In his seminal book, “The Age of Reason”, Thomas Paine observed the following, “Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals.”
This form of divine communication has been claimed as direct, as when God delivered His commandments to Moses or via His son Jesus. Alternatively, angelic messengers have been employed; Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary or delivering Allah’s words directly to Mohammed.
Accepting these at face value for the moment, they undoubtedly constitute revelation. The difficulty, however, is that such is only revelatory for Moses, Mary and Mohammed. Even if greater numbers can be claimed for those who heard the divine word of God’s son, it was still only revelation for them.
What was subsequently written in the Talmud, Bible or Koran can at best only be received second hand by those who read it or hear it read. In reality, considering these three books were compiled well after the supposed event, as well as translation, interpretation and redaction, what is presented is anything but revelation,
As Paine wrote, “But admitting, for the sake of a case, that something has been revealed to a certain person…it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it.”
This does not mean that what is written in religious tracts cannot be considered and reflected on, but it should always be kept in mind that they are the words and works of men, not divine communications, no matter how inspired they may appear.
Deism makes no claims to possess sacred books dictated by God, indeed it refutes their very existence. Nature and the cosmos, being for deists, the only known divine works, are the gospels looked to through the lens of reason.
As such, this is the true source of revelation. It is for each individual to draw deist conclusions from what can be observed and experienced in nature, the only source for recognising intimations of a non-anthropomorphic deity whose being is beyond human comprehension.
Deists do not preach because this way of seeing is open to everyone and does not require mediation through others. Deists offer deism as a possibility, but it is up to each person to open themselves to seeking and experiencing revelation for themselves.
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