of thinking can lead to.”

[So as we can see genuine Christians are going to be the cause of a repeat of inquisition type horrors.  Which is funny coming from Steve who is an ‘Orthodox Christian’ aka Roman Catholic adherent – Everything has been TWISTED around.  The original persecutors are now the innocent ones and the innocent ones are now going to be the persecutors.]

Source:  http://khanya.wordpress.com

Quotes by Francois Arouet De Voltaire [1]:

“The Eternal has his designs from all eternity. If prayer is in accord with his immutable wishes, it is quite useless to ask of him what he has resolved to do. If one prays to him to do the contrary of what he has resolved, it is praying that he be weak, frivolous, inconstant; it is believing that he is thus, it is to mock him. Either you ask him a just thing, in which case he must do it, the thing being done without your praying to him for it, and so to entreat him is then to distrust him; or the thing is unjust, and then you insult him. You are worthy or unworthy of the grace you implore: if worthy, he knows it better than you; if unworthy, you commit another crime by requesting what is undeserved.

In a word, we only pray to God because we have made him in our image. We treat him like a pasha, like a sultan whom one may provoke or appease.”    “Prayers” (1770)

“If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor.”   Notebooks (c.1735-c.1750)

“Where is the prince sufficiently educated to know that for seventeen hundred years the Christian sect has done nothing but harm?”Letters of Voltaire and Frederick the Great (New York: Brentano’s, 1927), transl. Richard Aldington, letter 160 from Voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, 1767-04-06 [6]

“The best is the enemy of the good.”   Variant translations:   “The perfect is the enemy of the good orThe better is the enemy of the good.”   La Bégueule (1772)

Not only was Voltaire anti-christian but he was a racist too:

“The Jewish nation dares to display an irreconcilable hatred toward all nations, and revolts against all masters; always superstitious, always greedy for the well-being enjoyed by others, always barbarous – cringing in misfortune and insolent in prosperity.”  Essai sur les Moeurs et l’Esprit des Nations (1753), Introduction, XLII: Des Juifs depuis Saül

“It is a serious question among them whether they [Africans] are descended from monkeys or whether the monkeys come from them. Our wise men have said that man was created in the image of God. Now here is a lovely image of the Divine Maker: a flat and black nose with little or hardly any intelligence. A time will doubtless come when these animals will know how to cultivate the land well, beautify their houses and gardens, and know the paths of the stars: one needs time for everything.” Les Lettres d’Amabed (1769): Septième Lettre d’Amabed

Rome, it’s Popes, it’s bishops, it’s cardinals, it’s puppets, collaborators and fornicators with Roman Catholicism, drenched in the blood of the saints who stood up for Jesus Christ will hand their power to the Man of Lawlessness (Beast/anti-Christ) in the coming years/last days.  And the anti-Christ will destroy them.  The Vatican rides the beast in the hopes it will attain more power, but their followers will be shocked and weep for their precious whore (Mary – Goddess of Fertility) when she burns in ruins.

The good works, the fruit they tried to bare, the fruit they thought they produced, rotting for it was not good fruit from a good tree, but bad fruit from a thorn tree. The kingdom of their own desires they tried to create – thrown into the fire

Revelation 17:3-6

3  Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
4  The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
5  This title was written on her forehead:
MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6  I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

Revelation 18:14-17

14 “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’
15  The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn
16  and cry out:
‘Woe! Woe, O great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,
and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
17  In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’


References:

[1] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire
Please share:

Deborah (Discerning the World)

Deborah Ellish is the author of the above article. Discerning the World is an internet Christian Ministry based in Johannesburg South Africa. Tom Lessing and Deborah Ellish both own Discerning the World. For more information see the About this Website page below the comments section.

85 Responses

  1. Discerning The World says:

    In fact go watch this video to see what someone who REALLY LOVES Jesus Christ feels when someone insults Him!!

  2. Discerning The World says:

    I already wrote an article about Romans 8 here:

    Born Again Christians will understand what this really means and just to help you a bit. It does not mean when we became born again we actually become a god, or become Jesus Christ! And Heaven is in Heaven. The Kingdom of God is Jesus Christ who was since the beginning. Born of the Holy Spirit, walked this earth sinless, died sinless and rose to be seated at the right hand of the Father and will return on when He is to JUDGE THIS EARTH.

