​   ‘The Jefferson Monticello’* was the location of Thomas Jefferson’s residence in Charlottesville, Virginia, but presently serves as memorial to our third president. Of course, the assumption of a memorial/museum is professional academia—historians, doctorate and master degrees, professors, etc. So, at the site of a response to my tidbit dated 8/24/19 entitled, 'Thomas Jefferson's fight AGAINST Slavery!' initially generated momentary shock, which immediately morphed into fear.  It was my first experience of an attack from a prominent organization, and I was concerned about my credibility. However, in His mercy, God reached down and reminded of His word: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Is41:10; see also 2Tim3:12).   Yet more peace flooded my soul as I remembered that I have a personal relationship with David Barton! After calling him, he offered me simple advice to take a stand, because truth is on my side. So, the following response is my own.
  I repeat, please begin by reading the entirety of their TJ quotes offered to refute my tidbit (here). I can only assume their quotes are authentic, because they offered no footnotes. However, it is obvious they have an ‘agenda’ because the quotes they use easily make TJ look anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-Christian!
   However, there are some problems needing serious attention. For example, there are ‘mountains of other quotes’ by TJ that contradict those offered by ‘The Jefferson Monticello’. For example,
-“The genuine and simple religion of Jesus will one day be restored such as it was preached and practiced by Himself…. I hope that day of restoration is to come.”
-“Happy in the prospect of a restoration of primitive Christianity, I must leave to younger athletes to encounter and lop off the false branches which have been engrafted into it by the mythologies of the middle and modern ages.”
-“I…express my gratification with your efforts for the revival of primitive Christianity in your quarter.”
-“It is only by…getting back to the plain and unsophisticated precepts of Christ that we become real Christians.”
-“Had the doctrines of Jesus been preached always as pure as they came from His lips, the whole of civilized world would have been Christian”** (Barton, pg148)
 
   Now…do the above quotes sound like TJ is the atheist the ‘The Jefferson Monticello’ paint him to be? And these quotes only scratch the surface of what could be offered! Furthermore, we can add to his defense when considering his many Judaeo/Christian actions, such as his more than 40 year war against slavery as a public servant!
   However, to be candid, the extremely troubling part is if TJ actually made both sets of statements; some supporting atheism, while others rejecting it, it would appear he’s schizophrenic! How then do I explain such a huge discrepancy?  
   Before answering this question, notice the ‘The Jefferson Monticello’ does not even attempt to address this discrepancy! As a matter of fact, they simply paint TJ as an angry atheist, who hates Christ, while completely ignoring the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. However, this viewpoint is not unexpected because obviously ‘The Jefferson Monticello’ is liberal, and liberalism is a doctrine of atheism…angry atheism!
   I need to pause for a moment. What is extremely important to understand is ‘The Jefferson Monticello’ position is not an accident, but part of the larger agenda (Rom1:18NAS) of liberalism! And what is that? To paint America’s Founding Fathers as racist and hypocritical in order to discredit them(especially TJ); and more importantly, to discredit the Judaeo/Christian ethic that motivated them. If liberalism can change America’s past, it can reinvent her future!
   My evidence is two-fold. 1.In my tidbit on Jefferson’s war against slavery, The Jefferson Monticello’ did not attempt to address one quote I offered! They did not provide one scintilla of evidence that Jefferson did not declare about slavery what I attributed to him!  As a matter of fact, if you read their quotes, everyone is about Christianity, none are about TJ’s view of slavery! In other words, they made no effort to deny that TJ actually made the quotes I attributed to him, they simply offered their own quotes believing that their quotes nullify my quotes! But that is the apex of irrational thinking—especially for an institution dedicated to academia! They can argue that Jefferson is schizophrenic by using his contrary quotes, but they certainly cannot refute my TJ quotes, by offering their contrary TJ quotes!
2.In addition, they reveal their liberal agenda in the very words of their condemnation of Barton:
“The author you quote has greatly distorted the words, thoughts and deeds of the man our society has been dedicated to preserve accurately for decades. Here are actual quotes from Thomas Jefferson on religion and bible.”
I underlined and italicized the last phrase of their quote because it perfectly unveils their intention. This sentence, along with the list of quotes they subsequently attribute to TJ, are irrefutable evidence that ‘The Jefferson Monticello’ believes Jefferson was an atheist, who hated God, and the Bible! In other words, the list of TJ quotes which follow the phrase: “…actual quotes from Thomas Jefferson on religion and bible” is designed to support their belief on what TJ believed!
   Once again, why would they not attempt to refute the actual quotes Barton uses of TJ, as opposed to offering contrary quotes made by TJ? I repeat, offering contrary quotes by TJ do not change Barton’s use of TJ’s quotes!
   Yet, the answer to this paradox is spiritual (Col2:8). ‘The Jefferson Monticello’ may not be aware, but it is painfully obvious that they have a hatred for God, and His calling upon this great nation---and they attempt to use TJ as their evidence!
   In the next tidbit, I will offer my explanation for Jefferson’s discrepancies!
 
*Please read their attack on my tidbit before going forward. Go to comments. 

