 Please read John Shelby Spong to update
Paine was right on then in the context of his time. If we take his world view then and disregard progressive voices of our time like Spong, we are not ant different from the one track thinkers whom Paine so harshly critized. Please be well rounded and continue to explore OUR current religious world view.
read and reviewed by a FORMER christian
I read this book and am reviewing it as a former christian. I left the church and the christian religion many years ago,thank goodness! I now call myself a deist and belief wise, deism is what I now see is the only true path for myself and I am just now getting around to have read the book. I would have still ended up leaving the religion anyway, whether I read the book or not,It was just basically a question of when I would eventually leave the religion. But after having read the book now, it has only more deeply confirmed for me and convinced me that I made the right decision for myself by earlier leaving the church and the religion.
I think every Christian should read this book. It should be required reading especially for fundamentalists and evangelicals. But be forewarned, this book isn't for the faint or weak of heart and not for those who don't like to have their personal Christian beliefs and faith challenged, which is exactly what this book will do. It will not only challenge your faith and your personal belief in the bible and Christianity in general, it will also quite possibly destroy it for you as well.
Thomas Paine, an idealist,a radical and a master rhetorician, was definitely a man with a self appointed mission with this book, He so completely and so totally destroys the bible and decimates and obliterates it like no one I have ever seen before. He is completely thorough in his devastation and destruction of the bible. He holds no punches.Nothing in the bible escapes his visciousness. He attacks the bible from within, using only the bible to prove the absurdities and contradictions and fallacies and falicious lies contained within it. He uses the bible as proof to disprove itself. He is relentless and ruthful in his attack and he doesn't let up for a single moment.
From the very start, he comes out swinging, in his examination of the old testament.Methodically and systemically, book by book,chapter by chapter and verse by verse, he rips out the internal guts of the bible,and he lays it out in the open,and exposes it for all to see it for what it is. He metaphorically swings the bible like an axe with deadly accuracy,precision and aim, when he is done, and the smoke and the dust cloud settles, the bible lay heaped and crumpled up,mortally wounded in the corner,just a shell of a book,all that is left of it.
Thomas Paine, makes you definitely stop and think as you read it. As you read his book, I highly suggest opening your bible and lay them side by side, and you can follow along,step by step, and virtually walk with him down the bloody path of annihlation and destruction which he will leave in his wake. It's easy to see, he was way ahead of his time when he wrote this book. He was centuries ahead in terms of thinking,when he wrote this book, and it's easy to see why alot of people in his time didn't want to accept his ideaology. I can easily imagine he made alot of enemies for himself when he wrote this. Alot of people must have absolutely hated him after he wrote it, and it's easy to see the controvercial firestorm he set off when he opened this can of worms. He was too radical for his time and people weren't ready for the book or for his particular way of thinking.People couldn't easily accept him or his book at that time.
Even though this book was first published in 1795, it almost seems as if he were writing it for our modern times. This book really speaks so much to our present modern day world and our society today and it's just as true and applicable today,as it was back in his time. Most christians probably have never ever read the bible through completely from cover to cover, while other christians mostly believe the bible only because they are told to believe it by family, and friends,associates ect.....Most American Christians don't even really know what's even in the bible
The really amazing thing about his book....It cannot be refuted. no way. not even. I don't care who it is, I don't care what kind of education or theology degree a person has, you will find what Thomas Paine says about the bible is true, check it for yourself.open your bible and read the bible along with his book,side by side and follow along with him. You will find what he says is sincere,honest and straight forward. He has no reason to lie, but unfortunately the bible as well as the church has very good reasons to lie to society and to impose this book and their beliefs on the rest of the world.
Any Pastor,Preacher,Bishop, clergyman, probably even the POPE himself would be definitely hardpressed and mentally challenged to even try to refute this book. Thomas Paine wrote this book in such a way, as for it to be virtually impossible for anyone to refute his evidence and his proofs and whoever tries to refute it, they will have their work cut out for them. This is the book your church and your Preacher or your Pastor doesn't want you to read.
I for one am so glad I bought it and read it. It has changed me,personally and deeply. I don't see how I ever really used to believe in the bible before. I believe in God, very much, of course, don't get me wrong. I believe in God, I just don't believe in the bible,or in Christianity as an organized religion and I can now begin to see how the world and how our society would be alot better off without both the Bible and organized religion.
Buy the book. Read it. face your fear and challenge your personal beliefs and faith if your strong enough and if your not afraid. Open your eyes!....see the truth!...be changed. Personally, I don't see how a person could buy this book and read it and not be a changed person by the time they are done reading it. Thomas Paine did a great service for both his society and ours when he wrote this book. This book will always be in my personal library of books. When your done reading the book, start from page 1 and read it again.
One of the best books I have ever read, and wish I would have read it alot sooner.
Thought Provoking
Thomas Paine was a brilliant thinker, pamphleteer and some say blasphemous. However, this book is by far the most thought-provoking document I've read in a while. He discusses his personal belief in deism, and refutes Christian dogma and teaches the viewer to question things, such as the concept of `mystery' and the fallacy of believing something just because others claim it to be true (revelations). He gives his opinion on major biblical/historical figures such as Moses, and the murders of innocents which occur throughout the old testament `in the name of God.'
In fact, it is just such elements which need to be questioned and have been used to brutalize the `enemy' for centuries. There are two sides to every story. Paine's writing and gift for words is expressive and thought provoking. I'm glad I read this book, and I will do so again, because it was too deep to understand in one session.
One thing to consider when reading Paine's world, is that in the world and time in which Paine lived Religion and dogmatic practice held sway over the populace. It was very different back then, and for Paine to write something like this would have him ostracized for life and would alienate many. Thus, I'm heartily convinced that Paine was also a brilliant and brave individual who wrote what he thought regardless of the consequences.
Read the book don't listen to the reviews.
I have seen reviews here and elsewhere about Thomas Paine being ostricized, rejected, and living in poverty as a result of this book. They all could not be farther from truth. Paine lived in a rather nice cottage in New Rochelle, NY, its still there with his historical museumm, and several monuments throughtout town. Benjamin Franklin did not write anything in response to this book given the fact that Franklin died (1790) two years before Paine even began to write the Age of Reason (1792), not to mention Franklin himself was a deist as stated in his own autobiography. This book was the highest selling book in America in 1794, 1795, and 1807. Yes a few of our founding fathers did not like the book, and a few did. If you are curious about something you should find out for yourself, make your own decisions, or think with your own brain. Paine was a bold man who was brave enough to state what he believed in; unlike most herd minded Americans who let a Political party, a church, or their uneducated peers think for them. Read the Book, even if you disagree with it you might learn something.
 A Missed Opportunity
It's 200 years since Paine's death and Christianity remains a popular religion. I was disappointed with this book as Paine states that Jesus Christ was "a virtuous and amiable man" and that he sees no reason for not believing that people like Mary, Joseph and Jesus existed. Where did Paine get his info that Jesus was virtuous and amiable? He doesn't say. He provides nothing in the way of evidence to support the notion that Jesus Christ was a real person.
At least he points out the purpose of religion: to terrify and enslave mankind. I think he wastes too much time on the absurdities of that tedious and unpleasant book, the old testament. In fact, in one footnote he admits that the old testament is "too ridiculous for criticism". So why waste so much time on it?
I found the letters to Samuel Adams at the back of the book more interesting and perhaps he could have covered some of the topics of these in his book, e.g. the act of prayer as an abomination that indicates that the person who prays is the sort of person who either distrusts God or who wishes to dictate to him.
Overall, not bad.
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