    You think that if we suffer on earth then we get to become like Him, just as He suffered to transcend, so we will transcended to a god level. And when we need to meditate to connect with God, hear his voice. Then we will start to transcend step by step as we start to learn what it means to suffer. Until you reach the ultimate level, where you actually become a Christ.

    What you say is NOT what the BIBLE TEACHES. You are a New Age Occult follower. You and all others who think alike want to place yourself on the same level as Jesus Christ.

  3. Discerning The World says:

    Iggy…bla, bla, bla, you speak double talk.

  4. Discerning The World says:

    Of course my replies to Jon and some make no sense to you because you believe in an entirely different gospel to that written in the Word of God. You all believe that all religions can come together and produce good fruit. The Bible says this is impossible.

  5. Discerning The World says:

    Was Jesus’ suffering just unique to Him? And you say NO!!! WHAT THE??? You kidding?? So Jesus is now on your level too, and everyone else’s level. He has been brought down from HIS THROWN to your piddly little standard. HE IS THE KING OF ALL KINGS not your play mate.

  6. Discerning The World says:

    Also if you care you can go research the internet. You don’t even have to look far to see what is going on. Then go by a decent study bible and a strong’s concordance and search for the truth. Don’t take my word for it, don’t even take others word for it. Go find out for yourself, listen to God instead of men who are trying to place themselves on the level of God.

  7. No No….your ‘Jesus’ is not MY JESUS CHRIST the Son of God. For you deny Jesus Christ over and over and over again in this entire thread. And your friends back you up by saying similar things.

    WOW!!! 🙄 WOW!!!

  8. Discerning The World says:

    Amanda

    I thought I would allow this one through from Iggy cos it’s actually quite funny…

  9. Discerning The World says:

    REPEAT FOR IGGY and NIC and Co.

    Nah…no one can twist what you say Igyy; “all religion are the same as they are wrong”

    Also no one can twist what Nic said; “Matthew Fox believes that the persepective of “panentheism” – God is IN all, all is In God, is the one which will endure. In fact, he states it is preferable to be an atheist than a “theist”.

    How about this one from Nic: “I know there will be those who will disagree, but as I see it now, to quote an age old adage, “God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.”

    Or this one from Nic: “I want you to know that the carrot and stick – the promise of heaven and the threat of hell – is not the only way of seeing the gospel.”

  10. Discerning The World says:

    Eugene

    Nah…no one can twist what you say Igyy; “all religion are the same as they are wrong”

    Also no one can twist what Nic said; “Matthew Fox believes that the persepective of “panentheism” – God is IN all, all is In God, is the one which will endure. In fact, he states it is preferable to be an atheist than a “theist”.

    How about this one from Nic: “I know there will be those who will disagree, but as I see it now, to quote an age old adage, “God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.”

    Or this one from Nic: “I want you to know that the carrot and stick – the promise of heaven and the threat of hell – is not the only way of seeing the gospel.”

  11. blank iggy says:

    Amanda,

    I will answer any questions but not here as DTW edits commits. He or she may even edit this one as they are so dishonest.

    They claimed all comments would be allowed and then edited mine. They then twist my words to mean the opposite of what I say.

    John 8:42-44

  12. Deborah, the way you twist other people’s words to mean the opposite of what they are saying is shocking!

  13. blank Amanda says:

    Iggy

    He or she may even edit this one as they are so dishonest.

    Yes, they are. You claim to stand on the Word of God, but failed to discern Cobus and Roger’s statements Biblicly. Yet my one sentence provoked paragraphs from you. When I gave you the context and even asked for clarification, you were contend to let your comments stand. I am happy to stay here, thank you.

  14. “all religion are the same as they are wrong”

    If by religion he meant trying to please God by our own works then he is absolutely right. Iggy further stated:

    even “religious” Christianity that denies Jesus and places works as the means of salvation.

    So he said than religion is wrong when it is about trying to put oneself right with God apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ. In that sense all religions are the same. Do you disagree with this?

    “Matthew Fox believes that the persepective of “panentheism” – God is IN all, all is In God, is the one which will endure. In fact, he states it is preferable to be an atheist than a “theist”.

    Do you believe that God is omnipresent? If you do then please explain how He can NOT be in all. Do you believe God is bigger than everything created? Is not everything then in Him? panentheism is not God is everything and everything is God(pantheism) – BIG difference.

    As for the atheist/theist part – I’m scratching my head on that one. I’ll ask Nic about it before I jump to conclusions like you.

    “I want you to know that the carrot and stick – the promise of heaven and the threat of hell – is not the only way of seeing the gospel.”

