a thousand lies
by Zhou (Chew) Hong Jie
“You have noticed that the human being is a curiosity. In times past he has had (and worn out and flung away) hundreds and hundreds of religions; today he has hundreds and hundreds of religions, and launches not fewer than three new ones every year… One of his principle religions is called the Christian. A sketch of it will interest you. It sets forth in detail in a book containing two million words, called the Old and New Testaments. Also it has another name – The Word of God. For the Christian thinks every word of it was dictated by God. It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.”
- Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)
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“The Word of God. For the Christian thinks every word of it was dictated by God.”
Ah, but he’s wrong. Some Christians think that every word is so dictated. That’s a popular view of Christianity taken by many people calling themselves Christian. The orthodox view (as in Eastern Orthodox, but also in other denominations claiming orthodoxy, such as Anglicans and Roman Catholics) is that Jesus the Christ is the Word of God.
There’s a rather nice lecture here outlining it all:-
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-formation-of-christian-doctrine