Nearly 60 years ago, on March 4, 1966, London's Evening Standard published the interview where John Lennon made the infamous claim that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus:
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
Less than 15 years later, Lennon was fatally shot by one of his own "disciples," American fan Mark David Chapman.
But Lennon was hardly the first to speak out against Christ, the Bible, or Christianity.
In 303 AD, Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an edict to destroy Christians and their Bibles. Brutal persecution of Christians followed. Over a burned and extinguished Bible, Diocletian built a monument on which he wrote these triumphant words: “Extincto nomene Christianorum” (“The name Christian is extinguished”). Diocletian fashioned a medal with the engraving: “The Christian religion is destroyed and the worship of the gods restored.”
Less than ten years later, Diocletian was dead, and under the reign of the new Emperor, Constantine the Great (306-337 AD), Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.
The French philosopher Voltaire made numerous brags against Christ, whom is called "the cursed wretch," the Bible, of which he wrote "The Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles commend, what rogues teach and young children are made to learn by heart." and declared that, even in his day "We are living in the twilight of Christianity."
In 1776 Voltaire predicted "One hundred years from my day, there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker."
The Bible is the best selling book of all time. It is the most translated book in history and has been read, discussed, and interpreted more than any other book. "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever." Isaiah 40:8"So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:11
"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5:18
"...there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:3-9
Sources:
Religious persecutions under Diocletian
Constantine the Great and Christianity
Voltaire's Prediction, Home, and the Bible Society: Truth or Myth?
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