The Christian Religion Author:Robert Green Ingersoll Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: are without repentance." '' For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." "Not of works, lest any man should boast... more »." " Whosoever shall confess that Jesns is the Sou of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in 6od." " Whosoever believeth not shall be damned." I do not understand that tin; Christians of to-day insist that simple belief will secure the salvation of the soul. I believe it is stated in the Bible that " the very devils believe "; and it would seem from this that belief is not such a meritorious thing, after all. But Christians do insist that without belief no man can be saved; that faith is necessary to salvation, and that there is " none other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved," except that of Christ. My doctrine is that there is only one way to be saved, and that is to act in harmony with your surroundings—to live in accordance with the facts of your being. A Being of infinite wisdom has no right to create a person destined to everlasting pain. For the honest infidel, according to the American Evangelical pulpit, there is no heaven. For the upright atheist, there is nothing in another world but punishment. Mr. Black admits that lunatics and idiots are in no danger of hell. This being so, his God should have created only lunatics and idiots. Why should the fatal gift of brain be given to any human being, if such gift renders him liable to eternal hellt Better be a lunatic here and an angel there. Better be an idiot in this world, if you can be a seraph in the next. As to the doctrine of the atonement, Mr. Black has nothing to offer except the barren statement that it is believed by the wisest and the best. A Mohammedan, speaking in Constantinople, will say the same of the Koran. A Brahman, in a Hin...« less