hen perhaps he thought
that by betraying Christ he could get forgiven, not only for the sins
that he had already committed but for the sin of betrayal, and if, on
the way to Calvary, and later, some brave, heroic soul had rescued
Christ from the mob, he would have made his own damnation sure. It
won't do. There is no logic in that.

They say God tried to civilize the Jews. If He had succeeded,
according to the Christian system, we all would have been damned,
because if the Jews had been civilized they would not have crucified
Christ. They would have believed in the freedom of speech, and as a
result the world would have been lost for two thousand years. The
Christian world has been trying to explain the atonement, and they have
always ended by failing to explain it.

Now I come to the second objection, which is that certain belief is
necessary to salvation. I will believe according to the evidence. In
my mind are certain scales, which weigh everything, and my integrity
stands there and knows which side goes up and which side goes down. If
I am an honest man I will report the weights like an honest man. They
say I must believe a certain thing or I will be eternally damned. They
tell me that to believe is the safer way. I deny it. The safest thing
you can do is to be honest. No man, when the shadows of the last hours
were gathering around him, ever wished that he had lived the life of a
hypocrite. If I find at the Day of Judgment that I have been mistaken,
I will say so, like a man. If God tells me then that he is the author
of the old testament I will admit that he is worse than I thought He
was, and when He comes to pronounce sentence upon me, I will say to
Him: "Do unto others as You would that others should do unto You." I
have a right to think; I cannot control my belief; my brain is my
castle, and if I don't defend it, my soul becomes a slave and a serf.

If you throw away your reason, your soul is not worth saving. Salvation
depends, not upon belief but upon deed--upon kindness, upon justice,
upon mercy. Your own deeds are your savior, and you can be saved in no
other way. I am told in this testament to love my enemies. I cannot;
I will not. I don't hate enemies; I don't wish to injure enemies, but
I don't care about seeing them. I don't like them. I love my friends,
and the man who loves enemies and friends loves me. The doctrine of
non-resistance is born of weakness. The man that firs