Anyone know if it's true that Voltaire's house was turned into a Bible press?

[PreacherFergy]

Just curious,

I read it in a history book before, but was wondering if anyone else had any support of this. I found it quite ironic

God bless,
PreacherFergy
Psalm 27:14

 

[USincognito]

You're referring to the claim made in the frequently forwarded and posted list that goes under various names showing how special the Bible is.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=voltaire+geneva+bible+society+

From one of the pages:

Concerning the boast of Voltaire on the extinction of Christianity and the Bible in 100 years, Geisler and Nix point out that "only 50 years after his death the Geneva Bible Society used his press and house to produce stacks of Bibles." What an irony of history!

I personally have been trying for years to see if any source material for this appears on the web but haven't found any. Every time I see it posted I try several different combinations of words in Google, but never get a direct source back to the 1800s. Assuming that it's true, what conclusions can we draw from that?

Well, Voltaire is still very much well known and talked about. His ideas were very important in pre-Revolutionary France and remain so to this day. Neither he, nor the Bible has disappeared from history.

The Geneva Bible Society's purchase of his house sounds like a "gotcha!" move. That's a move that's been going on for millenia. In Egypt, Akhenaten's temples were vandalized and used to restore the worship of Amun when Tutankhamum was placed in power. It had no relevence on Aten or Amun's being the true god.

Also, Voltaire is dead, but his ideas are not. A house is just someplace you live. If it's really so symbolic that the next occupant validates or invalidates the previous occupant, what conclusions are to be drawn from the Dome of the Rock sitting on top of the Second Temple?

All in all it makes a feel good "heh we showed that filty Voltaire" kinda forward to your friends, but it doesn't do much regading the veracity of any statments, claims or assertions contined within or made about the Bible.