   In the last six tidbits I wrote about TJ’s war against slavery. Of course, the number one rebuttal  is the accusation that TJ owned over 130 slaves at any one time. How do I explain what appears to be such blatant hypocrisy? In other words, how can a man fight against slavery, while simultaneously owning them?  
   The best way to answer this complex question is: British and Virginia law. If you remember, prior to 1776, the American colonies were ruled by British law. Interestingly, even prior to 1776, Americans attempted to end both slavery and the slave trade, but were systemically rebuffed by King George.
   John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, also known as the “hell-hound of abolition” wrote of the Founding  Fathers:                
“They universally considered it [slavery] as a reproach fastened upon them by the unnatural step-mother country [Great Britain] and they saw that before the principles of the Declaration of Independence, slavery, in common with every other mode of oppression, was destined sooner or later to be banished from the earth.”  
    Another example is,
“the Imperial Crown and Parliament of Great Britain; and that the King’s Majesty . . . had, hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the Colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever. the Imperial Crown and Parliament of Great Britain; and that the King’s Majesty . . . had, hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the Colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.”
    It was this kind of tyranny that subsequently led to TJ writing in the very Declaration of Independence:
“He [King George III] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. . . . Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce [that is, he has opposed efforts to prohibit the slave trade]”
   Furthermore, in 1773 Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to Dean Woodward, confirming Britain’s resistance to the colonies attempts to curb slavery:
“. . . a disposition to abolish slavery prevails in North America, that many of Pennsylvanians have set their slaves at liberty, and that even the Virginia Assembly have petitioned the King for permission to make a law for preventing the importation of more into that colony. This request, however, will probably not be granted as their former laws of that kind have always been repealed.”
   Adding fuel to this fire, Virginia was filled with obedient subjects.  In 1692, Virginia passed a law declaring:
 No Negro or mulatto slave shall be set free, unless the emancipator pays for his transportation out of the country within six months.
   Other subsequent Virginia laws forbad owners to free slaves unless education, livelihood, and support could be guaranteed so that the slave would not be a burden to society. Of course, these laws were coupled with stiff penalties if the owner was convicted of a violation. If we were to stop here, it doesn’t take much common sense to understand that if TJ had freed some 130 slaves (or more), it would have bankrupted him—as well as landed him in prison!
   In 1723, another law was passed which forbad the emancipation of slaves for any reason, even by a last will and testament! I presume to present themselves as not too overly strict, Virginians added a clause allowing an exception for “meritorious service” by a slave! Of course, the Virginians were the sole judges of what constituted a meritorious service. The obvious result was that no owner could manumit their slaves.
  In 1782, Virginia softened and passed legislation allowing owners to emancipate slaves upon their death in a last will and deed. It was through this law that George Washington freed his slaves upon death in 1799. 
  Sadly, in 1806, Virginia repealed the 1782 law declaring:
“It shall be lawful for any person, by his or her last will and testament, or by any other instrument in writing under his or her hand and seal . . . to emancipate and set free his or her slaves . . . Provided, also, that all slaves so emancipated, not being . . . of sound mind and body, or being above the age of forty-five years, or being males under the age of twenty one, or females under the age of eighteen years, shall respectively be supported and maintained by the person so liberating them, or by his or her estate.””
   Adding to this already impossible scenario, because Virginia law did not recognize slave families, if a slave was freed, he/she could not remain near his spouse or children, because the law demanded that the free slave immediately leave the state or return to slavery:
“If any slave hereafter emancipated shall remain within this Commonwealth more than twelve months after his or her right to freedom shall have accrued, he or she shall forfeit all such right and may be apprehended and sold.”
   Here is the ‘elephant-in-the-living-room’ intentionally ignored (Rom1:18) by contemporary liberal historical revisionists: slavery was common all over the world, from time past, up to TJ’s day…in every culture, nation, and religion! On the contrary, for the first time in human history, in America, the morality of slavery was now questioned!! Why? The Judaeo/Christian ethic was being applied! The American Founding Fathers, including TJ, began to apply Holy Scripture to slavery: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen1:27). How do I know this is true? Because the Declaration of Independence reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” Equality among humans cannot exist apart from the image and likeness of God! I repeat, only the Judaeo/Christian ethic…allows for human equality!
   Here is the seminal question, if you were Thomas Jefferson, would you have freed your slaves? No honest person would answer in the affirmative!
   My final evidence is found in the words of John Quincy Adams, and Black abolitionist Frederick Douglas regarding TJ:
“The inconsistency of the institution of domestic slavery with the principles of the Declaration of Independence was seen and lamented by all the southern patriots of the Revolution; by no one with deeper and more unalterable conviction than by the author of the Declaration himself [Jefferson]. No charge of insincerity or hypocrisy can be fairly laid to their charge.
                                                 -John Quincy Adams
 
“It was the Sage of Old Dominion (Virginia) that said—while speaking of the possibility of a conflict between the slaves and slavesholders—“God has no attribute that could take sides with the oppressor in such a contest. I tremble for my country when I reflect that god is just and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” Such is the warning voice of Thomas Jefferson, and every day’s experience since its utterance until now confirms its wisdom and commends its truth.”                                                                      -Frederick Douglas (Barton, pg148)
 
*Facts in this tidbit taken from historian David Barton’s incredible book “The Jefferson Lies”. It is a must read!!
 
 
QuoteBit
What you become directly influences what you get. –Jim Rohn