A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas PaineRead
The fable of Christ and his twelve apostles is a parody of the sun and the twelve signs of the Zodiac, copied from the ancient religions of the Eastern world. Every thing told of Christ has reference to the sun. His reported resurrection is at sunrise, and that on the first day of the week; that is, on the day anciently dedicated to the sun, and from thence called Sunday.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the religious narratives surrounding Christ, suggesting they are derived from older cosmological beliefs related to the sun.
Thomas Paine's quote explores the idea that the story of Christ and his apostles is not unique but rather a reinterpretation of ancient solar myths. He argues that many aspects of Christ's narrative, including his resurrection, are symbolic of the sun's journey, indicating a connection between early Christianity and the astronomical beliefs of past civilizations. This perspective invites reflection on the intersections between mythology, religion, and the natural world.
Themes
ChristMythSunZodiacReligionNarrativeResurrection
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the historical origins of religious beliefs while teaching a philosophy class.
More from Thomas Paine
All quotes →That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
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Had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it.
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The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression.
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To reason with goverments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that reforms can be expected
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