The true beginnings of atheism

Theophrastus redivivus was probably the first overtly atheist text and was written circa the middle of the 17th century.
however it wasn't until the 18th century that there were any "atheists" of large numbers. this was circulated around by the Libertine movement of the age and the term Libertine and Atheist was synonymous with other terms such as Spinozan (God was the universe)

The Marquis de Sade 1740-1814 was a libertine

Yes, I am a libertine, I admit it freely. I have dreamed of doing everything that it is possible to dream of in that line. But I have certainly not done all the things I have dreamt of and never shall. Libertine I may be, but I am not a criminal, I am not a murderer. -- The Marquis de Sade

a libertine devoted to the corruption of children could easily corrupt 300 of them in the course of a year, in 30 years 9 thousand. If each child imitates just 1/4 of the corruption taught to him by the libertine and passes it on to similar numbers, we arrive at the figure of 9 million corrupted beings.

Hans Jonas a 20th century Gnostic sites Simon Magus as the father of Gnosticism and taught that evil angels made the earth to lead man into servitude. according to Irraneus he taught followers to ignor Gods law and do what they wanted.

Matthias Knutzen was one of the first renowned atheists.

We declare that God does not exist, we deeply despise the authorities and also reject the churches with all their priests. For us Gewisseners the knowledge of a single person is insufficient, only that of the majority is sufficient... (because a single person cannot see everything) and the conscience in combination with the knowledge. And this, the conscience, which the generous Mother Nature has given to all humans, replaces for us the bible ... and the authorities; it is the true judge ... and is valid for us instead of the priests, because this teacher teaches us to harm nobody, to live in honor and to give everybody what is his

However it seems that Knutzen was widely influenced by the spiritualist movement and frequently quoted david Joris (1501-1556) in his tracts/pamphlets etc

from www.ritmanlibrary.nl

western mystics with a demonstrable affinity with Hermetic thought: these include Meister Eckhart, Suso and Tauler, but also Jacob Böhme and his followers, for whom the Dutch Republic for more than a century (1630-1735) was to become a safe haven and a centre of spiritual activities. This collecting area also holds numerous works of 16th-century spiritualists such as Sebastian Franck, Miguel Servet, Sebastian Castellio and David Joris.

Miriam Webster's defines Hermetic as:

of or relating to the Gnostic writings or teachings arising in the first three centuries a.d. and attributed to Hermes Trismegistus b: relating to or characterized by occultism.


As you can see. originally Atheism has been taught, not by Atheists as we seem to understand at all but by those with an agenda against God. Todays Atheist believe that is is a Christian who is blind and yet the opposite is the truth. They have been grossly mislead.

david



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www.investigatingatheism.info...

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