Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1897)
THE TORCH CF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1897. W ere 1 God, l«e knows everything, past, p re s e n t,' i t is dem in d -d of me th at I ami th a t which is to l»e. P resent acc *pt, and unquestioningly believe in every place at all tim e-, nothing the stories to ’d in the hook called is hid trom him. li would he only reasonable th a t the b'ble, an 1 m y rig h t” to investi gate it is also deni» d. Of course I it should follow th a t a being hav- I'evoitJ U »«V m an thnx ¿3 a man iug tin se a»tr but s would n c fl would, and should. I do. B ut I sarily be oinnir> sponsibie as well. «ball be, w hat C hristians eeldon, B ‘" chrl8“ a >' theology it d o ,s r . i not appear so. arc, free and just. t / • i i I do not nee.! to apologize Io m y ln fact " 18 r a ' her tl,e readers for coarse and indelicate B ut “ d o,s not “ PPear lh a t ,hls atkiaion»; these are a p a r t of the H far »r-»" perfection. • „ naattei a, .. I i am w riting about. «.k mt H e doesn't know evervihine. He is sti 1 . >ject , not alw ays in every He I soften the expressions so as to / - 1 nine»*. »r ^4. to “ »« ears polite, o U m akes m istakes,gets give th . e 1 least a offense ’y. angry,destroys «=> / ’ J . hut I , did not a ........ at......... ......i...... . the works of his hand* and re m ake these people nor . . . . . th eir history. And if f hod been bullds tbem on “ « ^ r e n t m odel, G , d l would not have m ade them Punis,re8 “ ie creatures he has made when they don’t do to suit as he did. him or kill each other. I use the word god in a Christian And the Christians claim th at, sense. The C hristian hasfahricated while he knows better th an to do th e word for us, an d clothed it with these things, th at it pleases him to the attrib u tes of deity, the same do it. B ut ihey excuse th eir god as all other religionists have done, . , . . , for the evil of c ru e lty a n d th e nuf- ot whatever nam e or variety. Each . . al . , : . . . . , , ... fermg there is her«*, by laving it on b a s s e t up a god, c lo th e d it w ith & 1 , ____________ j to th e a n ti power, th e d ev il. But their own ideas of the suprem e and th eir g >d m ade their devil, th ey worshiped it accordingly. Each tell us, and has j irisdiction o ver has sim ply personified his own asp iratio n s of selfishness, greed, . . . . . , .' , . . , . • ' . But it pleases their god to allow bigotrv; his own ideas of justice, . . . . . . , , .. ii ; th is devil to run a t large and spoil m oral.ty, h u m an ity , ami longing« works of y o d f„.. F after the u n attain ab le, am i thus Nqw r ap me th a t ., m ade a god after his own image (hig g()|| is c ,o(hed w ith aU p . ,wer j A nd the m an ma le god is only a a „ klll)wledgPi alld a „ abjlity t() reflection of the character control, in minutiae, the whole uni- d isp o sitio n of the in»n.«i. m aker, u no verse an(j ,la8 m ade it all himself, - person has nas ever clothed his got f()r jp sow n glory or am usem ent, he with hig h ero r better attrib u tes th an ghould a|go chllrg,.d w i|h a „ h is ow n n a tu r e or dagre. ol in responsibility, anil not shirk it "ft telligence adm itted of. lie cannot onto somebody el-c. do otherwise. But C hristians claim th a t they, Dealers in General M erchandise : C o rn er M ain a n d W a te r Streets. Silverton. Or gon. JOHN HICKS S A W JE L A M 35 HICKS & AMES. : D EA LERS IN j HARDW ARE, T IN W A R E Stoves, A g ricultural Im plem ents, G uns, Fishing Tackle, ( ’utlerv, and Sporting Goods. tv S ilv e rto n , O re g o n A STORE FOR But each and all have, in th»*ir m ind, reversed the process of m ak- ing ami say th a t their god has made them . 1 his is necessary he cause, in th eir egotism, they set up the claim th a t they are made in th e “ im age” of th eir god, th at they a re endowed with some sm all p a rt (som e ap p ear to th in k nearly ail) of his attrib u tes, and are the oh- jects of his special attention and care, and th a t they, or at least cer- tain ones of them , have more or less influence with him. I use the personal pronoun his, him , In*, and etc., for convenience sake, as people arc used to these term s. The, Christian calls his god a m ale, and m ost people so u n d er- stand it, although the evidence as to sex is very meager. One would infer therefore th a t their god is anti, and th eir devil female, hut the Christians don’t call it nor picture it so. But I will leave th e question to the theolo- gians as I am to consider their god mostly. It is a necessity th at godists at- trib u te to th eir gods, great knowl- edge and great power. And the Christians have m ade theirs illim- ¡table in thia re»,wet. Omnipo- . . ‘ f t nt. om niscient anil om nipresent. H aving all power, he can do any- luiug. Possessed of all knowledge THE PEOPLE. (certain ones) have som ething to gay ¡n t he m atter, and they give W h e re All can buy to A dvantage. tp ejr g0(j inform ation; they advise Some Store-keepers pride them selves on him , and a-k him to do things th at ¡t a ppPara he is not otherwise the fact th at they cater to a special class likely to do. A lthough it does not of trade. We d o n ’t. E veryone can huv appear to the average sin n er to •/ </ have any effect a t all, the Christian here and he suited. One price to all, and claim s th a t it dues, and keeps on doing it. th a t the very lowest. T his is w hat they call prayer an(J every tim e a Christian prays, A. W O L F & S O N , he assum es to know’ m ore th a n his god does. He rem inds his god of S ilv e r to n , O re g o n . his own unw orthiness and sinful- C o r. M a in A W a t e r S ts . ness, as though God d id n ’t know it, He rem inds God of his own greatness and glory and seeks in various ways to flatter and cajole this god into noticing him, (and his crowd) as if God would neglect him if he d id n ’t th u s jog his mem- D E A L E R IN C hem icals, Drugs, ory and a ttra c t his attention by flattery and fawning before him . M edicine, Toilet A rticles, I have as m uch rig h t to assume Perfum ery and Soaps, Stationery, th a t I am wiser than God as the P aten t Medicines, P aints and Oils, Christian has, and I don’t see th at Com bs and Brushes. it is any m ore silly or egotistic al for me to act upon th a t ; assump- tion th an it is for the Christian to do it. Therefore I am moved to th at if I had been God I would bave d ° n,e , m a " y tb i"K8 di9'e rel,t from w hat he did. , th in k , w„u |,j h av e modified the clim ate of both the torrid and J. E. Hammond, DRUGGIST, Silverton, Oregon. TORCH OF REASON, (C o n tin u ed on 6 th . Pa$e.) Only $i per year. Subscribe Now!