The Bible: I. Authenticity II. Credibility III. Morality

PREFACE.

In January, 1901, the following announcement appeared in The Truth Seeker, of New York:

To the Readers of The Truth Seeker: Two years ago that able and sagacious Liberal leader, L. K. Washburn, wrote: “The next great moral revolution of the world will be a crusade against the Christian Bible.” The church expects this and is preparing for it. In an address before the Methodist ministers of Chicago, the Rev. Dr. Curry, a distinguished Methodist divine, said: “We are standing on the eve of the most stupendous revolution in reference to the doctrines of the Bible that the church has ever known.” In this long war with bibliolaters the younger readers of The Truth Seeker will take a prominent part. To call their attention to the impending struggle, and to aid in a small way in fitting them for it, the editor of The Truth Seeker has invited me to open a sort of Bible school in his paper. For nearly a quarter of a century I have been writing and lecturing and debating against the divinity of the Bible. My opposition from the trained defenders of the book has been at times both keen and bitter. I was compelled to become and remain a diligent student of the Bible and of Biblical criticism. As far as possible I collected all of the damaging facts obtainable. I digested and classified them and filed them away in the labeled pigeon-holes of my brain for use when needed. I am growing old. My hair which was black when I began my work will soon be white. I have at the most but a few more years to labor. This arsenal of facts which I have gathered and the arguments that I have formulated from them I wish to place within the reach of others. Whether the thought be a Spiritualistic assurance or an Irish bull, it will be a pleasure to me when I am dead to know that I am still of some service to the cause.

In the next issue of The Truth Seeker I shall begin a series of some thirty lessons or chapters on “The Bible.” The chief purpose of the work will be to combat the dogmas of the divine origin and infallibility of the Christian Bible. The points of attack will be three: 1. Its Authenticity; 2. Its Credibility; 3. Its Morality. I shall endeavor to disprove in a large degree the authenticity of its books, the credibility of its statements, and the morality of its teachings.

John E. Remsburg.

These chapters were published in weekly installments in The Truth Seeker, their publication extending through a period of twenty months. The matter was electrotyped as published and the work will now be given to the public in book form. To those interested in Biblical criticism, and especially to the Freethought propagandist and to the Christian investigator, it is hoped that its contents may be useful.

The facts presented in this volume, while known to many Christian scholars, are, as far as possible, kept from the lower orders of the clergy and from the laity. Divines enjoying high honors and large salaries may be cognizant of them without endangering their faith; but the humbler ministers who receive small pay, and the laity who support the church, are liable to have their faith impaired by a knowledge of them.

In Part II., devoted to the Credibility of the Bible, less space is given to the errors of the New Testament than to those of the Old Testament. This is not because the New contains less errors than the Old, but because the author has prepared another volume on this subject. In “The Christ,” a sequel to “The Bible,” a more exhaustive exposition of the errors of the New Testament, particularly of the Four Gospels, is given.

While denying the infallibility of the writers of the Bible the author is not unconscious of his own fallibility.

Clyx.com