    There is much, much more to the gospel than an escape clause when we die. The restoration of relationship with God is a much bigger prize than not ending up in hell. Please note that Nic did not deny the existence of heaven or hell but only stated that there is more to the gospel than making that the end all.

    Out of these quotes you gather that they do not serve the same Jesus as you? Really?

    Deborah and Amanda, there is something called charitable reading. Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised. And if in doubt – ask. You know what they say about assume…

  15. I got the blockquote thing wrong there… Sorry!

  16. blank Amanda says:

    Deborah and Amanda, there is something called charitable reading. Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised. And if in doubt – ask. You know what they say about assume…

    No. So let me ask you now. What do they say? I asked Roger a question more than once on more than one thread. I asked Iggy a few times on this thread. Where did I fall short? Should I regard your comment to me as a result of you reading my comments charitably? I do not understand this.

    Something else I do not understand is why the emergents will not own up that they are in fact trying to emerge from Christianity. Is that not what Brian McLaren said at Amahorror, that we must be ready to move on? Where those who hold to the fundamentals of the faith supposed to emerge too or just play dead?

    Out of these quotes you gather that they do not serve the same Jesus as you? Really?

    Eugene, do you serve the same Jesus Christ as the fundamentalists?

    Roger said:

    If a religion does not lead to peace, the Holy Spirit is not working within it.

    Ds. Cobus said:

    Am I willing to also say that those Lutherans [German soldiers] would go to the metaphysical place called heaven as well while their Jewish victims go the Dante’s hell?

    Nic said:

    ” I rejoice at the presence of the Trickster in a barren land of closed thought, for quite apart from being the bringer of death and destruction, he in fact is a catalyst for life and salvation. I now look at Jesus as embodying (amongst all things divine) this trickster, as well.”

    ” I suggest that this is where the trickster comes to assist us. His realm includes ambiguity, irony, and play, incompleteness and chaos, holding in tension and suspending belief, generosity and cruelty, imagination, flexibility and cunning shifting of shape, the boundaries between life and death, and making connections where they are not supposed to be.”

    How does one make those statements line up with the Word of God? Is it charity for fundamentalists to keep silent about them?

  17. blank Steve says:

    You really do tell whopping lies, don’t you?

    1. I did not quote Voltaire.
    2. I said nothing about born-again Christians
    3. I said nothing about Roman Catholics.

    Go and wash your mouth out with soap, you naughty child!

  18. blank Mike says:

    Just came across this post and I’m intrigued by the definition of post-modernity you’re using. Can you provide the source?

  19. Discerning The World says:

    Steve

    Quite feisty for an old man

  20. Discerning The World says:

    Well if Modernity is holding on the the truth of the Bible, then Post-Modernity is not holding onto the truth of the Bible. Simple eh? But I am sure Chad, Nic, Iggy, Eugene, Roger, Steve, and all the Emerging posse can provide you with New Age souces to keep you busy for years..

  21. blank Mike says:

    “Well if Modernity is holding on the the truth of the Bible…”

    At the risk of sounding like a broken record, where did that one come from? With all due respect it sounds to me like you’re constructing these definitions to fit your world view. (Ironically, according to your own definition, that’s very postmodern of you!)

  22. Discerning The World says:

    Mike, it’s very cleat what Steve wrote who is Emergent. And that’s not the point of this article. Everyone is complaining that the definition of what PM or Emergeing is can be this or that…quite frankly I could not care what Emergent’s think is PM or M or XYZ. The point is that born again Christians mocked and insulted by Emergents, and no one can deny this, except for those who agree that born again Christians who are the very worst of Modernity’s thinking can lead to persecution.

    I’ve had enough of this rather obvious argument meant soley as a diversion from the facts presented by Emergent followers. If you want to discuss the meaning of a word please do go and have a field day on Steve or Nic’s or Rogers or Iggy’s blogs. If you want more info on shamanism or occult practices Nic’s blog is the way to go.

  23. blank Amanda says:

    Christians will find the review of Velvet Elvis by Mark Edward Sohmer helpful.

    One of the reasons that Rob Bell has risen to such popularity is because he professes to answer a question that has emerged in our history, and that is, how do we reach a “postmodern” world?

