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THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS ARE LIKE DIAMONDS IN A DUNGHILL?
> Greetings...I am looking for confirmation of a quote I believe is > attributed to Thomas Jefferson...something to the effect that many of > the teachings / principles in the bible are as diamonds in a dungheap. > Can you help? Thank you. The passage you seek is from a letter to John Adams of October 13, 1813. After describing the process of reducing the gospel accounts down to the words of Jesus and eliminating the extraneous materials, Jefferson writes: "There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as easily distinguishable as diamonds in a dunghill." ME 13:390 The end product of this operation was what has since been called "The Jefferson Bible." You can find the entire letter online by going to the following website: http://www.constitution.org/tj/jeff15.txt That webpage is a rather large file. I would suggest that you use your browser's search function, and insert the date, October 13, in order to locate the letter.