The Age of Reason · Chapter
I: The Old Testament explained
Paine argues that the Bible must first be proven true before it can be used as evidence for anything.
What happens
Paine argues that the Bible must first be proven true before it can be used as evidence for anything. He condemns the violent acts attributed to God in the Old Testament, such as the slaughter of entire nations including infants, as morally repugnant and inconsistent with divine justice. He then examines the book of Jeremiah, pointing out its historical contradictions and disordered narrative, and concludes that the prophets are impostors and the lesser prophets are best forgotten. He ends by transitioning to the New Testament.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Biblical Inerrancy
Paine argues that the Bible is not self-authenticating and must be proven true before it can be used as evidence; he points out contradictions and historical disorder in Jeremiah.
Morality and Humanity
Paine condemns the Bible's accounts of divinely commanded genocide, especially the killing of infants, as violating moral justice and human sympathy.
Critique of Organized Religion
Paine attacks priests and commentators for imposing their own interpretations on the Bible and for using it to justify atrocities.
Reason vs. Revelation
Paine insists that reason and moral judgment must be used to evaluate the Bible, rather than accepting it on faith or tradition.
Characters to notice
- Thomas Paine
Author and critic, systematically deconstructing the Bible's authority and morality.
- Jeremiah
Discussed as a purported prophet whose book is shown to be historically confused and contradictory.
- Zedekiah
King of Judah during the siege of Jerusalem, who consulted Jeremiah and later revolted against Nebuchadnezzar.
- Nebuchadnezzar
Babylonian king who besieged Jerusalem and is called 'the servant of God' by Jeremiah.
- Joseph le Bon
Mentioned as an example of an assassin in modern times, compared to the atrocities in the Bible.
- Robespierre
Mentioned as an example of a modern perpetrator of shocking acts, paralleling biblical atrocities.
- Benjamin Franklin
Referenced for his parable about Abraham and the stranger, which Paine compares favorably to the book of Jonah.
- Jonah
His book is cited as ending with a strong point against prophets and intolerant judgments.
Key passages
“It has often been said that anything may be proved from the Bible; but before anything can be admitted as proved by Bible, the Bible itself must be proved to be true; for if the Bible be not true, or the truth of it be doubtful, it ceases to have authority, and cannot be admitted as proof of anything.”
People claim the Bible can prove anything, but first we need to prove that the Bible itself is true; if its truth is uncertain, it has no authority as evidence.
Paine establishes the foundational requirement that the Bible must be validated before it can be used to support any claim.
“To charge the commission of things upon the Almighty, which in their own nature, and by every rule of moral justice, are crimes, as all assassination is, and more especially the assassination of infants, is matter of serious concern.”
Attributing acts like the murder of infants to God, which by any moral standard are crimes, is a very serious accusation.
Paine highlights the moral contradiction of a just God commanding infanticide.
“I have now gone through the Bible, as a man would go through a wood with an axe on his shoulder, and fell trees. Here they lie; and the priests, if they can, may replant them. They may, perhaps, stick them in the ground, but they will never make them grow.”
I have cut down the Bible's claims like a woodsman fells trees; the priests may try to replant them, but they will never take root again.
Paine uses a metaphor to assert that his critique has permanently dismantled the Bible's authority.
