"Not to Undeceive is to Deceive"
How the Bible Was
Invented
A Lecture Delivered
Before the Independent
Religious Society
Orchestra Hall
Chicago, Illinois
Sunday at 11 A. M.
Tenth Edition
By M. M. MANGASARIAN
How the Bible Was Invented
Many good people believe that the Bible was given by inspiration of God.The wording of my subject suggests that it is the work of men, and notalways of honest men, either. Am I trying to offend people by intimatingthat the Bible was invented? On the contrary, I am exposing myself tocriticism by telling these good people the truth about the Bible, whichtheir own preachers, for some reason or other, have withheld from them.
One of the texts in the Bible, attributed to Jesus, says that, It werebetter for a man to have a millstone tied about his neck, and he werecast into the sea, than that he should offend, that is to say, unsettlethe faith of, "one of these little ones." According to this saying ofJesus, a man must keep his questionings and his doubts to himself. Heshall not talk where he is liable to upset the faith of some believingsoul,—some aged mother, some Sunday-school lad or lassie. The man whowill go about disturbing people's religious peace, deserves to bedrowned with a millstone about his neck! What is your opinion of such asuggestion?
If you approve of this sentiment, attributed to the founder ofChristianity, then the work which we are doing here, every Sunday, isquite wicked; a millstone around our necks is what we deserve, and thebottom of the sea is where we belong.
Psychologists tell us that there is great power in suggestion. With allmy love and reverence for whatever is sweet and sane in the Gospels, Imust protest against this text, because it is a suggestion to violenceand persecution. If Jesus suggests a millstone for the neck of theheretic who upsets people's illusions and makes inquirers out ofbelievers, and intimates further that drowning is too good for them, whynot take the hint and act upon it? He expresses a wish, shall[Pg 3] we notfulfill it? Alas, we know, too well, that in less enlightened ages, thesuggestion of Jesus was not only carried out, but vastly improvedupon—by the Spanish Inquisition, for instance.
Let us be fair. When a man is accused, it is his privilege to defendhimself. If Jesus suggests that the investigator who unsettles people'sbeliefs should be drowned, before the suggestion is acted upon, thedisturber should be given a chance to be heard. Would that be asking toomuch? Let us see, then, just what it means to command a man to suppresswhatever might disturb a neighbor's faith: It means that if I amannounced to speak on the Bible, I must say nothing to which the weakestor the most credulous among my hearers might object. If I do, I shalldeserve to be tied to a millstone and drowned! But let us turn thisproposition about to see how it would work: Having discovered a truth,and yearning in my soul to express it, suppose I were to say, that ifany man in this audience shall scare me into silence,—shall cheat meout of the joy and duty of imparting that truth to my world, bythreatening to be offended, or to be unsettled by it,—he ought to havea millstone tied to his neck and be cast into the sea. How would that do?
Again, an illustration, which I have used befo