    Postmodernism is in many ways a reaction against the “modern” way of thinking. Where a modernist sees the value of structure and hierarchy, a postmodernist holds to relativism and a rethinking of concepts which were once considered axiomatic. Enter Rob Bell and teachers like him. They argue that the church is far too rigid, too dogmatic, too structured. Rob calls the church “brickianity.” And his solution is to redefine Christianity, to paint it as fluid and changeable. Rob uses the illustration of “springs” to convey the way we ought to view our Theology.’

    The bulk of this review has been critical of Rob Bell and his Theology, and so I believe it is appropriate to offer the proper alternative. Rob teaches that we ought to redefine Christianity to fit the worldview of the postmodern world. The postmodern world shuns structure and dogmatism, so teachers like Rob Bell tell us that the church ought to as well. This is evident all throughout Velvet Elvis, as documented in detail throughout this review. So what is the proper way to reach the postmodern world? The answer is found in the Scriptures. Amazingly, the Scriptures really are in fact “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

    The world in Jesus’ day wasn’t all that different than how it is today. There truly is nothing new under the sun. And a group of undereducated Jewish men changed the world through preaching the cross. And the world can be changed today the exact same way. How do you reach a postmodern world? The wrong way is to change the church to follow the culture, as Rob Bell does. The right way is to preach Christ and Him crucified.

    An interesting thing happened to me when I became a Christian. I didn’t grow up in a Christian home -mquite the contrary! I grew up in a liberal Jewish home, very hostile to the claims of Christianity. I was a young man who was very hesitant to even open a New Testament to read any portion of it.

    But here’s what happened to me: God changed my heart. It’s that simple and that amazing. I was once,dead in my transgre,ssions, an enemy of God, but He reached out and rescued me and turned me into a,child of God. And when that happened, all of a sudden my heart changed and I loved the things God,loves and I hated the things God hates. I turned from my love for sin and instead I began to hunger for,the Bible – even the New Testament! I couldn’t wait to attend church services and Bible studies and Christian retreats.

    The difference was that God took out my old heart and gave me a new one. This is what happens when a man or woman repents of their sin and believes the gospel. They become a new creation. It would have been disastrous if someone had come up to me and said, “Mark, we know you don’t like Jesus and don’t like the New Testament. That’s okay. God loves you just the way you are. You don’t need to repent or even put your faith in Christ. It’s okay. We have a church service, but we don’t call it church. We’ll call it a gathering and it’s run by facilitators instead of Elders.” That would have been terrible! I didn’t need new definitions of Christianity. I needed a new heart. And when God gave me a new heart, then all of a sudden I didn’t mind conforming myself to the Bible, rather than conforming the Bible to me.

    That’s what the postmodern world needs: the preaching of the cross. So Christian, if you’re reading this, and you have a hunger to reach the postmodern world, then preach the cross. Don’t change the church to conform to the culture. Preach the gospel, the whole gospel, because it is “it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). The preaching of the Word of God has always been the way God has changed hearts. It is still the only way He does it today. When people are reconciled to God, and they receive a new heart, the concerns of postmodernism become irrelevant.

  24. blank Ray says:

    Your quote:

    “One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.” – Francois Arouet De Voltaire

    Please provide —

    Document written by Voltaire in which the quote exists (I do not mind going to the French to read it); or, alternatively,

    Original source document reflecting this statement by Voltaire in public or private (where, when, to what audience, and the source document reporting the making of the statement).

    I mean — it is about truth, and if we’re going to be making statements, I just want to do what Christian’s demand of the “world’s” scholars — make sure that it’s true and not just a Christian “warm fuzzy.”

    Thanks.

  25. Discerning The World says:

    This quote is supposed to be considered one of Voltaire’s infamous quotes: “One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.” But I see now that it’s highly possible that he didn’t make this statement….so I will replace it with a quote he did make and these ones are worse than the last. I hope these give you a warm fuzzy feeling all over.

