|
home | what's new | other sites | contact | about |
|||||
|
Word Gems exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
return to the main-page article on "Bible"
Editor’s note: Recall that fundamentalism/cultism presents itself not only in religious garb but that of the corporation, the academic setting, entertainment, the news media, the political establishment – that is, wherever true-believers congregate in order to lose themselves.
The Church father Irenaeus ridiculed the Gnostic teacher Marcus and mocked him for urging initiates to seek revelations of their own: “ – every one of them generates something new every day according to his ability; for no one is considered ‘mature’ among them who does not develop some enormous fiction.”
Editor’s note: And yet this format of each sharing a “revelation,” that which God had personally given to one – a dream, an insight, a perception – is how the apostle Paul structured his “church” services. See this referenced in his letter to the Corinthians.
Irenaeus was outraged that there was nothing to support their writings but intuition. Marcus’ teaching was a threat to Irenaeus’ political ambition to unite all Christians under the umbrella of one official doctrine. The Gnostics were making things administratively impossible… they had to go… When sharing their personal experiences, Gnostics would draw lots to select who would act as bishop at their gatherings, or simply take turns. The champions of orthodoxy [Big Religion] anticipated great chaos from this unstructured approach; what emerged instead was an amazing unity of Spirit. [Contrariwise,] orthodoxy anticipated great unity from their imposed unanimity; what emerged however was endless fragmentation and conflict. Does God teach and commune with only a certain elite? Constantine and his bishops promoted the idea that non-ordinary experiences and revelations were the private reserve of a few special icons, like Moses, Jesus, and the apostles. The implication is clear: a few special ones have these experiences, we don’t; and if do, we better keep quiet or expect a visit from the Inquisition officials. Every cultish organization, in one form or another, preaches that we must deny our own experience, mind, judgment, and perceptions, in favor of the august wisdom of some Harry HeadCheeze at the top of the hierarchy We may read, vicariously, of these miracles in the Bible but we must deny our own experience. Joseph Campbell says it’s like looking at a menu, seeing beefsteak written there and then proceeding to eat the menu. Church father Gaius of Rome argued that the genuine visions and revelations ended with the close of the apostolic age, that “the number of the prophets and apostles is now complete.” This would serve to legitimize the authority of the Church and protect against alternative visions, preserving a constant narrative, just like the evening news [which has been pre-packaged by editors to present a certain, highly-selective view of reality]. Have these special abilities, sometimes called “gifts of the spirit” in the New Testament, been conditioned out of us and driven underground by the Wizards [cult leaders] of religion and the Wizards of materialistic science?
Editor’s note: All fundamentalistic/cultish organizations seek to control information flow. All fundamentalistic/cultish organizations will censor, edit, and otherwise misrepresent reality as it is. All fundamentalistic/cultish organizations endeavor to limit debate, discussion, and rational discourse. How Orwellian. Why is this? They cannot win an argument on the merits of the case in the open sunny air, and therefore, living in the shadows, they resort to deception, propaganda, character assassination, and ad hominem attacks – all the while posing as “the good guy,” the sainted agent of God, the pious and venerable ones. But why is it so important to them? It’s the existential inner chanting of “I am not enough.” The dysfunctional “Needy Little Me” requires all this of them. The standard-fare ruse of “All revelations ended with the apostles” is code-language for “We’re so out of touch with all things spiritual that we couldn’t hope for a message from God; besides, by shutting down, and condemning as satanic, the possibility of one’s personal communion with God, we conveniently make ourselves more important in the eyes of the unthinking, fearful mob, and thereby solidify our position as Head-Honchos over your sheeplike souls.” Again, all cultish organizations, not just religious ones, will try to convince you that you have no right to think on your own. And the Church’s modest proposal that God couldn’t be bothered to speak to you directly, is just an old spin on a very big lie.
|
|||||
|
|