    L’Éternel a ses desseins de toute éternité. Si la prière est d’accord avec ses volontés immuables, il est très inutile de lui demander ce qu’il a résolu de faire. Si on le prie de faire le contraire de ce qu’il a résolu, c’est le prier d’être faible, léger, inconstant; c’est croire qu’il soit tel, c’est se moquer de lui. Ou vous lui demandez une chose juste; en ce cas il la doit, et elle se fera sans qu’on l’en prie; c’est même se défier de lui que lui faire instance ou la chose est injuste, et alors on l’outrage. Vous êtes digne ou indigne de la grâce que vous implorez: si digne, il le sait mieux que vous; si indigne, on commet un crime de plus en demandant ce qu’on ne mérite pas.
    En un mot, nous ne faisons des prières à Dieu que parce que nous l’avons fait à notre image. Nous le traitons comme un bacha, comme un sultan qu’on peut irriter ou apaiser.
    The Eternal has his designs from all eternity. If prayer is in accord with his immutable wishes, it is quite useless to ask of him what he has resolved to do. If one prays to him to do the contrary of what he has resolved, it is praying that he be weak, frivolous, inconstant; it is believing that he is thus, it is to mock him. Either you ask him a just thing, in which case he must do it, the thing being done without your praying to him for it, and so to entreat him is then to distrust him; or the thing is unjust, and then you insult him. You are worthy or unworthy of the grace you implore: if worthy, he knows it better than you; if unworthy, you commit another crime by requesting what is undeserved.
    In a word, we only pray to God because we have made him in our image. We treat him like a pasha, like a sultan whom one may provoke or appease.

    “Prayers” (1770)

    Prier Dieu c’est se flatter qu’avec des paroles on changera toute la nature.
    To pray to God is to flatter oneself that with words one can alter nature.
    Notebooks (c.1735-c.1750)

    Si Dieu nous a faits à son image, nous le lui avons bien rendu.
    If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor.
    Notebooks (c.1735-c.1750)

    Elle [la nation juive] ose étaler une haine irréconciliable contre toutes les nations; elle se révolte contre tous ses maîtres. Toujours superstitieuse, toujours avide du bien d’autrui, toujours barbare, rampante dans le malheur, et insolente dans la prospérité.
    The Jewish nation dares to display an irreconcilable hatred toward all nations, and revolts against all masters; always superstitious, always greedy for the well-being enjoyed by others, always barbarous — cringing in misfortune and insolent in prosperity.
    Essai sur les Moeurs et l’Esprit des Nations (1753), Introduction, XLII: Des Juifs depuis Saül

    Quand il s’agit d’argent, tout le monde est de la même religion.
    When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
    Letter to Mme. d’Épinal, Ferney (1760-12-26) from Oeuvres Complètes de Voltaire: Correspondance (Garnier frères, Paris, 1881), vol. IX, letter # 4390 (p. 124)

    anti-Roman Catholic (all Christians have been lumped into this category unfortunately. BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS ARE NOT CATHOLIC, but we will pay the price for Rome’s evil deeds)

    Où est le prince assez instruit pour savoir que depuis dix-sept cents ans la secte chrétienne n’a jamais fait que du mal?
    Where is the prince sufficiently educated to know that for seventeen hundred years the Christian sect has done nothing but harm?
    Letters of Voltaire and Frederick the Great (New York: Brentano’s, 1927), transl. Richard Aldington, letter 160 from Voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, 1767-04-06 [6]

    C’est une grande question parmi eux s’ils [les africains] sont descendus des singes ou si les singes sont venus d’eux. Nos sages ont dit que l’homme est l’image de Dieu: voilà une plaisante image de l’Être éternel qu’un nez noir épaté, avec peu ou point d’intelligence! Un temps viendra, sans doute, où ces animaux sauront bien cultiver la terre, l’embellir par des maisons et par des jardins, et connaître la route des astres il faut du temps pour tout.
    It is a serious question among them whether they [Africans] are descended from monkeys or whether the monkeys come from them. Our wise men have said that man was created in the image of God. Now here is a lovely image of the Divine Maker: a flat and black nose with little or hardly any intelligence. A time will doubtless come when these animals will know how to cultivate the land well, beautify their houses and gardens, and know the paths of the stars: one needs time for everything.
    Les Lettres d’Amabed (1769): Septième Lettre d’Amabed

    “Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer.” Mais toute la nature nous crie qu’il existe; qu’il y a une intelligence suprême, un pouvoir immense, un ordre admirable, et tout nous instruit de notre dépendance.
    “If God did not exist, He would have to be invented.” But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.
    Voltaire quoting himself in his Letter to Prince Frederick William of Prussia (1770-11-28), translated by S.G. Tallentyre, Voltaire in His Letters, 1919.

    Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.
    The best is the enemy of the good.
    Variant translations:
    The perfect is the enemy of the good.
    The better is the enemy of the good.

    La Bégueule (1772)

    Je meurs en adorant Dieu, en aimant mes amis, en ne haïssant pas mes ennemis et en détestant la superstition.
    I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.
    Déclaration de Voltaire, note to his secretary, Jean-Louis Wagnière (1778-02-28)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *