#American idolatry culture will be the death of me

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

I really need some of my lovely and well intentioned US moots to realise that Tim Walz called for the “expansion of Israel”, which is literally colonisation.

We have to condemn this in the strongest possible terms. Please stop idolising your politicians.

[beginnerblueglass]

Elvis (2022), culture of celebrity, Greek heroism, idolatry, and dehumanization.

So this Christmas my Gramma got Baz Lurhmann's Elvis Presley biopic, aptly named Elvis, in her stocking. I watched it with her, and then I watched it again three days later, and then a third time a week after that. Since then it's pretty much been keeping me up at night. I felt like I had to get my thoughts down, even if this just lives in my drafts for all eternity. So here we go; I've never written a long-form meta like this, and I'm really just emptying out my brain at this point. (Long post).

1. Elvis as seen through the eyes of the man who killed him (or did he?)

The movie begins in Las Vegas in 1997, and we are immediately introduced to an old man who's just collapsed from a stroke. He's rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and in his stroke-induced, fever-dream narration he describes himself as Colonel Tom Parker, the man who gave the world Elvis Presley. This narration is interrupted by loud voices of accusation and glaring headlines flashing across the screen, which accuse him of abusing, manipulating, overworking, and ultimately causing the death of Elvis Presley. He sits up quickly in his hospital bed, looks out at the Las Vegas cityscape, and tells us not to believe what the newspapers say about him. He declares that he did not, in fact, kill Elvis, and begins to tell the story from his point of view.

Now the first time I watched this movie, I was overwhelmed and slightly put off by the off-kilter pacing, and having read some reviews, I can see that many other viewers were as well. The first half of this movie is frenetic, erratic, impossibly quick-paced, bright, colourful, and has little respect for chronological order. These are the frantic, confused, morphine-induced ramblings of an old man on his deathbed, allegedly trying to set the record straight concerning the serious allegations which have been plaguing him for decades.

Something happens in the middle of this movie, however. After the victorious emotional and career peak of Elvis's '68 Comeback, the tone of the movie takes a turn. The pace slows down, the colour scheme loses its lustre, and there begins a growing sense of unease and dread. Something terrible is coming. It's ominous. Even if the viewer knows nothing about Elvis Presley, the opening scenes of the movie have already told us that he dies at the end. The main character of the story is nearing his end, and the storyteller on his deathbed is also nearing his.

So Elvis dies, and we get to the end of Parker's tale of self-defence. The only problem is, while he's been telling the story, we've been watching the story, and it seems beyond obvious that the Colonel is exactly what the shouting voices accused him of being at the beginning of the movie: a liar, cheat, and conman, guilty of causing Elvis's death. His final statement is easy to throw away as just another lie, "I'll tell you what really killed my boy: it was love, the love he felt from you, his fans." We roll our eyes in disgust and hope that he dies soon.

But wait. What does he mean by that and could he possibly have a point?

2. Celebrity culture, idolatry, and dehumanization.

I love a good story that accomplishes more than one purpose and tells more than just one story. Elvis tells the story of Elvis Presley, sure, and Colonel Tom Parker, and American pop culture, and the history of American music. It also tells a story that's been played out in real life, film, and television many, many times. The story of the meteoric rise and cataclysmic downfall of a beloved celebrity, a cultural icon, a superstar. What causes the downfall? Well, Parker claims that the culprit is love, specifically, the love fans feel for the celebrities they idolize. I found this movie to be a compelling examination of the dangers of the most prevalent form of idolatry in our culture: celebrity worship.

Before watching this movie I thought I had a pretty fair idea of who Elvis Presley was. I grew up in North America after all, and watched television, and you know, existed. I grew up listening to his Christmas album. I grew up watching Full House, in which one of the main characters, Uncle Jesse, is Elvis Presley's biggest fan. Since I can remember I've always been able to identify pictures of Elvis, and his voice. I can sing along to many of his songs. Many years ago my Gramma acquired a box set of all of Elvis's movies; I've seen bits and pieces of quite a few. Because of the internet, I've learned many commonly circulated fun facts about him, things like, "He was actually blond," and, "He was a legit federal agent," and, "He loved peanut butter." White sparkly jumpsuit, slick coiffed black hair, sideburns, curled lip, funny voice = Elvis, of course.

He is one of the preeminent members of a class of celebrity all on its own: the cultural icon. I wonder if some people don't think about the fact that "icon" is a religious word. In the minds of most people, and in the view of pop culture, Elvis Presley is no longer a human being just like anyone else; he has been reduced to a costume, an easily recognized symbol. Of what? Depends on who you ask. A symbol of America, or good, or evil, or Hollywood, or rock 'n roll, or Las Vegas, or teenage rebellion, or wealth, or a sex symbol.

What happens when a human being becomes the object of another human being's worship? They become just that, an object. Forms of worship include adoration, attention, devotion, money, and sex. They are offered in the name of love, and are often received as love. Our unreliable narrator makes the probably-true comment that Elvis became addicted to the false love, to the point where real love could not compare. Worshipers then feel entitlement to receive certain things back. The idol's life becomes public property, an open book which must be available for a photo shoot at all times, no matter how invasive. Fans swarm the gate of his private home, climb trees to peer into his window, refuse to watch a movie in which he doesn't sing, and photographers must capture his grief after his mother's death, and his haircut and physical exam before entering the military. Both the worshipers and the idol are eaten up by the vicious, dehumanizing cycle, which bears the pretty name of love.

We are invited to consider: did the consumeristic, idolatrous culture, which has a tendency to see people as products to be bought, invite the meddling of wicked, opportunistic men like Colonel Parker? Or did the wicked men, who package people up and market them as products to be sold, engineer such a culture?

3. Greek Mythology, the American Dream, and Elvis Presley.

Typology and literary archetypes are my jam. I adore how movies can play with these concepts through imagery and music. One of my all-time favourite movies is A Knight's Tale (2001). A Knight's Tale is about a peasant who masquerades as a knight and achieves fame, wealth, glory, and love. The director wanted the story to resonate with modern audiences, so he decided to portray knights as the medieval equivalent of rock stars. The movie utilizes symbols, metaphors, costume clues, and a killer soundtrack of classic rock songs to reinforce the idea that we are watching not just a movie about a knight, but also a movie about a rock star. The audience is invited to make inferences and assumptions based on what we know about the rock star archetype.

Baz Luhrmann made a comment in a behind-the-scenes interview, that Elvis had a mythic, hard-to-wrap-our-minds-around life, one that conforms to both the ancient Greek heroic tragedy and the American Dream narrative. So naturally I am obsessed with this idea. Let's get into it.

i. Greek hero stories, glory, the classic character arc.

I'm not an expert in Greek mythology, but I'm no slouch either. The ancient world greatly valued this thing, which has many names in many different cultures. You can see it in Genesis, the concept of having a great name, and the power that comes with it. It's a not-quite-abstract but not-quite-actual, metaphysical substance. For the Greeks, we'll call it glory. Glory is gained by accomplishing heroic feats: killing monsters, fighting in wars, and going on quests. Glory comes with fame, reputation, power, respect, money, women, and often supernatural abilities which give the owner the ability to accomplish more heroic feats, thereby gaining more glory. It is the vocation of heroes to pursue glory. Along with the ability to pursue glory, comes the desire for more. The more you have, the more you want. In fact, it's almost addictive.

The other thing about glory: it's corruptive. The longer you have it, the more things you are willing to do to get more, and the more power you have to do those possibly morally dubious things.

Most Greek heroes were demigods. They were born with a little bit of glory already inside them. This compelled them to seek more glory, and since they were demigods, they had a leg up when it came to getting it; they already had some supernatural strength and a powerful parent. They did heroic feats, achieved glory, received the power, fame, and wealth that came with the glory, were compelled to seek after more, and so on and so forth. Most Greek heroes had one or a mixture of two fates. 1) They died. Either they were in a situation where they were prevented from seeking more glory, so they wasted away, or they were killed in the pursuit of glory by an enemy, monster, or possibly by another hero. 2) They became corrupted. This often happened in ironic, cruel-twist-of-fate ways. One of the villains they fought in their youth was an evil king who murdered his own children, so somehow they ended up becoming a king who murdered his own children, something like that. You know the story: "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain," or the classic, "You've become the very thing you swore to destroy."

ii. The American Dream Narrative.

A common literary trope, the American Dream story is appealing and inspirational, at least at first glance. The structure is pretty simple: The hero is born poor, with nothing but some talent and/or charisma. Due to a mixture of savviness, charm, hard work, and luck, the hero rises to the top and achieves the Dream of money, renown, independence, and freedom. The deconstruction of the American Dream is just as common in fiction. There's a catch, things don't go according to plan, the illusion fails, your luck runs out, etc. There is both so much hope and optimism, and so much mistrust and jadedness surrounding the American Dream. Can it be real?

iii. Elvis Presley.

Elvis was born with a little bit of something. He was born with beauty, charm, and musical talent; a star quality. These qualities of his drove him to use them. Nothing huge at first, but he always had high aspirations; he believed he could go somewhere. The more heroic feats he accomplished (performing and recording music and making movies), the more glory (or fame) he got. The more glory he got, the more he sought; gradually it became addictive. Soon, the corruptive quality of the glory reared its head.

Imagine an arc; the glory propelled him to the top of that arc, along with everything else the glory promises: money, fame, recognition, love, women, power. Up to a point, the glory is a positive force, but once the hero reaches the top of that arc, it becomes a more sinister thing; it starts pushing him down the other side. It starts to corrupt not only the hero but the people around him. While on the upward climb, the glory is like a magic elixir that grants wishes, but on the descent, it becomes more like drinking poison. Elvis's drug addiction and eating disorder seem like an on-the-nose literary device to symbolize this, but no! It happened.

What about the American Dream? He's the poster boy! Born absolutely dirt poor, with nothing but some talent and a dream. With a fortuitous mixture of charisma, hard work, meeting the right people at the right time, and being in the right place at the right time, he rose to the top. He also managed to nab (or be nabbed by) a business-savvy manager with a carnival background. It could only be the American Dream because Elvis, his music, his career, and his fashion were all uniquely American; he couldn't have come from anywhere else in the world, at any other time in history. Rock 'n Roll, the US Army, Hollywood, and Las Vegas, are inseparable from America.

I saw a person saying that the message of Elvis is that the American Dream is unattainable, but I disagree. It is attainable, but that's not the whole story. The movie presents the American Dream more as a deal with the devil. You'll get everything you ever wanted! But then you'll have to pay the price. To gain the American Dream is to open yourself to the ravages of American consumerism and celebrity idol worship. It's to make yourself vulnerable to the vultures, while you fatten yourself on the riches they feed to you. I don't think the movie portrays Elvis as a completely duped, innocent victim. While he was sometimes force-fed the glory (or the pills), many times he swallowed them consciously, willingly, losing the people who were actually looking out for him and truly loved him to forces outside his control, or due to his own choices. He was not immune to the corruptive power of fame and glory; no one is. That's the tragedy.

Anyway, I don't know how to conclude, but this isn't a school assignment so who cares? Baz Luhrmann is a genius, wow what a good movie, I can't wait to watch it again, I didn't even say anything about the soundtrack or Austin Butler's awe-inspiring performance, I love you Austin Butler,* I wrote this instead of a book report for school, it was worth it, I don't even care if no one reads it, I had fun, now to get on with my life.

*edit: his work, that is, and I admire his devotion to his craft. My point is not that we can’t be fans of celebrities. I believe that ALL human beings are worthy of love and dignity, NO human beings are worthy of another human’s worship, and such an attitude is as damaging to the worshipped as it is to the worshiper, and that SOME human beings, by virtue of extraordinary talent, are worthy of additional respect and admiration. I respect and admire Elvis Presley, Baz Luhrmann, and Austin Butler for being talented artists. The English language being what it is, love is the word we often use to sum all that up, but seeing as I just wrote this whole thing, I thought I’d clarify ✌️

[cleverthylacine]

wow! an actual cultural Christian atheist!

I don’t like the term “culturally Christian” when it’s used to refer to people who reject religion generally (or specifically Christianity) who can legitimately complain that they have left Christianity because they were abused by it, they do not like the way Christian hegemony abuses people generally, and other good reasons. I think there are better ways we can address people who are stuck in ideas like “belief = religion, therefore you are not a member of a religion unless you ‘believe’ in it” or  “actually it is much harder to get holidays off when they don’t happen at the same time as Christian holidays”.  I generally don’t have much trouble explaining those concepts to people who are willing to listen, and I don’t bother with the others.

But yesterday I mutually blocked a former follower (illuminator-of-eternal-warfare) because they had such a severe and patronising reaction to being told that “Judeo-Christian” is a bad word, “Abrahamic” isn’t really much better when discussing what people actually believe and practise, and that Messianic Jews aren’t Jews.

This person, whom you may or may not wish to add to your block list, informed me that all “pagan” religions practised human sacrifice and a “might makes right” approach and implied that all pagans are Nazis because apparently native people in the Americas, Australia, Asia and Africa who are targeted for conversion are all believers in social Darwinism and human sacrifice, too, and also apparently, they have never met any pagans or Satanists other than members of white supremacist Odinist groups, LaVeyan Satanists (social Darwinism) and Nazi Satanists.

They also told me my distant ancestors would have stoned me to death for my idolatry toward...

Megatron.

The fictional character whom I admittedly like a lot and in some continuities even admire to a degree, but do not actually believe is real in this universe where we are all living. 

They’ve confused Muslim ideas about not making art of people with Jewish laws against worshipping beings that aren’t G-d and somehow they think that this applies to a fictional robot.

All because of what they learned in Catholic school.

Man, I don’t even, but they were mad that I told them that Jews DO NOT consider Christians and Muslims as people who they are responsible for and that Christian interpretations of the Torah, even liberal ones, are divorced from the rest of Jewish law and culture and were never meant to be imposed on everyone whether they’re Jewish or not.  Because they think Christianity is the source of all teachings about kindness and the sanctity of life among gentiles, and do not want to hear about the Reconquista and why we have Kol Nidre, or the Native Americans “boarding schools” in Canada and the US, or that the only non-colonised cultures in most of Asia are themselves colonial powers that rejected missionaries, or how white Christians justified slavery using the Bible.

I guess I’m telling you this in case you want to, you know, pre-emptively block them, but given that none of y’all got into this argument with me, I’m guessing you already have.

I don’t normally post drama and this isn’t a call out because I don’t want to engage with this person.  Just.

WOW.  I didn’t know people like this who thought of white European Christianity as the civilising factor throughout the world, and were unaware of hegemonic Christianity’s harms and refused to believe in them, still existed among atheists.  Sure, I knew that’s what Christofascist conservatives believe, but.

MAN.  My daily allowance of vitamins W, T, and F has been exceeded for the next two weeks.

[morpheuslikestodream]

PUCKER: a Sandman Universe fanfic

*The following is extended and lifted from the Sandman: Seasons of Mist storyline. This is a mere writing exercise and honorary gesture to play within the confines of the world created by Neil Gaiman and all creators, with honor and respect. :) 

There was a woman who achieved glory upon a vent of gushing air. Of course, she had already gained fame, and fortune, but it was the image, the stance – legs slightly bent, knees inverted, arms locked and hands clasping her dress – that cemented itself in the collective. Poor, tragic Marilyn, her fists securing that white ivory cocktail dress as it danced in the wind, like a skinned swan or a hungry lily attempting to devour its host.

Go on. Visualize it. The dress and the damsel wed together over that gushing vent. She would always be tattooed in the eye of your mind, a girl symbol, caught in a flirtatious up-shoot of tragedy. You’ll see her, the image, in commercials and magazines and the chronicles of filmography. She’ll be immortalized in wax. You’ll smile at her as if she were an intimate friend or fond crush from a bygone youth or a pretty face you wish you had, all fulfilled vicariously in that bombshell visage.

And if you could envision her, so could they.

“The gods have come for you,” Susano O-No-Mikoto addressed her coldly, like an art collector attaining their next commission. His hair was black, pulled back into a bun, and he possessed a thin, wispy beard that sharpened into a point. He wore a scarlet robe, delicate and silky, and his eyes, which scrutinized her with an impersonal fondness, appeared to be of some Asian nationality. “As a private individual for the pantheon of my mother, the Queen Izanami, it is a grace, Miss Monroe, to be welcomed into our collection. There is a special wing that exclusively houses Americana and Western iconography.”

Marilyn didn’t understand any of this.

And she couldn’t speak, her mouth failed to beg for clarity. It was the lips, frozen, puckered lips. And the wind, blowing perpetually beneath her, danced her dress like a rabid beast. While the robed man continued, Marilyn’s focus was consumed by the dress, and here she had to convince herself she was more than this accoutrement.

“Come. Follow,” said the god. And while he spoke, she strived to recall who she was. She had entered the world as a woman, yes, and she had taken her grand exit as a star, in the same City of Angels. She had been an actress, the wife of a playwright and a baseball legend and maybe mistress to dead presidents. She was a person, goddammit, of flesh and blood, of rumor and glamor.

None of that mattered at the moment, not in her current situation.

Because Marilyn couldn’t move. She had tried. She really had, but her body refused to budge. She was alive, or she was dead. She was on-stage, or off. There were cameras in the shadows and spotlights from oblivion. Eyes in the flashes of light. And she couldn’t move because, again, her legs were bent, the knobs of her knees pressed together, arms rigid, hands taming the white bastard dress, and that cold, cold air licking her from underneath.

And lips, puckered.

Marilyn felt no trace of self here – wherever here was. Had she died? Was she being punished, because your savior was revoked if you did that act, even if that wasn’t for certain? Whatever had happened had stolen her humanity. Marilyn might have been a wax statue, a fixed caricature, someone’s midnight wank. And perhaps all those were true; after all, she was an icon now, and icons could be many things. Despite that, whoever they were now cared nothing of the personal touches, no, the gods regarded her as a pretty face in the American collective. That’s what mattered.

Puckered lips.

Susano O-No-Mikoto escorted her through his mother’s underworld, strange halls cluttered with armors and museum props. She spotted a display of a toilet that perhaps once sat the rear of a king. In his rambling, he used words like eclectic and hybridization and efficiency. His words were bloated with pride, like an uppity hunter who sought and attained the rarest treasures. But those words meant nothing to Marilyn. She still hadn’t forgotten the kind visage of the woman with raven black hair with the shadow filled with the flapping of wings in flight.

“…we hope to continue down this line,” continued the god, “acquiring you, we can acquire others. John F. Kennedy is in Hell. But his effigy is strong in the artifacts of his demise. Lee Harvey Oswald could be ours. The grassy knoll itself harbors a sentience all its own as well. The prospects of our ambitions are limitless. It is said…”

And when Marilyn refocused, Susano had stopped to inspect her, his breath – scented with the promise of storms – was cold and brutal, and a pointy finger tapped his lips, the vaguest hint of a smile on his arrogant face. She felt no love from him, no real love. Not like the love Jesus and the Lord promised her as she grew. And she had been a good person; she deserved better than to not have love. And yet the man, who might’ve been a god, cared nothing for her as the person. He only desired the spirit of what she was. But a transcendence within a certain collective didn’t change her stature. It wasn’t her. All the little details of who she was were sprinklings upon a personal mythology that only bred the impersonal. The world, cultures come and gone, could only see her in the stars. 

And as for the little details, did those matter?

No, not to him.

And then he was gone.

When Marilyn was alone, “They have you too,” rumbled a deep and heavy voice from the room. “You are beautiful, as I was, although you are not as beautiful as the one I carried to the top of the world.”

Marilyn winced, startled.

“Be still, woman. We are family now, and I will protect you if I must. If I can.”

“Where am I?” Marilyn piped.

“The assimilation of the American Pantheon. The Underworld. Hell. Who can know for sure?”

“Who are you?” Her voice trembled. “Who’s there?”

“You remind me of her,” said the deep voice.

“Of her? Who?”

“You look like her, in your fashion, a pair of eyes and pretty hair. The one I carried to the top of the world. I was king there, before I fell, before I was forced to fall, although I confess I attained immortality in that moment, I think. At least, I’d like to look at it that way. The tragedy, the descent.”

“Are…are you…the devil?” Marilyn stammered.

Ignoring her, “They can fear you and love you and cry for you. When the tears are shed is when we become idols.”

She needed to see the face. She had to. “Oh, Mister,” she pleaded, “please come forward.”

And the beast revealed itself.

Marilyn would’ve screamed if her lips were puckered, if they could ever alter. Her frozen stance did not permit. Instead the dress blew more frantically. * “I must take my absence. Opportunities abroad bless us. The gods of Nippon and her highest majesty, the Queen, my mother Izanami, must not squander the chance in attaining most fruitful grace. If the key belongs to our kingdom…” the Asian man in his fancy gowns who smelled like a thunderstorm or a coming rain shower departed from the room through an entrance that didn’t really exist. In the silence of an attic filled with antiques from Atlantis or Wall Street or Hollywood, the white-haired star with her puckered lips kept her gaze down, until sheepishly she dared to lock eyes with the gorilla. And the gorilla rested his black hands upon his massive ape pecs and exhaled forcefully from nostrils that flared out in angst and boredom.

“I would have found the stars,” King Kong said after some time.

Marilyn raised an eyebrow, oh?

“I could have climbed forever.” Kong drummed his fingers on his chest. “It wasn’t me who was limited; it was only the ladder in which I ascended. Just me and her, the one that wasn’t you. I would’ve reached for the moon, then the stars themselves, and whatever is above that. I was limited by them, because a monster could only ascend so far and then they fall, and then they love you. In death you gain humanity; a posthumous flavor of idolatry and what you represented. You become your fall because that’s how people remember you. Not the details. It’s all what you could have been; all the what-ifs. And that’s how a star is born. That’s how idols rise.”

And the gorilla was done then, crossing its arms, and saying no more. In the silence, Marilyn felt a quiver in her lip, a tear in the corner of her eye. If she could unpucker her lips she would’ve smiled fondly at the beast and his words. After some time she glided towards him, her hungry frilly dress shooting up around her, and she moved next to him and the two touched, so slightly. Time faded then. It came in and out in waves and blurs. And sometime a hole opened in the world and a vast shadow filled the space for a moment. The sound of wings beat around them.

“Hey, down there!” called a perky voice that was kind, yet filled with urgency. “Things are a mess around here. It’s a Hell thing. Anyway,” the girl trailed, “I’ve got lots of work, you know, and, well, if you wanted to perhaps transition in a sense, I’m here. I’ll always be here, even if I’m not. Ok? But the doors open. Mister O-No-Mikoto’s dreams of attaining Hell are dead. I took them when the fiery torch was passed on to another pair of angels. And besides the mighty storm god of Nippon is in a bit of a predicament. Sorry. Talking too much.” Like that she was gone.

After a moment, hesitantly, King Kong moved to his feet. He climbed the walls and reached towards the ceiling exit. And before he departed, he looked towards her. “Come. You are not her but I can carry you to the top of the world, again.” And he took Marilyn in his grip and they ascended together towards the stars. “The winds are on your side,” said the King, “and he was a god of storms. Perhaps there’s irony in that. Or perhaps we shall rise as high as the gods allow.”

[alphacenturian4]

Catholics destroying Statues: Hypocrites or Theological Sound Activist                         Or On Christian Freedom, the Liberation from Cultural Taboos, and The Unrightful Judge

                                  By: Ramon Aguilar IV

           So, on Oct 4th, Pope Francis witnessed an indigenous performance at a tree planting ceremony in the Vatican gardens. The presentation was performed by Amazonian people holding hands and dancing in a circle around a wooden statue of a nude pregnant indigenous woman, said to represent the Virgin Mary. Participants sang in honor of the Feast of St. Francis and danced in manner similar to traditional South American Mother Earth festival rites. Pope Francis remained seated in a chair away from the ceremony bored, not amused, and not paying attention throughout most of the performance. The ceremony included bowls that held dirt from different places around the world, representing different ecological issues. The people set up a net on the ground that held pictures of martyrs for Catholicism and Christianity in the Amazon, mostly women and priests who have died to bring the faith to an otherwise polytheistic nature worshiping culture. Most scandalous was what appeared to be an old wise woman, which is coded language for medicine woman or witch, who approached the pope and presented him with a black ring, and seemed to gesture her own blessing. The black ring is a popular symbol in Brazil and Latin America of Liberation Theology, a movement that tried to marry Catholicism to Socialism. A movement many, North American & US, Catholics consider heretical.

The event was organized by outside parties including the Ford Group. The woman referred to the statue as "Our Lady of the Amazon." And the Pope seemed to bless it. The Pope then prayed an Our Father, and skipped his prepared remarks like any good politician would do when he realized a photo op went sideways. Then he left the performance without comment after the tree was planted.

           The bigger scandal is how Catholics then acted following this event, especially American and Canadian based youtubers and twitter users who claim to be Catholic. At first sounding like Savonarola at the Bonfire of the vanities, and then like fundamental Protestants railing against idols in the Church, and then finally like Muslim fundamentalist screaming for their religion, here Catholicism, to be the Prime religion of the world and calling for an end to religious freedom. The reaction made us look worse than the event which was already egg in the face for a church that has been rocked by one too many scandals in recent years, including unforced controversies concerning backlash from Ultra-Traditionist Catholics, people who literally want to bring Latin back into vogue, against Pope Francis whom they see as too liberal.

           Now, after watching the ceremony a few times and doing some research I’ve come to some conclusions. First, the supposed pagan ritual doesn’t seem to be one. I’ve done a fair bit of study on Pagan and Neo-Pagan rite and rituals and that was not one. Though it did seem to be stealing back or appropriating elements of native Amazonian rituals. Which is something the Church does allow, as some tribal African Catholic Churches do have dancing and rhythmic chants as elements in their celebration of Mass. And this is something I am familiar with as a Hispanic and someone of Native American decent. As we allow Mariachis, clapping, and hand holding at Spanish Mass. In fact, this performance looks very reminiscent of folklórico dances that might be performed around a religious theme such as the Virgin Mary whom is very popular among Hispanic and Latin American Catholics. While some might smear this as Folk Catholicism, the Catechism of the Catholic Church does give license for the Church to incorporate the customs of the cultures it assimilates.

           But there is one other aspect to this event that I am leaving out, that is the conspiratorial accusation that these statues were not of the Virgin Mary as Vatican official claim, nor even of a generic non-divine “mother earth” as some liberal apologist defend, but were actual pagan idols of the goddess Pachamama of the Andes Mountains and Incan civilizations; which would be odd but not impossible for Amazonians who have their own pantheon to be worshiping. Let alone self-professed Catholics, including a Franciscan brother, who would know better. And if it was a pagan rite dedicated to Pachamma it was done horrible incorrectly as her religion still exists and videos of her ceremonies can be watched on YouTube dating back to 2011. Her rites use a collection of fallen leaves, sacred fire, and a collection of stones. None of which was part of the performance at the Vatican.  

           Regardless of the legitimacy of the accusation, this led to some supposed Catholics, and two men in particular, to enter the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina on Oct 21st, and steal the wooden figurines and then throw them into the Tiber River to “destroy’ them. Showing us Catholics to be reactionary, impatient, and petulant; if not simply short sighted to the precedent we are now establishing of it being acceptable for people to enter a Catholic Church and remove items that offend them by the example we are showing to the world who is watching. As the video of this crime (trespassing, theft, and destruction of Church property) has 60,244 views as of this writing.

           But my opinion aside, I decided to see what the bible, and what more specifically St Paul, had to say on this issue. So, I looked at what to me were the most relevant passages. Those being in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, chapter 5, & chapter 6. I have read these epistles many times over the years, and every time I do I find them eye opening, this time was no different as it changed my position and stance on this topic.

To understand this following interpretation of Paul’s writings we must remember that we are interpreting the bible spiritually, allegorically, morally, and analogically. Not strictly literal or historical, but instead metaphysical and theological, and for me personally with a philosophical lens. Now let’s continue.

So, let’s start off by looking at the performance and the gifting of the ring, and let’s say for arguments sake that it was a pagan ritual performed within the Vatican garden. What then?

1 Corinthians 10 verses 6-15 says this: “These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did. And do not become idolaters, as some of them did, as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel." Let us not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell within a single day. Let us not test Christ as some of them did, and suffered death by serpents. Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall. No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it. Therefore, my beloved, avoid idolatry. I am speaking as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I am saying.”

These verses serve as a warning that we are not above temptation and that we too can fall if we are unwise and not carful. But it also shows that all worship is sacramental; even false worship. St Paul also confirm the point, that an idol is nothing, as we can see more clearly in the verse that follow.

For then at verses 19-22 the theme continues with: “So, what am I saying? That meat sacrificed to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything? No, I mean that what they sacrifice, (they sacrifice) to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to become participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons. Or are we provoking the Lord to jealous anger? Are we stronger than he?”

This passage makes several strong but quick and glossy statements. It reaffirms that God created everything, thus everything is clean, only sin perverts it. It is only the offending of sensibilities and the confusion it can and does cause that is the problem. For a person can no more change God than move a mountain with our bare hands or change the direction of a hurricane with the wave of a finger. And while we do have rights as humans which were endowed by our Creator these inalienable rights ought not to alienate us from the other. This is a caution against over confidence.

But I will take umbrage with a plan and simple reading here. For then we get to the mystical and metaphysical concept of demons. But I will take a conceit from Saint Augustine and assume that idols being of demons, or a gate way to them, has more to it than just the literal meaning. I think here the word, or threat of, demons seems to be a warning to the bronze age audience against the nondivine realities of sin, that there are temporal corporeal consequences and not just the moral, ethical, or metaphysical consequences we think of and seem to concentrate on as spiritual and religious people. So, the principle Paul sets up here is that you, that is we, must operate in regard to others, we must avoid what might cause scandal and confusion to others who do not know what we know and who do not understand what we understand and instead we ought to prefer what is beneficial and edifying to that which we may find tolerable, enticing, or entertaining. In that way we seek the good and wellbeing of the other person and not just the good of ourselves.

Through this we can acknowledge that idols of any kind are at best neutral representations, at worse a temptation to error for the uninformed, ignorant, unenlightened and fools among us. The strong should consider the weak. For, if idols can provoke God to wrath and passion; how can we mere mortals claim to be immune to their effects or presence. But the problem here becomes what we define as an Idol. As Catholic Churches are full of statues of the Virgin Mary and many other saints and even of art that contains devils, demons, and even Satan (even if they are of those evil spirits being cast out, defeated by our saints and angles). And again, I will steal from St Augustine and other Church fathers. Evil desire is the root of idolatry, not man-made things (that is the work of human hands). For the goal of a good Christian and well catechized Catholic is always to maintain koinonia that is “fellowship” and that fellowship, or unity, is more important than expressing already attained liberty. It also shows that God always provides a way to reject polytheistic rituals. For me, this was done, at the situation we look at today. When the pope said the “Our Father’ instead of his prepared statement.

           But this passage also looks at the other side of the coin on this issue.

For at verses 23-33 we read “"Everything is lawful," but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is lawful," but not everything builds up. No one should seek his own advantage, but that of his neighbor. Eat anything sold in the market, without raising questions on grounds of conscience, for "the earth and its fullness are the Lord's." If an unbeliever invites you and you want to go, eat whatever is placed before you, without raising questions on grounds of conscience. But if someone says to you, "This was offered in sacrifice," do not eat it on account of the one who called attention to it and on account of conscience; I mean not your own conscience, but the other's. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else's conscience? If I partake thankfully, why am I reviled for that over which I give thanks? So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offense, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Here we get to the nitty gritty of the issue. Liberty is not an end in itself, but a condition that must be maintained against the condition of slavery. St Paul and indeed the Bible itself calls on us to be faithful in difficult times; especially after being liberated from superstition and irrationality. Which for St Paul, superstition and irrationality, are a type of slavery to sin. On the other hand, he also acknowledges that narrowminded scruples are shackles for those who internalize others’ weaknesses, that internalizing of another’s folly is in itself an inclination to the temptation to sin. And here I agree with St Paul whole heartedly, as I think this applies to the situation both during and surrounding the ceremonial performance, its objects, and the gifts given to the Pope by its participants. But some might say that allowing such things is a violation of old testament law and precepts. And I, and St Paul would retort, but there is only one “Law” for Christians, that is Christ, that is the law of Pure True Love.

And here is where the Ultra-Traditionalist and Conservative Catholics get all relied up and call me a liberal. But St. Paul wrote a letter to respond to this inclination for outrage and indignation as well.

In 1 Corinthians 5 at verses 9-13, he writes: “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people, not at all referring to the immoral of this world or the greedy and robbers or idolaters; for you would then have to leave the world. But I now write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, if he is immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a robber, not even to eat with such a person. For why should I be judging outsiders? Is it not your business to judge those within? God will judge those outside. [Therefore] "Purge the evil person from your midst."

Here we get the command not sit with the immoral people within the church, that is fellow Christians who are immoral, that does not mean that you must remove yourself from the world that you live in. For: nonbelievers are not expected to be saints; non-Catholics are not expected to live by Catholic Dogma; and non-Christians are not expected to behave as Christians. In fact, Christians have an obligation to reach out, interact with, and be an example of a good person to a nonbeliever.

I would think that it could go without saying that this principle should also apply to the newly converted as they transition from pagan-heathen-polytheism, to Christian-Catholicism, for as that happens and the synthesis that has occurred with all other Christian communities occurs for them, we must tolerate the folk Catholicism that arises at the fringes of conversion as our expands in region or communities that do not understand our sensibilities and when they get it wrong this is our opportunity gently correct and instruct with temperance and patients. This how Christmas gets placed on the 25th of December, the date of the winter a solstice a holiday dating back long before the advent of Christianity, and this is how Halloween gets placed on Samhain.

As someone who likes a Christmas-trees on Christmas, I have no problem that they have their origin tied in with Zeus’s Oak or Thor’s Tree, and I don’t have a problem having All Souls day take on some pre-Christian Gaelic influence and traditions.

           As for the rest, as it relates to pagans, heathen, polytheist, and nonbelievers. It is the baptized Christian who should refrain from the scandalous sins inherent of mortal human nature. Scandal being the key word here. For it is impossible to avoid contact with sinners and thus avoidance of sinners should not be a goal nor should contact with sinners be feared by rightly formed Christians. But instead the goal should be to maintain inner purity within the Christian community. This is a warning against the perception of impiety, from the outside looking in, a warning not to look as if you are condoning sin.

           And it is here that my view on the actions taken by those two Catholics who stole and threw out those figurines changed slightly. While I do not agree with the fanfare and celebration by other Catholics at this action, for that in itself is scandalous and looks unchristian, the act of removing a temptation to sin from within a church, even if you know it is not a temptation for you, when others do not understand its nature and could be scandalized by it, as many many Catholics clearly were. Then yes getting rid of those two images, regardless of rather they were representation of the Virgin Mary that many Catholics found offensive because it went against their sensibilities or if they were actual idols of some mythical and very frictional mother goddess then yes they should have been removed from within the physical Church.

           But, what about the people who participated in the ceremony and performance at the Vatican garden, well St Paul writes in this too. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 6 at verses 7-12

“Now indeed (then) it is, in any case, a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another. Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated? Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers. Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor . . . prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves [baptized], you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. "Everything is lawful for me," but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is lawful for me," but I will not let myself be dominated by anything.”

This is a warning that teaches that the love of litigation is the love of greed, while love of persecution is the love of arrogance and self-pride. This teaches that litigation and persecution of a fellow Christian are forms of retaliation not justice. Instead, Christians should possess generosity, mercy, and forgiveness toward the sinner and toward themselves. Turn the other check, after all. For it is faith and grace that saves us from the very worst of our own sins. While, self-persecution and the persecution of fellow Christians is something that St. Paul was indignant against and was loath to do. Better to be wronged or sinned against, than to do the wrong and sin against another.

[eternal-echoes]

It’s pretty absurd to have a pagan occultist who took LSD having shape your worldview. 

Even if one or two points he said is compatible with Christianity, you really shouldn’t take spiritual guidance from Evola since he’s pagan, which is what his writings are ordered towards. Idolatry weighs more than any other sin. 

Anyways, even not considering his paganism and drug use, some of his writings are irreconcilable with Christianity

“The Americans' 'open-mindedness', which is sometimes cited in their favor, is the other side of their interior formlessness. The same goes for their 'individualism'. Individualism and personality are not the same: the one belongs to the formless world of quantity, the other to the world of quality and hierarchy. The Americans are the living refutation of the Cartesian axiom, "I think, therefore I am": Americans do not think, yet they are. The American 'mind', puerile and primitive, lacks characteristic form and is therefore open to every kind of standardization.” - Julius Evola

Criticize American culture all you want, but this is not the way to do it. Descartes’ axiom “I think, therefore I am” is not a cultural or political statement. This is the statement about the mind-body problem, and here Descartes is talking about dualism, that the mind and body are separate. This is against Catholic Church’s teachings because we believe that in hylomorphic doctrine, that the soul and the body together forms one substance, rather than being separate entities. Besides, if you’re going to claim to be anti-modernity and anti-enlightenment, you really shouldn’t quote someone who is literally called the Father of Modern Philosophy. Frankly, I think this is why Evola isn’t read in the universities; not because he’s anti-communist or that he supports an authoritarian style of government, it’s because he quotes famous philosophers out of context. 

Here’s a Bible verse that contradicts that: 

“Thus the word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me. If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life. If a virtuous man turns away from virtue and does wrong when I place a stumbling block before him, he shall die. He shall die for his sin, and his virtuous deeds shall not be remembered; but I will hold you responsible for his death if you did not warn him. When, on the other hand, you have warned a virtuous man not to sin, and he has in fact not sinned, he shall surely live because of the warning, and you shall save your own life.” - Ezekiel 3: 17-21

This is called the sin of omission. If you don’t warn your brother that his sins will lead him to Hell, God will hold you accountable for that. This stems from the teaching that we are all parts of the mystical Body of Christ so we should look out for each other. 

The striking difference between Christianity and Alt-Right/nationalism is how they view hierarchy. Namely, that at the core of Christianity is humility. 

“Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, 

Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God 

something to be grasped. 

Rather, he emptied himself, 

taking the form of a slave, 

coming in human likeness; 

and found human in appearance, 

he humbled himself, 

becoming obedient to death, 

even death on a cross. 

Because of this, God greatly exalted him

and bestowed on him the name 

that is above every name, 

that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend, 

of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

and every tongue confess that 

Jesus Christ is Lord, 

to the glory of God the Father.” 

-Philippians 2: 6 - 11

For Christians, one’s position in hierarchy is never meant to be a source of pride. This came from God, so we should act in humility accordingly. Echoing Jesus’ words, “The greatest among you must be your servant,” we have to use our skills and talents in service of others. 

“Traditionalism is the most revolutionary ideology of our time.” - Julius Evola 

There was an instant in the Bible who criticized the Pharisees for putting too much importance on tradition: 

“Then the Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.” He said to them in reply, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is dedicated to God,” need not honor his father,’ You have nullified the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts’ “He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.” Then his disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He said in reply, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit.” Then Peter said to him in reply, “Explain this parable to us.” He said to them, “Are even you still without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” - Matthew 15: 1 - 20

Cultural traditional customs are not means for your salvation. Ultimately, what comes your heart, (i.e. your free-will), the virtuous acts that you do, are what will determine that will save your soul. Even traditions are subject to be judge by the standard of objective morality, which is the divine law of God. They are not ends in themselves.

“The Hindus and Far Easterners do not have the notion of ‘sin’ in the Semitic sense; they distinguish actions not according to their intrinsic value but according to their opportuneness in view of cosmic or spiritual reactions, and also of social utility they do not distinguish between ‘moral’ and ‘immoral,’ but between advantageous and harmful, pleasant and unpleasant, normal and abnormal, to the point of sacrificing the former - but apart from any ethical classification - to spiritual interests. They may push renunciation, abnegation, and mortification to the limits of what is humanly possible, but without being ‘moralists’ for all that.” - Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger

This is the most problematic quote I found from him. Because this is essentially about the sense of morality that Evola has, and following objective morality is our means to salvation. What he is saying here is that he believes what is good is determined by the outcome that the action will bring about, not if there is an intrinsic evil nature in the action regardless of the benefits. This is eerily similar to another Enlightenment thinker Jeremy Bentham: 

“It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong.”

Also of John Stuart Mill:

“The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest-Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure.”

Evola may have different opinions on what it is that is good for people than Bentham and Mill and utilitarians insist that you cannot be impartial to any person or group of people when applying morality while that isn’t the case with Evola but nevertheless Christianity isn’t pragmatic or consequentialist; there are intrinsically evil things you can do no matter the net benefit it will bring about.  The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war quicker is not a legitimate reason because it killed thousand civilians in the process. The end do not justify the means. The results of your actions are irrelevant because violating the principles of God stains your soul. Our will have to correspond with the moral law, which is in the mind of God.

I honestly worry about some Christians who read Evola’s works. They seem to overestimate their own understanding of Christian theology to discern accurately what is and what is not reconcilable to Christianity in his works. Even for the few points he said that are harmless, Christians reading him are not getting the fullness of Christianity, just the diluted version of it. 

[blogrivendell]

#33 What war are we fighting?

 “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armour so that you will be able to stand firm against  all the strategies of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh-and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places”. Ephesians 6: 10 -12

“I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to  the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord”. Romans 7: 22 -25a

Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.  Philippians 2: 15b

In my last blog, I was talking about how our culture trains us to be preoccupied with an identity that is either formed by,  or in reaction to, how others see us -  the Horizontal Self, (e.g. trying to prove that we Christians can be “cool” not “dorks”.) To do so is to forget that our true Self should  be formed in the Vertical relationship with God and that our priority must be to resist narcissism and the obsession with personal freedom, individualism and self fulfilment. Christlikeness is   self-giving love and self-forgetfulness.  This is best summed up in words  of the Apostle Paul :

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too.” Phil 2: 3,4

There is already a great deal of excellent knowledge about what good discipling should involve if we are to become Christians who are radically different   in a selfish society. But before we move on to looking at that, I am still wanting to reinforce the seriousness of  what we are dealing with, because there is so much to lose if we fail to take up the challenge of being Christlike and therefore a positive counter-cultural influence, (being “bright lights” as Paul call us)

We are, as Christians, fighting wars on several fronts, and we still need to not lose sight of where our energies should be focused. Yes, our freedom to operate  as  Christians with our values being tolerated in society is under  massive attack, but   I worry  that the enemy has kept many people focused on the “culture wars”  as Americans see it, and in doing so,   becoming blind to  the evils of  tribalism, (I will do whatever it takes to keep  my tribe in  political power, even if it means  using guns or aligning myself with evil people who have power) or believing in  stereotypes and  conspiracies that attribute all evil and secularizing forces  to the political “Left“ while ignoring deep seated evils in capitalist societies. What would the OT prophets say today  if they saw the way the rich and powerful “big business” and the  wealthy “celebrity class” oppress the poor  without accountability from government? The idolatry of  greed, of  consumerism,  of personal freedom and   the cult of the individual are  all products of wealthy western society. This idolatry has its roots in social change that is not a product of Marxism. 

  Behind all the anti-God  forces in society are evil celestial beings whose schemes and power have operated for millennia and  who are beyond simplistic labels of human political leanings. The evil in humans is what gives them their power to destroy, and they will operate equally  through  fascism, Nazism, communism, capitalism, liberalism, autocracies, oligarchies, monarchies,  etc etc..  to get humans to oppress and destroy each other and to persecute God’s people. If we focus on fighting humans and think we can re-establish God’s kingdom by politics and legislation, then we have been hoodwinked by Satan to lose sight of the real power of Christianity that makes  the forces of darkness  tremble. The real war is spiritual and our weapons are supernatural.  We should be busy discerning  the demonic strongholds in each section of every  society, including the Church,  and tearing them down through prayer, the power of knowing the biblical truth of  what righteous living really is and  living it out in our community through lives that are genuinely transformed. Christ overcame not by force but by the power of  his self-sacrificing love  that included  his enemies. 

The thing about a society where selfishness and narcissism is  valued and encouraged and rewarded, is that  it is more potent than aggressive secularism in keeping Christians dysfunctional and unable to follow Christ and deny ourselves. The war between good and evil rages in the psyche of every person, as Paul describes in his own experience. It must be won in the hearts of Christians or we  lose the capacity to wage war on evil outside ourselves,( if the salt has lost its saltiness, it is useless, as Jesus  once remarked.)  Christians who fail to be transformed do more to harm the cause of Christ than any hostile ideology.  It is only by being “little Christs” that we get  the victory. If we are living only for our self fulfilment and the avoidance of pain, we will see our needs as more important  than others and the power of love is lost. 

Mark Sayers, in “Facing Leviathan” says that our modern world “is a return to paganism. In paganism one could manipulate the gods though offerings, prayers, and incantations. The idols, made in the image of their own creators, were really always just extensions of the individual, In the pagan universe, the desires and wishes of the individual remained triumphant. Christianity turned everything in the pagan order around. It was a cultural revolution in a Greco-Roman world  built not only on power, order, and violence, but also debauchery, exploitation, and the spectacle. Into this world, Christianity’s teachings exploded because the people, especially the sexually exploited women and slaves, found Christian belief liberating. It restrains male eros and elevated the value of the women and slaves to more than just how many children they could bear or how much sexual pleasure they could provide. .. 

“Christianity’s revolution understands that the ruler who must be deposed in this Christian revolution is the Self - the human individual  who ultimately wishes to be a God, who through their striving disrupts the created order and turns creativity, sexuality, and pleasure into ends in themselves.”

[beloved-not-broken]

(Rain Anon) Thoughts on non Christian holidays? Like Halloween, Samhain, etc??

Hey, Rain Anon!

I haven't thought about this topic before, so thank you for giving me something to consider.

Holidays, in general, allow us to reflect on...

Significant events—Easter, for example, gives Christians the opportunity to reflect on Jesus' death and resurrection.

Cultural practices—Thanksgiving is considered to be a time of celebration for the descendants of European colonizers in the U.S., who tend to gather with family and, in the past, celebrate a successful harvest season. However, indigenous people consider this day to be a day of mourning due to the decimation of their ancestors, theft of their tribal lands, and continued discrimination against them and assault on their cultures.

Important people—Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the U.S. celebrates the life of a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement.

Now, whether or not we actually spend those designated holidays reflecting on the history of the event, cultural practice or historical figure is another matter.

Christmas is notoriously commercialized in the U.S., and as you pointed out before, it feels like a hollow ritual when we lose sight of the religious meaning behind the holiday.

In my opinion, celebrating holidays is all about intention.

Jesus emphasized the intention behind righteous acts during the Sermon on the Mount, and basically said that if your intentions are selfish, your "righteous" acts are worthless (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28; 6:1, 5-6, and 16-18). So, we should be similarly well-intentioned about celebrating secular holidays.

Like Halloween. This was a huge issue in my evangelical communities because many conservative Christians associate the holiday with devil worship. (I had to look up the history because I know nothing about Halloween other than its modern American rituals of wearing costumes and going door-to-door to ask strangers for candy.)

Apparently, Halloween comes from the holiday Samhain (like you mentioned), which was a Celtic pagan festival. When the Romans colonized Celtic territory in the 5th century, they incorporated the traditions of Samhain in two of their state festivals. In the 7th century, the Catholic church appropriated those traditions into All Saints Day. And in the late 19th century, immigrants to the U.S. brought more European traditions of Halloween with them.

All this to say that Halloween as we know it today is an amalgamation of multiple cultural practices over nearly a millennia. So I don't see the harm in Christians, in particular, celebrating holidays that have morphed into what are more cultural rituals than anything.

The bottom line—we must remember the greatest commandments.

Holidays with pagan origins aren't necessarily evil. However, I think it's a good idea for Christians to be cognizant of the history and celebrate in a way that doesn't encourage idol worship.

After all, Jesus said that we should “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Remember, the first two of the Ten Commandments are about idolatry. The Israelites were surrounded by pagan nations, so it would have been tempting for them to appropriate the cultural practices of their neighbors, like the Romans did with Samhain.

I hope this answers your question! 💜

Also, I may be slow to answer your questions this month because of everything I have going on. But I'll get around to them as soon as I can.

[cassiecantyousee]

Golden Calves and Golden Guns

On Valentine’s Day, something all too familiar happened in America: children were killed while at school. And then, some people, many of them Christians, became more worried about their guns than about the lives of the children themselves.

Look, America has a lot of problems. Racism, greed, sexism, pride, you name it, we've got it. But you know what our biggest problem is? Idolatry. And nowhere is this more clear than in discussions about gun control.

Americans, and especially white evangelical Christians, idolize guns.  

(Brief aside and disclaimer: I technically AM a white evangelical Christian, and someday I may write a post discussion what that means and how it's been co-opted and how I've been having an extended identity crisis about it for years, but today is not that day. Anyway, moving on.)

I'm sure you're all familiar with the Ten Commandments. They're a pretty big deal. Central tenets of how Christians are supposed to live their lives blah blah blah. No politician/advocate/pundit/lobbyist who calls themselves a Christian is going to come right out and say they don't support the Ten Commandments. The first two are about idolatry. When we think about idols, we’re usually thinking about the second commandment, which talks about not making images of things to worship. For a refresher, please refer to this excellent meme:

We often expect idols to be literal golden statues in our yards, but it doesn’t always look like that. The first commandment reads: "You shall have no other gods before Me." Now, when discussing Christian theology, that doesn't mean that it's cool to worship other gods as long as GOD God is first on the list. It's not "before me" like you're standing in a line, it's "before me" as in "in front of my face at all." If you're talking about importance in your heart, it's not enough for God to just win the contest. God needs to be the only competitor. Anything that you're even allowing on the playing field with God is an idol (sorry for the badly executed sports metaphors, it's Olympic season).

So we're all clear on what idolatry is, yeah? No worshiping things other than God. That's a big no-no.

When pro-gun folks talk, you often hear a lot of the same talking points. "It's our right." "It's in the Constitution." "We need to protect ourselves." “It’s about freedom.”

So let's look at those claims. First of all, "it's our right." Is it? According to who? Not the Bible, certainly. No mentions of guns in there. That would be impossible, since gunpowder wasn't even invented until the 9th century (and invented by the Chinese, not by "Westerners," for the record). Often the full phrase is "it's our right as Americans." Which, come on Christians, really? Americans aren't God. Christians in America aren't more connected to God or somehow more "special" than Christians in other countries. So let's dial back the sense of self-importance, yeah? And the Bible REPEATEDLY tells us to put down our weapons or not fight back. Turn you swords into plowshares and all that (Isaiah 2:4).

Then people bring up the Constitution. Even setting aside the fact that one of the central tenets of the Constitution is that it's modifiable; this is still a crappy argument for a Christian to make. Are you saying the Constitution is infallible? Are you saying a document OTHER THAN THE BIBLE is the indisputable word of God? I sure hope not.

Now on protection. I understand wanting to protect yourself and your family, I do. The world can be a scary place, and "taking back control" definitely feels good. But Christians are supposed to know better.  You say you speak for "God-fearing America," but you rely on weapons of death and destruction to protect yourself. You're correct that one of us doesn't trust in the Lord, but I don't think it's me. When a colleague of the Olympic runner and missionary Eric Liddel (of Chariots of Fire fame) was offered a gun to protect himself, Liddel responded: “Don’t touch it! If you have that in your pocket you will depend on it rather than God and I would refuse to travel with you.” Sums it up, honestly.

If this were all, if this were the whole discussion, there would already be a solid case for idolatry.

But.

BUT.

It’s not all. Supposedly Christian pro-gun advocates have gone so much farther than this, and it should deeply horrify us. At the most recent CPAC meeting, only a few days after the tragic events in Parkland, the executive president of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, made a statement that honestly made me want to throw up. He said that the constitutional right to bear arms “is not bestowed by man, but granted by God to all Americans as our American birthright.” What. The. Actual. Hell. This isn’t right. His worship of guns is obvious. Are Christians really okay with this kind of rhetoric? Should we really be supporting the NRA as they continue to double down on this level of theological perversion and gun worship? I definitely don’t think so.

The Bible teaches us that the wages of sin is death, and we can see this clearly in American gun culture. People would rather hold on to their earthly possessions than allow children to attend school safely.

So let me be perfectly clear: American gun culture is idolatrous. The NRA is an idolatrous organization profiting from the deaths of Americans, many of them children. Christians, why aren't we more upset? Like, honestly, I don't get it. It's so clear. It's so obvious. IT'S KILLING CHILDREN.

Now, I’m not the first person to say any of this. Nor am I the smartest. Christianity Today published an editorial stating that “fear and idolatry are our real gun problem” in 1999, after Columbine. In 2014 Patheos asserted that the idol of fear is at the root of American gun culture. After the massacre in Las Vegas, John J. Thatamanil wrote a great piece of the “American gun cult.” In an episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Impolite Company, Amy Sullivan and Nish Wiseth do a deep dive into the connection between white American evangelicals and guns. And finally, the documentary Armor of Light and the associated movement follows Reverend Rob Schenck, who begins to question if it is really possible to be pro-life and pro-gun. So if you don’t want to listen to me, you can listen to these much smarter people. And thanks for letting me get all this off my chest anyway.

I want to conclude with a personal story. As most of you know, I have been living and working in Florida for the past few years. A month or so ago, I Skyped with a middle school in South Carolina to teach them about the Florida Keys ecosystem, and discuss the effects of climate change and Hurricane Irma. The teachers were great, and the kids paid attention and asked good questions. Overall it was a great day at work. Then I got back to my regular list of tasks, and I essentially forgot about it.

Flash forward to last week, when I turned on NPR on my drive home and heard about what happened in Parkland. I was horrified, sickened, angry, and above all, devastated and sad. As someone who works in Florida, and whose job frequently involves education and outreach, I was knocked emotionally flat. I went to work the next day feeling numb, depressed, and hopeless. And then after lunch, I got a package. It was from the middle school in South Carolina. They had written me an incredibly nice note thanking me for talking with their students, and requesting that we talk again in the future. They had also sent me a school t-shirt, a mug, a key-chain, and other school gear. Friends, I burst into tears at my desk. Our students, and our educators, deserve so much better. In the midst of all my grief, students and teachers who I have never even met in person gave me such a moment of pure hope.

School is supposed to be about learning and growing. Not worrying about whether or not you’ll survive to the bus ride home.

[meanderingandrambling]

Thank you so much for such a thoughtful (and thorough reply). First off, I get it, surprisingly most of my Jewish buddies don’t have many questions about Judeo-Paganism, but then again I hang around with a very liberal cohort (liberal in the religious sense-though we range from modern-Orthodox to Reconstructionalist, politically we’re all Leftists). But goyishe Pagans have a lot of issues. Not surprising what with the rampant antisemitism within Pagan and occult communities, but still.

I honestly wasn’t really expecting a solid answer. These spiritual practices, even dedicated reconstructionalism, are all still being developed and I think it’s important to compare and talk about what we’re experiencing and doing, no matter how headache-inducing that can be.

Honestly I think the fact that I am undeniably connected to our culture and history really gives me a lot of leeway. I go to plenty of Jewish cultural and religious events with my local leftist organization to say nothing of the small community of leftie Jews I know socially. With regards to my family’s more traditional Reform and Conservative temples it’s pretty much a case of don’t-ask-don’t-tell. My family doesn’t care at all and if my more conservative relatives do they’ve never said anything. Seems as I show a cursory degree of discretion with regards to the polytheistic idolatry they’ll tolerate my presence. Of course it also helps that I have a very humanistic understanding of deity on the first place.

Anyway. Yeah, there’s no evidence that she was or is a deity, but honestly that never really bothered me. I’m fundamentally an animist and while I do worship Hekate my primary focus has always been on figure from medieval European folklore. Think Aradia, Herodias, Nicnevin, ect (I know there’s question about the latter but I’ve never seen a solid primary source that gives evidence for historical worship). Or even Diana, not as Roman deity, but as medieval Witch-Queen, a decidedly later development despite the Murrayite witch cult hypothesis a figure for which there is no evidence of worship. I often think think contemporary understanding of deity vs. spirit is too strict, the categories are fluid and nebulous.

I suppose my largest hesitation is in how negative she is within our traditional folklore. That said, while I’m both Sephardi and Ashkenazi my family tends to follow Sephardi practices and Lilith was never as prominent in that strain of the family. But then again most of her transformation as a feminist figure has come from American Ashkenazi feminism. I’m especially fond of those feminist Jews who write of her as a figure of queer womanhood as well. And to be honest, as a queer lady who is very, very much uninterested in motherhood and very, very much a supporter of reproductive healthcare-including abortion-there’s something I find very compelling about her, villain or not.

What I tell myself now is that while our people regarded her as a demon for millennia we are also not immune to homophobia and sexism, and so much of story is rooted in both. Fear of Lilith as sexuality, especially sexuality beyond the approved bounds of marriage and family. Fear of sterility, fear of death, fear for our young. And as someone who herself embodies some of those social fears, I don’t know, it sometimes feels a bit like being seen, you know?

I’m sorry, Lilith manages to hit all my interests regarding feminism, sexuality, Judaism, and Paganism. I do tend to ramble. I don’t really link to anything with my real name on it here (had a bit of a nazi problem about a eighteen months ago, it’s calmed down a lot since then but still) but I have some very self indulgent writing about her floating around the internet. And here too I guess.

Anyway if anyone’s somehow made it to the bottom of this rambling I also found some less dear copies of Which Lilith? I’m a bookseller in my day-to-day life and highly recommend getting your books from either bookshop.org or biblio.com as opposed to Amazon. Aside from being less, you know, evil you can often find more options. Which Lilith? can be found here starting at 33.04, or at least it can be until I go ahead and snag that copy.

Hey there, I'm sure you're very tired of people asking you Judeo-Pagan shit each and every fucking day so, sorry for that. I'm writing as a cultural/ethnic Jew religious Pagan. I do practice idolatry and by all standards of Judaism I are definitely a heretic. By many more liberal standards I wouldn't even count as a Jew anymore. But that's just a little background. I've really enjoyed how you talk about Lilith both as a specifically Jewish figure and tracking the evolution of her story (1/3)

I really appreciate how you call out goyishe pagans and occultists who want to treat her as if she's separate from Jewish culture. But I was wondering if you could give me any advice or thoughts about engaging with her story as a Jewish Pagan (or just a Pagan, my parents are Jewish and I was raised in a the community culture but just in case you consider idolatry a deal-breaker). I've always been attracted to her due to her connection with sexuality especially as separate from motherhood (2/3) To say nothing of her story in the Alphabet of Ben Sira. I'm just wondering if it's appropriate to worship her in the same way I would, say Hekate or Nicnevin? I find her story fascinating and engaging and I know I want to experience it in a visceral, mystical way, but I suppose I'm uncertain about how I think that can best be done. If you have any ideas I'd by most appreciative. 3/3 --

Hey there! I appreciate the kind words ^^ I definitely understand why people are so curious and want to ask, but it can definitely feel a little stressful when people are constantly like “How do you DO THAT???” when I’m still finding my own way with it. Also, get ready, this is long lol.For what it’s worth, I would still consider you Jewish. :) Judaism is so much more than just the religion and the culture and Peoplehood of it is absolutely just as relevant. ^^ Of course I can’t dictate your practice to you since it’s ultimately your own and I feel like as a Jew anything you make an educated decision on is going to be valid, you know? But I can share nuggets that helped me.

For starters, the more I started looking into her story the less I’ve actually viewed her as a goddess. I sort of came into my research thinking I would end up adding her to my “personal pantheon” like that, but then the more I learned the more she felt like a dark hero-figure. Not quite as deified as Heracles, a little more mystical than Sappho, if that makes sense. Like not a deity in the same way as Hekate but definitely still a powerful individual figure. Most of the playing-up of her as a goddess seems to be a direct result of ceremonial magick fetishizing her, and the Wiccan need to turn everything into a goddess.

As for how to experience her... there’s kind of no good answer to that. The traditional answer would be “don’t,” and the jewish feminist movement of reviewing and reconceptualizing her story is still a fairly modern one. (Also entity work in the context of Judaism at ALL is a dubious one... check the conversation I’ve been having on this blog just recently!) I don’t necessarily agree with the hard “don’t” because nothing about me is traditional, but I feel like it’s still important to approach her with caution since the modern feminist midrashim are still being weighed against centuries of her being nothing more than a baby-killing sheyd, yk? I feel like I’d be a hypocrite if I approached her expecting things to be totally safe and gentle but then side-eyed people who think faeries are only there to help you personally. So, as cheap of an answer as it is, you might just have to really dig in and research her and research her until you feel out what works best for you! One book that I’m really enjoying is this one:

It’s a collection of Jewish women writing about Lilith from all different stances and angles and that is so valuable to me. (I haven’t finished it yet...) It was published in 1998 and is now currently out of print so it’s >$100 on Amazon, but I kept it in my wishlist and waited several months until it dropped down to around $40 and I snatched it up. So if you can find a copy, that might help get a more thoroughly-Jewish perspective of her that isn’t totally “Lilith Bad the End” :)

[buttonholedlife]

Huachuma Cactus vs. Techno-idolatry|Wake Up World

Providing author for Awaken Globe

When was the last time you observed people speak to one an additional on the technique to or coming from job? Take a minute to deal with it. Whether you take a bus or even train to reach your place of work, many of the time you view folks glued to their phones, more than likely including you. It has actually ended up being thus poor that people are now like drunks, strolling right into each various other, bumping into wall structures, street illuminations, vehicles, falling in to trenches and also fountains while texting. Researcher Port Nasar from Ohio State College mentions that there might have concerned 2 million pedestrian accidents associated with cellular phone make use of in 2010. A Bench Analysis Center questionnaire in mid-2012 discovered that 50% of tissue owners claim that they have been actually bumped right into through one more person because that person was distracted by using their very own cell phone. Furthermore the expanding pattern of selfie deaths. If this were not therefore awful, it will be amusing!

Mobile modern technology has switched coming from being actually a device for remote communication to a tool for mass hypnotherapy. The iPhone in the Western side world today plays the job of the flute of the Indian fakir, whose sound hypnotizes the cobra. Your phone is that flute and you are actually the cobra. It keeps you in a constant trance while supplying you garbage information, negativeness, disinformation as well as advertising. In modern-day United States society, having a more recent as well as far better phone is reputable. This type of techno-slavery is now as socially approved as liquor, another unsafe stupefier that, like technician, creates an illusion of happiness. Technological idolatry is actually really naïve in its own presumption that a selection of devices implies liberation as well as freedom. Techno-idolatry has come to be a contemporary, transnational techno-religion, promoted through media as the means to joy. Billions of people online have developed a the online world identity, which is actually highly vulnerable for manipulation and misuse. A lack of sort on Facebook or Instagram posts creates depression in adolescents and adolescents and also calls for psychological therapy.

According to a current research study, Americans take a look at their phones a 52 times day, usually. Stunning! If they would certainly look inside themselves as frequently, with an intent to find what's within them and self-reflect, their lives will completely transformed. The concern, however, is actually that Western side society carries out not educate people this essential method of self-reflection. It is merely absent from the socio-cultural narrative. This is why Eastern spiritual practices are actually useful, for they point the method internal. Obviously, plant medicine is actually a straight method that causes clarity and also understanding, of oneself and also the world around. Still, checking out words of thinkers of recent is actually a really good beginning. Knowing to look within is actually the only way toward recuperation and also adjustment.

Probably our team can easily propose a brand-new phrase to be included to the psychological guidebooks: social networking sites disorder. The concern is that cyberspace, which is actually an electrical generator of mass confusion, has represented educator as well as healer of mankind, hence coming to be a source of expertise to billions of people as well as a place where they derive their viewpoint for lifestyle. This continual thrill for development possesses a major psychological implication: that all that is brand-new is actually much better than the only thing that is old.

Well, prior to we go any type of better, our team can easily take an instant to laugh at this. Just a full week ago, a friend of mine that visited South Korea on an organisation journey composed me to share his problems avoiding the restroom. While on the lavatory, he really did not understand what switch to press to flunk. A digital toilet had ended up being a problem for my pal, that just would like to get performed. 25 different switches, done in Korean, made it impossible to administer the simple action of flushing the bathroom. Making an effort different ones, he received his buttocks blasted with warm air, spattered with hot water and germicide. To make his story even more credible, he sent me images as well as video as he was actually trying to leave the droid lavatory. He mentioned, even to him, an MIT graduate, the technology was a lot of to find out. I chuckled therefore tough that I woke up my wife up along with my giggling at this digital tragicomedy. This was actually simply humorous!

The iToilet Dash panel

I would certainly never mount this "smart" toilet in my residence, to make sure that it could create me look dumb. Trapped in a South Korean iToilet, my buddy confessed that these individuals have actually taken it as well much. Directly, I opt for the old-fashioned hands-on toilets, equally I decide on old-fashioned personal communication with individuals. Even in this sense, more mature is obviously much better. I have actually presently explained my perspective in the direction of innovation earlier. I recognize its own worth as well as I use modern technology myself. Modern technology is my slave, certainly not my The lord. I will certainly never prayer a maker, whether it is my tissue phone, space capsule or an iToilet.

There is a greater complication along with the thought of innovation when it merely darkens the outdated lifestyles and also reasoning. It is difficult to find in the preferred reasoning of our opportunity any sort of traces of early and also great teachings. Brains is never understanding. These essential trainings that we need so as to reside our lives in the proper way have been actually merely regarded old, irrelevant and space due to the techno-digital lifestyle. Yet continuously evolving modern technology includes a hefty price of alienation from personal as well as attribute. Technology culture is actually becoming the brand-new fanaticism that may just provide an alternative to joy and happiness yet never joy on its own. Our team even now have the creed of Apple, and people take satisfaction in becoming part of it. The new the lords, such as Google.com, Twitter And Facebook, are actually prayed to as well as feared. A digital heck has actually right now been actually created; consumers are actually penalized to Facebook jail by acquiring 30-day bans. The narrative is controlled from Silicon Valley, where social designers have thought the spiritual right to control. They feel that this is salvation. Greatly wired but heavily separated, our experts live our lives not understanding that this splitting up from ourselves and Attributes is actually the origin of our human suffering. Huachuma's sobering, analytical clearness is actually definitely a great thing from nature. However in much of the world it is actually outlawed through the energies that should not be. The antidote for human madness is actually outlawed. What an unfortunate, inappropriate fact! Meanwhile, individual physical nature consumption is actually being actually ensured through a behavioral researcher on TV.

The bright side is that this awful reality is actually just one means to engage along with life. Folks in ancient opportunities revered Attribute for its healing powers. The kingdom plantae is actually huge and is actually easily on call to use. There are actually organic methods for healing that have actually shown to operate over hundreds of years. All real relationships are originated in our hearts, as well as spiritual plants are listed below to show us what resides in them. As if on a display, we can easily observe our inner web content and create the necessary changes in our life, in purchase to provoke our inner ability once and for all and ensure the flow of the recovery power on call to our company. Improved and totally reset through the energy and also intelligence of spiritual vegetations, our team have the ability to unlock our much higher capacities for imagination and also aware residing. Our team must help make area within our own selves for spiritual connection. Higher conditions of mindset are actually the important food items for our souls, which are mainly malnourished as well as lacking coming from staying in the modern-day planet. Need towards oneness is actually originating from the depths of our character, which belongs of the Entire. Huachuma medication is this Global connector.

Benjamim Whichcote said that "really good guys spiritualize their physical bodies. Bad males incarnate their spirit." This declaration would make more sense if our team just switch out "great" and "negative" along with "self-aware" and "unaware." Incarnated in modern technology, our spirit has fallen ill and also is actually moving in the direction of the emergency area. I found Huachuma medication to become the solution to many questions and also spiritual ailments, which receive fixed in the better clarity of the mind. This, obviously, inflames the infirm reductionistic researchers, that have come to be an idolaters of scientific dogma and also the atheistic view of life. To all of them, the religious realm is actually a hallucination, an area in some sinister section of the human thoughts where only delusional and also mentally harmful folks go. To their limited spiritual belief as well as understanding, the intelligence of a plant is entitled to no attention, for, in their very own minds, it does not exist. Thus each scientific research and also innovation are actually relocating in reverse while preserving an illusion of improvement.

All this penetrates when you embrace Huachuma medication in the proper way and also permit your own self to observe with your soul and also thoughts. It is actually through the peacefulness of the mind that our team may translate the misleading facts as well as pseudo-religions of today as well as afterlife redemption of the future. Right here and right now is the only spot and also time where salvation is achievable. Coming from a lifelong metaphysical search, I have actually discovered plant-based shamanism, Sufism and also Zen Buddhism to be actually the techniques that most anxiety the significance of living in today second. Huachuma medicine, especially, is that carrier whose very clear as well as direct notification reaches out to the depths of one's heart.

There are actually a lot of conceptions of redemption, and also the majority of them are solely discovered in a posthumous condition. The wide-spread view in an outside representative or organization should be deserted, for it is the primary block in taking our lifestyles and also fate in our palms. Coming from the Messiah of the old times to the alien emissaries of the New Age, humanity has actually been and still is expecting a God-like number to fall coming from somewhere and also spare all of us coming from our own lack of knowledge and also mess. This premature as well as untrustworthy mindset in the direction of lifestyle is probably the best hurdle to individual as well as collective modification. All externalized kinds of redemption must be internalized. Saving ourselves from our very own lack of knowledge is actually a really good start.

The final saved words of Buddha were these: "Tooth decay is belonging to all element things. Work out your very own salvation along with carefulness." Possibly the greatest gift of Huachuma medication is this really guidance towards on your own and your own redemption. It is the self-realization of the interior authority that Eastern literature conspicuously talks of. At any moment of human past, this highly effective ally will be actually a great thing. Yet today, along with the growth of mental disease on the planet, this type of knowledge and also relationship is essential. Buddha is actually. You are your personal hero.

As Mahayana Buddhism's Sutralamkara states: "Certainly, the saving truth has actually never ever been actually preached due to the Buddha, viewing that one must realize it within oneself." And also this is actually possibly the most crucial gift of Huachuma medicine. It permits you to carry out that, one of others things. It merely opens your interior vision so you can easily view the mistaken nature of devouring pseudo-salvations such as materialism, modern technology, scientific research and faith: The praise of analytical cause on one possession and apprehensive views and convictions on the other. Huachuma can accurately present you that coordinated faith is only a compilation of views as well as is certainly not a safe ship to panel on a journey across the sea of lifestyle. Very same holds true for scientific materialism. Each watercrafts possess openings in them and also both will definitely sink on the way. The base line is that awakening is actually no more a privilege of the handful of but a requirement of the several, and also it is attainable under certain conditions.

Huachuma is actually a gentle veil-lifter you may trust. It switches on the lighting in your room, where you may see wonderfully what is actually inside. In its vivid, dynamic light, what was murky right now could be found accurately. As well as simply as you may view the disorder in your room when the light performs, thus also in the lighting of Huachuma medication you can easily observe the disorder in your lifestyle. Finding causes recuperation and also modification. Self-realization is actually the information of the ignorant Personal. Become your very own lighting. Don't try to find an external refuge. This is a teaching you discover in Huachuma cactus. As well as these are not merely terms. It's what you really feel, it's what you experience. As well as this encounter is louder as well as more clear than any sort of words.

I have dedicated my 2nd manual,, to the Huachuma cactus.

This manual is actually the lightweight dosage of my medication. If you sound along with my words, you prepare to take the next measure and adventure Huachuma medicine with us in Peru. There is merely no even more opportunity for bias. The only opportunity our team possess is for recuperation and regeneration. Of course, it comes simply along with understanding, deep, sincere consideration and also fearless diving inside your personal personal.

Vegetation medicine shamanism is the method to go away onward. Terms like Heaven, Bliss, Samadhi and also Information won't take us much. If our experts don't locate our religious roots, our experts will just destroy ourselves and also every thing around our company. What our company need is actually a direct religious adventure of Divine Union to improve our lives. This transcendent adventure is the unifier that makes certain mutual growing. No quantity of political as well as economic planning are going to finish the job up until we discover the link with ourselves and also attributes.

Feel free to see our brand new documentary Divine Exotic, which demonstrates how our company function with the Huachuma exotic in Peru.

Sergey Baranov is the owner of Huachuma Wasi, a recovery center in The Sacred Valley of the Incas, Peru. He is the author of Path: Looking For Fact In a Globe of Lies, The Mescaline Admission: Appearing the Wall Surfaces of Misconception as well as Create Your Zen in 30 Times. Sergey's passion for everyday life in the world and also its preservation is the steering pressure behind his job.

You can get in touch with Sergey at www.huachumawasi.com

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[globalworship]

Taking the Knee as Embodied Prophetic Lament

The issues over sports figures and patriotism continue to burn white-hot. Here are some excerpts from articles which place the issues in a religious context of worship, idolatry, allegiance to which power, and lament.

Motivations:

Eric Reid: Why Colin Kaepernick and I Decided to Take a Knee https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/opinion/colin-kaepernick-football-protests.html

My faith moved me to take action. I looked to James 2:17, which states, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” I knew I needed to stand up for what is right.

I approached Colin the Saturday before our next game to discuss how I could get involved with the cause but also how we could make a more powerful and positive impact on the social justice movement. We spoke at length about many of the issues that face our community, including systemic oppression against people of color, police brutality and the criminal justice system. We also discussed how we could use our platform, provided to us by being professional athletes in the N.F.L., to speak for those who are voiceless.

We came to the conclusion that we should kneel, rather than sit, the next day during the anthem as a peaceful protest. We chose to kneel because it’s a respectful gesture. I remember thinking our posture was like a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy.

+++

Actions:

The Psalms Meet the Gridiron: An Embodied Act of Lament

https://blog.perspectivesjournal.org/2017/09/25/the-psalms-meet-the-gridiron/

Let’s just be clear. What happened yesterday was not an act of disrespect for the American flag or for our military men and women who serve so sacrificially throughout the world. It was an embodied act of lament. The psalms meet the gridiron. As one player described, in the same way a flag is raised to half-mast as an act of sorrow when a national tragedy has occurred, so kneeling is an act of remorse at the injustice and inequality that exists in our society, a kind of lament for what is and also a hopeful protest for what can be."

-- Brian Keepers is the lead pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa. 

+++

Having Priorities:

+++

Perspectives:

Colin Kaepernick vs. Tim Tebow: A tale of two Christians on their knees https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/24/colin-kaepernick-vs-tim-tebow-a-tale-of-two-christianities-on-its-knees/

They're both Christian football players, and they're both known for kneeling on the field, although for very different reasons.

One grew up the son of Baptist missionaries to the Philippines. The other was baptized Methodist, confirmed Lutheran, and attended a Baptist church during college.

Both have made a public display of their faith. Both are prayerful and devout.

This is the tale of two Christian sports personalities, one of whom is the darling of the American church while the other is reviled. And their differences reveal much about the brand of Christianity preferred by many in the church today....

It seems to me that Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick represent the two very different forms that American Christianity has come to.

One version is kneeling in private prayer. The other is kneeling in public protest.

One is concerned with private sins like abortion. The other is concerned with public sins like racial discrimination.

One preaches a gospel of personal salvation. The other preaches a gospel of political and social transformation.

One is reading the Epistles of Paul. The other is reading the Minor Prophets.

One is listening to Eric Metaxas and Franklin Graham. The other is listening to William Barber and John Perkins.

One is rallying at the March for Life. The other is getting arrested at Moral Monday protests.

You can see where this is going. The bifurcation of contemporary Christianity into two distinct branches is leaving the church all the poorer, with each side needing to be enriched by the biblical vision of the other.

Biblical Christianity should be, as Walter Brueggemann expresses it, "awed to heaven, rooted in earth." We should, as he says, be able to "join the angels in praise, and keep our feet in time and place."

[Personally, I am quite rooted and active in both of these traditions.]

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Colin Kaepernick and the powerful, religious act of kneeling https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/24/colin-kaepernick-and-the-powerful-religious-act-of-kneeling/

This is about him making a powerful statement that doesn’t require words: a statement rooted in an African American Christian tradition built on nonviolent resistance.

The vitriol directed toward Kaepernick, even by NFL executives, comes as much from fear as it does from genuine dislike. If Kaepernick really was a harmless, crazy, dumb gadfly, the execs wouldn’t care. They’d sign him up, as they’ve signed up criminals and abusers and even murderers in the NFL’s past.

No, this is different. This is about a deep fear of what Kaepernick has tapped into: a shaking of America’s Christian roots and a question about who owns the narrative of Jesus: white evangelical Christian culture or African American liberation movements?

His gesture is nonthreatening. Meek. Which is perhaps what makes it so scary.

One of the most interesting things about Kaepernick is his faith. Yep. Kaepernick is a Christian. He was baptized Methodist, confirmed Lutheran and attended a Baptist church during his college years.

He sounds virtually Tebow-esque when he talks about his faith in God, saying, “I think God guides me through every day and helps me take the right steps and has helped me to get to where I’m at. When I step on the field, I always say a prayer, say I am thankful to be able to wake up that morning and go out there and try to glorify the Lord with what I do on the field,” according to an interview with the Reno, Nev., Sparks Tribune.

Kaepernick has a Bible scroll with Psalm 18:39 tattooed on his right arm. Underneath is written “To God be the Glory.”

So Kaepernick wants to glorify God with what he does on the field. Is it such a stretch to imagine that it is Kaepernick’s faith, rather than a lack thereof, that is inspiring him to kneel during the national anthem?

Is it possible that rather than disrespect, it is instead a deep respect for the principles of America and the God who granted this nation its freedom that causes Kaepernick to kneel?

Is it possible that we don’t want to see his Christian faith because Kaepernick doesn’t look like the white, all-American, handsome Texas quarterback that white America believes is all that’s great about football and America?

Is it possible you don’t like him because he makes you wonder about your own faith, your own church, your own God? Does God not judge America for its original sin of racism? Does God question the deaths of so many young black men? Does God not believe that Black Lives Matter?

Have we hidden in our segregated churches so that the God Kaepernick seeks to glorify won’t see our sins?

I keep coming back to the kneeling.

The kneeling. The kneeling. The kneeling.

I understand that Kaepernick first chose to sit for the anthem, then changed his mind to kneel to show greater respect for the American military, after a conversation with a veteran.

Kneeling is powerful.

I believe this choice to kneel also represents a link to Kaepernick’s Christian faith.

To kneel is to show respect. To make a statement. To humble oneself, but also to stand out from the wider world.

Many churches, especially Catholic churches, have kneelers.

My old Lutheran congregation had a semicircular altar. To receive communion — young and old, you had to kneel.

It’s hard to be arrogant, or stupid, or prideful, or shortsighted — or any of the things Colin Kaepernick is alternately accused of being — when you are kneeling.

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What Does Jesus Say to the #TakeAknee Issue? http://www.missioalliance.org/jesus-say-takeaknee-issue/

In the larger conversation of Kaepernick’s well-known kneeling, the point of hostility has been with many people seeing the protest as an act of defiance towards the US flag, the anthem, the military and the U.S. as a country in its entirety. Those who oppose this tactic would prefer protesters to choose another way to voice their anger and concern, maintaining, in their eyes, the sacredness of the flag.

But the refusal to see the issue Kaepernick is creatively articulating is the core of the issue. In this respect, when nationalism is held as the highest value, anything or anyone that can potentially challenge the infallibility of this ideology will be placed on the margins.

The core issue in #takeaknee is the refusal of many to compassionately hear the cry of black and brown bodies by passionately drowning it out in red, white and blue symbols.

As I’ve contemplated this story over the past year, I’ve done so asking what the American Evangelical Church can learn from this. Before offering a brief reflection on that, it might be helpful to review Kaepernick’s protest in light of a well-known act of protest from Jesus.

What does Jesus have to say about Kaepernick’s protest?

What does he have to say about challenging the sacred cows and symbols of his day?

What does he have to say to #takeaknee?

A quick glance at one of Jesus’ oft-repeated actions can help us. When you examine the gospels, you’ll consistently see Jesus offering physical and social healing on the Sabbath (a sacred day much like our American NFL Sundays). When Jesus did this, I can assure you that he was being intentional. Jesus knew the push back he was going to receive from religious leaders, and yet, he was not deterred one bit.

Healing on the Sabbath as Protest

Why did Jesus consistently heal on the Sabbath? He could have healed on a Tuesday morning. Or on Thursday afternoon. He could have gotten the week off to a good start by offering sight to blind people on Monday. Why on the Sabbath? Here’s what might be at work.

The Sabbath was one of the sacred cows of Jewish religious life. Moses explicitly gave instructions about the place of Sabbath and the details surrounding the practice. Yet those who practiced Sabbath consistently overlooked those in need (Luke 13). Jesus, on the other hand, consistently heals (which according to religious leaders constituted work) on the Sabbath. Why?

Maybe in this act he was protesting the inconsistency in their ideals (found in Torah) and their practice. He was exposing the dissonance of their spirituality. He offends the sensibilities of those who have held to the law of Sabbath, but not to the renewal it was to create.

Jesus could have healed on Tuesday, but it would not have as effectively called attention to the ways the religious community had gone astray.

Perhaps this is a good framework to see the protest of the Flag. There might be no higher symbol of value in the collective consciousness of Americans. Yet, there’s something under the flag that needs to be perpetually addressed. Namely, the failure to live up to the ideals the flag represents.

Jesus didn’t get rid of the Sabbath. He wanted to see it reflect its original intention.

Kaepernick didn’t burn the Flag. He wants to see it reflect its original intention—liberty and justice for all (especially in the area of police brutality).

Any perceived slight against the United States is seen as ungratefulness or as an act of betrayal. In this way, the country is to be addressed in such a way that ignores the reality of its anti-Kingdom of God ways. When this perspective takes root in a Christian, a church, a denomination or an institution, we betray our call to worship God.

The deeply reactive and emotionally triggered responses towards Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the National Anthem might be a sign of a deeper idolatry. One of the ways idolatry manifests is in language of unquestioned allegiance. Sadly, this unquestioned allegiance is not held by non-Christian civil religion adherents, but by church going, bible believing, faithful volunteering Christians.

Until Christians can hold these two realities together, we will fall into the trap of idol worship at the altar of American exceptionalism, with the flag replacing the cross.

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Ultimate Allegiance and Worship:

“Members of the early church would be completely baffled at modern Christians criticizing other Christians for not bowing before the Empire.” - Rachel Held Evans https://relevantmagazine.com/article/christian-leaders-react-to-this-weekends-nfl-protests/

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What You Can Do

Black American athletes have used major sporting events as places to decry racism and injustice for decades, at least since the 1968 Olympics. This is a long-standing tradition, and it is indeed related to the long-standing tradition of protests and marches for civil rights.

Want the protests to stop? Then do all you can to combat racism in your own corner of the world. Do big things, do small things, pray, get educated on the issues - just don’t be idle. The protests will stop when the crazy-level racism stops. (See for instance, the recent murder in Baton Rouge of two men just because they were black. “Walking While Black” can literally get you killed in modern-day America. If you don’t think that should be protested ... you’re not black.)

How To Fight Racism https://www.thoughtco.com/things-you-can-do-to-help-end-racism-3026187

Dear White People: Here Are 6 Things You Can Do To Fight Against Racism https://thoughtcatalog.com/kimberly-dark/2017/09/dear-white-people-here-are-6-things-you-can-do-to-fight-against-racism/

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Final Word

At the name of Jesus, everyone will "take a knee." Go ahead and practice.

[popcartoonkabala]

Trinities, dualities, retirements and euphemisms: division into clarity (Chesed-Gevurah-Tipheret she b Malchut)               PART I! [Superman is not Batman]

Phillip K. Dick z”l likes Kabbalah, as a tool for making sense of the mad world around him through a kind of schizophrenic observation of patterns around him to testify a larger message. The greatest and most perfect vessel for this, as testified in the Gnostic tradition, is trash culture, pop garbage i.e. the only place where divinity is expressible, where the evil demi-urge isn't looking to stop the holy serpent from emerging with original light. In order for there to be a world at all, the world has to be ruled by the unfair, ugly, and chaotically inconsistent. Not like heaven at all, right? Almost by definition, by Platonic or Aristotelian standards. But where does cosmic order emerge? Only at the margins, only at the fringes, and, ironically, there at the center stage too. 

That's commercial fiction and idolatry for you: at the center stage, selling for all the most cynical and manipulative purposes, through a penetrating insight and resonant rightness bound to all the trouble, which of itself reflects the larger pattern ultimately. Nature of stories, and this is why the different degrees of meaning that can be understood from a story go so far, from the very literal, to the allegorical, to the practical to the sublime. And so, the patterns manifest themselves beyond the wills of the ostensible authors of the stories, and hide themselves from the more over philosophers and theologians. Because the heart of the most crass and cynical yearns to speak truth the most completely, he will testify, like the reactionary with the profoundly naked insights.

Who's a cheaper whore than Superman? Maybe the word “cheap” is inappropriate, but maybe not. American/Roman Pop morality is naught but infinitely flexible and adaptable to new concerns and insistences; always ready and curious to be impressed. This is universal religion, “Catholic”. This is the aspect of Jesus on the cross, god manifest through his degradation, into and for the sake of, accessibility. Superman becomes whatever he is needed to be-- whatever powers whatever vulnerability, whatever issue, whatever justification we need for doing something or nothing at all, superman will stand for it. If not the Warner official version, then surely some instant satiric analogue. 

There was a great legal case once over the Adventures of Captain Marvel: a visual and capable rip-off of superman, with a twist of course, seeing as he was a kid who could turn into the superman at will, and existed through magic. The lawsuit came and went, and in the end, DC comics and Warner just went out and bought the rights to Captain Marvel, realizing that it was the best they could do to get a handle on a hero successful enough to be identified as distinct, with a narrative and identity suddenly irrepressible. All super-heroes are twists on the superman model, it turns out, and even he is a twist on something older, almost infinitely and unknowably older.  Generational waves of sub-character tend to be expressions of the original character into another era, I.e the Dick Grayson into Batman, or better yet, the evolution of the Blue Beetles from classic old school adventurer into whatever a Blue Beetle must become. Aspects reincarnate into the next necessary amendment of the original character, which occasionally (but rarely) effectively supplants the original character, as in the case of the silver age DC heroes like Flash or Green Lantern.  If only there was some guide to identifying the pattern that made a change resonant, helpful, or necessary; there is a long history of embarrassing attempts at revamping, gropes for relevance ending as repulsive and unwanted as desperate, blind insensitive groping tends to.

One of the most important of the Kabbalistic traditional practices has been the hope of charting the exact moment where good becomes bad, the exact moment when the shark is jumped, in the hopes of seeing the face of the divine in that interchange, in that second where something goes from either problematic to helpful, or from helpful to problematic. Helpful to problematic is easier to gauge because it's relatively easy to watch something “good” and appreciated go on, while abuses and crimes turned heroic tend to be more spontaneous, but the story of both or either are precisely the story of how and when G-d creates the universe, and splits the read sea.

There is a certain kind of apocalypse inherent to the cartoon narrative: i.e. The day the Golem went mad. Superman and Jean Grey are the most helpful of heroes, and every integral problem solver MUST GO BAD-- ULTIMATELY! This is inherent to any narrative that goes on forever, the day the hero either got mind controlled, justifiably corrupted, or just crushed by tragedy-- and became more of a problem than a help. In the biblical book of Lamentations, one of the most striking moments is when the G-d who often defined helpful friendliness throughout much of the bible, has suddenly become “Like an enemy, his bloodlust insatiable.” This is an inevitable moment with especially the most likeable and powerful of super-helpers, and this end is certainly the profound apocalypse most feared, who's fulfillment is the end of the heroic purity myth.

Superman ends like this a million times: the very first superman sequel, and the very ultimate Batman story (DKR), the last two episodes of the Superman cartoon, and the whole second season of the Justice League Unlimited, feature this nightmare tension, of a superman entirely corrupt, either sensibly (as is the case of the cynical political superman of Red Son, Justice League episode “Justice Lords” the Reagan lackey of Dark Knight Returns, and the marvel analogue Hyperion in the orginial Squadron Supreme) or from corruption or madness (like under Darkseid's control, or that of Red Kryptonite, or just frustration and natural alienation from humanity, like in Mark Waid's brilliant extended series Irredeemable, or John Arcudi and Peter Snejbjerg's sublime meditation on power and humanity A God Somewhere.) Alan Moore's Marvelman/Miracleman split the difference by having the maddened Kid Miracleman be the horror apocalypse, and then fighting the enlightened mature Miracleman, who defeats him and becomes the art messiah who fixes the whole world at last, just like we'd like superman to in our most ideal of fantasies.

In Gath Ennis's affectionate take on the problem, as well as the ones of other ostensibly cynical voices like Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Jack Kirby: Superman's only able to do so much, and is strikingly tolerant and welcoming of criticism and alternative support. Many writers prefer the earnest and noble invincible hero to the crafty and cynical plotter, hence greater cynicism about Batman or Iron man gone awry than for Superman or Silver Surfer, those so powerful who haven't ALREADY become monsters might be trusted never to do so, or at least, not for long, and not without being sorry.

Even Ennis's twist on Superman in The Boys isn't as vicious as he initially appears, at least not because  of his own selfish obliviousness, one that generally seems even more noble than that of every other corrupt hero around.  But part of Ennis's art is humanizing and contextualize the most dangerous of  monster-people, the war criminals and punishers alike, even as he refuses to take away from the horror of what people do, all the time. But these are the three extremes that define the end of Superman: Benevolent divinity vs. Malevolent divinity vs. Death/alienated immortality. His death can only be tragic and heroic, but how much is his virtue lost in through his power? Superman is defined as the guy who becomes as awesome as a situation demands, in all and any ways-- that is infinitely helpful or infinitely dangerous or just only possible for finite time.

But what Sephira is Superman?

Lets say there were ten sephirot, or even lets say there's just seven: one of the biggest issues in Kabbalistic accounting and equalization is where does One stand relative to Two? Does Three come after Two, or does Four? We might want to just assume that One is before Two, but it's not always clear that Three is before Four, because the rumor is that Three and Four are created simultaneously, in much the same way that One and Zero are. Let me say it better: Superman is obviously a certain kind of hero number One.

But is Hero #1 Chesed or Tipheret?

Let me explain what I mean: Everybody knows...

...Chesed Is Original Kindness, infinite utterly and unitive, the                       right arm. Gevurah Is Original Restraint, infinite utterly and divisive, judgemental, the left arm.  And Tipheret Is the Original Harmony, perfect         in it's balance between Kindness and Restraint, relating infinitely, the central trunk of the tree, aka “Truth” and “Mercy.”

The First is identified often/sometimes with Jupiter, especially in Hellenistic models. This is fair if/when he rules the Heavens and makes rightness (צדק) between the other highest forces. Enthusiastic, appreciated but too comfortable to be too respected: so is a certain cosmic ruler and standard. The middle pillar, on the other hand, generally ultimately identified with the Sun, which confounds the order of days of the week, implying that Sunday is not the natural first day of the week, but rather should be the Third!  But this is not how the ancient Romans calculated. Our modern international sequence comes from, as described in Ptolemy's Almagest and the Talmudic Shabbos BT (100-102), emerges from observation of which star was most visible in the first hour of each given evening. Is that arbitrary? Or full of meaning?

---

There's a parallel from the iconic super team of Marvel to that of D.C.-- While the Fantastic Four was commissioned to exploit the popularity of the Justice League of America, the Avengers were the authentic doppelgangers-- in different aspects, certainly, but with certain fundamental similarities inherent to the iconic pantheistic model. Once one is collating the assorted gods of all regions into a proper pantheon, one starts to notice syncreticsms and synchronicities. Both teams, maybe the Avengers more so, just because they had less overt precedent than the Justice League, grew and grow through a process of throwing more and more shit on the wall to see what sticks. There have been incarnations of both teams with an absolute minimum of iconic team players, and those experiments honestly tend to be much less successful, because who cares about peripheral characters? Who wants to identify with, or feel safe because of, the peripheral?  Even heroes of the periphery like Spider-man stop being peripheral as soon as they emerge into action mode, and suddenly become the most visible and important people in the room. Same with spy heroes like the Black Widow or The Vision or Bronze Tiger or The Huntress or any of them: their value in the team dynamic only comes from the moment where they too become central to the narrative.

If Aquaman can't maintain his functional centrality, he's not gonna be on the A-team for long-- unless the whole concept becomes boring, and some urgent manic experiment offers to make him fundamentally central, as in the case of Justice League Detroit, or Martian Manhunter's JLTask Force.  From this process emerges the true iconic figures, hero or villain: Divinities are defined by their never-endingness. That's why the days of the week are named after, and associated with, gods: because they keep on coming, forever. The mystery of identifying patterns in that infinitude are the beginning of all wisdom.

The heroes, like gods are defined by their values and priorities. The gangster extreme of self-indulgence, the scientist extreme of blind unapologetic exploration-- to be resonant, they just need to be inspiring-- but to be national myths, they must be tempered with moral limitations pleasing and comforting to the controllers of the mediums expressed through.

One of the first great American pop heroes of the 20th century, avatar of the electrical media of radio and television, and precursor to the  model of secret identity bonded to uncompromising moral code is of course, the Lone Ranger. Composed very intentionally as a moral alternative to the traditional savage, cynical and self-interested Western hero-model, much of the strange-but-endearing commitment to Certain Social Principles of profound civic idealism, which in the Lone Ranger's case includes subtleties as square as a refusal to use any slang or pidgin english, but also as inherent to mainstream cartoon heroes as the commitment to avoid killing any villain whenever possible, despite actually carrying a sacramental pistol, packed with specifically silver bullets, a metal with very noble alchemical associationsi. This shifting of the wild, independent loner into the trustworthy hero depends on his commitment to these social principles, much as the biblical Samson and David are able to be pious warriors, once they've committed themselves to mosaic law, and made clear that there is a charming and co-identifiable limit to their violence that will not degrade into the most disruptive of role models.

Through this kind of covenantal circumcision of the heart, the modern hero is able to be trusted by even his enemies within the conservative mainstream, otherwise afeared of the wildness of the West inverting into the romantic lawless relative amorality that becomes the gangster, once the expanse of the West gives way to the cramped urban jungle of the Cities that become America. This is observed strongly in the relationship between Spider-man and J Jonah Jameson, as opposed to Superman and Batman who are ultimately more than tacitly encouraged and appreciated by their local constabulary and media, who know that these heroes are only here to help and would never do certain terrible things, any terrible things, by definition and nature.  This may be because spider-man is an avatar of instability, stepping between margins that a bat, super or wonder person would gracefully step over and avoid the weakness and vulnerability of. The spider-tipheret-middle pillar walker will be elaborated, but first, I just want to clarify:

In Thirty Two Paths of “Awesome Science”!

Jah                                                                         Deus

The Lord of Hosts                                                     Odin

Living god                                                                 Thor

El Shaddai                                                                Freya

High and Guiding                                                       Sun

Staying until (forever) and Sacred his name             Moon

Superior and Holy he                                               Saturn/Loki

Created his Universe in three spheres

1) In Digit, ספר

2) Media, ספר

3) and Narrative סיפור

10 spheirot ספירות(“cyphers”) “without-what?”

And 22 signature-marks אותיות (“letters”)

3 mothers אמהות and

7 doubles כפולותand

12 simples פשותות

                                                                      Sepher Yetzirah (1:1)

I'm saying!

3 mothers = The Trinity, a term openly used in DC cosmolopgy to mean

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman

the foundation and inherent electoral board of the Justice League,

without these three IN SOME FORM OR ANOTHER there is no democratic team dynamic

The Marvel Trinity is obviously

Captain America, Thor, and Iron-man

and

Captain America is NOT a founding member! But the team did not glue until he was aboard, and this is the secret of Tipheret/Harmony coming down from Daat/knowledge-- Captain America joins the team to guide it and ground it:

Man out of time? Not far out of time, he is the only ancient Marvel Hero to join the team from recent modernity-- Thor is an ancient hero, but not originative in the medium-- he's notably absent from the Golden age except as a villain (in Kirby and Simon's Sandman reboot)! Unlike Samson or Hercules, ancient heroes inoffensive in their relative moral grounding with relationship to democracy. As opposed to Germanic Thor, only identifiable then with the “cursed Hun” and his nihilistic confidence.

But by the sixties, comics enter The Silver age, and any alchemist who knows knows that Silver is so much more divine and resonant than Gold. By then, the redeemed Captain could descend, specifically from the moment in history that created the pop-superhero, the World War 2. All three foundational Justice Leaguers come from Golden Age to Silver, intact as opposed to their mostly rebooted comrades like Green Lantern, Hawkman/Hawkgirl and Flash. Not so with the Avengers: only one of the marvel heroes returns from recent antiquity, That war-- but is he Chesed or Tipheret?

Michael, identified with Chesed is a war god, master of legions, but in the context of the Avengers, Cap is the balancier,  not the childish infinite power that Marvel's Thor, or the Powerpuff girls's Bubbles, represent.

On the other hand, the shield is identified with Abraham, not Jacob, and Thor is more the Eternal Son, killed and resurrected, and humbled by the sublimation of his divinity into human form so that he might change his essential nature and gain new sensitivities; This Is the aspect of “Israel”: similar to Jacob, Joseph, and Jesus, except more into hitting than getting hit, dying only in order to win better. Compare with heroes on the level of King Saul and Solomon alike, who must be defeated in order for the love they represent and embody to be expressed.

3 becomes 7 by doubling, and then the axis that both are on is the 7th.  This is Shabtai/Saturn/Shiva: conceptualized ultimately as Time itself (Cronos/Shabbat) this star is what binds the week and initiates creation, by being willing to be, and satanically shuts down time, as soon as he doesn't care anymore.  Identified with the god of Israel by the Romans, Saturn is identified with and synchretized with Dionysus(Liber) in his exctatic/nihilistic aspect (the Attic/Anatolian/Ancient-Eastern “Sabezius”). This same Saturn initiates law and civilization, all by being the axis that the other Celestials revolve around, which all the rest do in their way, at their point. They all imitate their absented-defeated father, as is the way. Shabatai/Saturn/Shiva encompasses all and implies the rest-- if you have Shiva, then you have had Brahma and all the rest at once. Cronos/Saturn similarly devours all his children, not destroying them, but just encompassing them, in the hopes of keeping All One and All Whole and All Self until Jupiter/Guru/Tzadek cuts him open, making space for story, peace and generations. Mothers, Doubles, Etc.

But

Every version of the Sepher Yetzira i've seen has a different sequence for the correspondences between the seven planets and the associated days of the week. Why?  

I asked a rabbi who had published my favorite version of the Sepher Yetzira, tidily framed like a poetry book, like a modern translation of the Dao De Ching, one simple quatrain per page. His version, as with a predominant majority of the extant Hebrew versions of the Sefer Yetzirah in circulation, has the planets and days in an order contrary to the Julian order that seems to be almost universally popular in the world. You know the order i'm talking about, right? Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and then Saturn. The order of the days in Norse, Vedic, and Greco-Roman tradition. Ostensibly based on emergence of the celestial body during the first hour of a given day, it's really popular... and yet almost no version of The Sefer Yetzira, which lists those same 7 deities along with the seven days of the week, helpfully numbered (The first day, second day etc) has them in a order like Sun on the first day Moon on the second, etc. Why not?

I found him at a wedding, Avraham Leader, and I asked him. He looked off into the sky, closed his eyes, and testified: “they're changing all the time, rotating.” There's something honest and authentic in that very witty deconstruction-- the pattern is observed, 3 mothers and 7 doubles, but which is which shifts, as is the nature of dynamic relationships. Maybe there's some pattern to how, i'm sure some number of people have tried to chart it, always, from all angles. And maybe that's one of the blessings of pop-cartoon media: the constant unfolding of the stone, and the chance to watch the same divinities engage each other in different permutations according to the new clarity of each new day. New comics come out on Woden's day, but they are printed on Moon day and shipped on Tyr's.

But all that would change as the technologies and conveniences do, because no tradition is more stable than the context that nurses it. Subsequently:

There's a problem in identifying which day of the week is which Sephira

Lets say there are three intial “mothers” as the sepher yetzira insists. One forms the other, and then a balance is found it between it's two infinite extremes that is the third that defines the polarity forever, it's harmony and balanced aspect.

For example-- heat, when created, immediately exists in the context of cold, and right there, are the two mothers חום/heat and קוּר/cold, and the balance that forms between them is the harmony that becomes known as רויה/temper(ature), and time is defined by these extremes.

This pattern is also itself triplicate in the Sepher Yetzirah, the above triumvirate reflecting Time, another triumvirate reflecting Space and a third personifying Psyche, a.k.a. Soul, a.k.a. Feeling.

The absurdity of these narratives is that the third, the harmonizer, in all case must actually be the first, in some conceptual sense, and tends to actually be listed first in most versions, despite being defined only by its relationship to balancing the other two infinities.  This is expressed by the three letters through which the idea of the Three Mothers is first elaborated: מ (“Mem” )initiates, ש (Shin) stops and א (Aleph) balances. The joke is: א is the original letter, the first, identified with the moment before creation. The aleph is the original alpha, yet here it comes only to balance the conflict between an initial oM and a silencing Sh-- as if to say that, although it's initial conception predates all existence, it only comes into functional existence in the context of the schism that the world itself is made of. The schism between before and after that creates history, the schism between close and far that invents space, and the schism between gut and head that facilitates experience-- they are all founded in the tacit and unexpressed primordial distinction between being, unbeing, and the liminal space inbetween that actually, naturally, predates the distinction.

This space is not to be identified with God, who is still defined as implicit in, and beyond, this whole game and process. But if one would identify it with a degree of God, it would be the degree yearned for and sought by the gnostics who insisted that all else of power and presence in the world of lies was only extant to repress that pure initial light. That's the prize for everyone and anyone trying to get beyond the distinction and the world, but the whole and true G-d is only encounterable in the whole entirety, being and non-being and the bridge all together at once with everything AND nothing.

All the stories are about the invasion of these patterns into each other, and the hilarity, terror and novelty that ensue. But they are just decorations so that we have some impression of the invisible Queen, who cannot be known except by the veils she wears, which ironically free her to be as public as she would be.  The veils have patterns because the shape of the face has patterns: Most of Kabbalistic meditation is looking at a thing and then it's opposite, and then at once glancing at what they have in common, through which they are bound and ground.

The first creates the second. The second splits into both third and fourth at once. But one and two have an eternity together. An eternity to work out as much as is interesting or meaningful in their interaction. Any two characters on a given situation comedy are inevitably going to have time to do everything there is with each other than can be milked for humor and/or pathos. One and two live together, depend on each other, especially veiled as 0 and 1. Notice how the Latin word for god parallels the number two “Deux” rather than the number one “Uno,” identified with the moment before creation. No wonder the ancient west had no concept of “Zero”: they just called it “One” instead, with Two being the triumphant god “Tiwaz” vs. One/”Wotan, (Three/Thor, Four/Freya, etc.) Pop-culture, especially of a sort geared toward children, has trouble acknowledging post-romantic sexual dynamics, limiting the possibility of super-hero couples as being viable outside of a larger team dynamic.  This is one of the tremendous distinctions between normative pagan hierarchy and that of both Kabbalah and Pop-Cartoons: the ability to acknowledge a divine couple that is male and female equally. A great recent example is the Sym-bionic Titan, G. Tartatovsky's ambitious, epic and rightly awesome  but short lived follow up to Samurai Jack. Princess and Protector and Awesome Robot supervisor vs. Evil alien empire and G. I. Joe in the form of armored Transformers, that can bond into a full mini Voltron.  Here, the problem is adressed by defining the roles distinctly, mythically, and idealistically-platonically. He is there to protect her, She needs not protecting but wants to help Everyone, and Awesome Robot is the Knowledge resource that helps them bridge their gaps of priority and inherent personal distance, without need for ultimate compromise of personal identity.  So sometimes a way is found, to relate to the masculine and feminine in a dynamic in its entirety, but this rarely happens. It's hard on pop cartoons, made for kids assumed to be in relatively homo-genderous stages of developmental priority, not to just decide to pander to Boy Fantasy of infinite play-war, or Girl Fantasy of infinite play-drama.    

In Pop culture sitcomedy, it's easy: the tension between a central couple is the source of all tension and humor, and generally there's at least one secondary Dyad (Fred and Ethyl Mertz, for classic example) to take the pressure off the starring couple, to split with them into sub-teams, and then come back together in the comic denouement, often in paroxysms of laughter and celebration at an episodes end.  Something similar plays out in the ancient story of Dumuzi and Innana, where Dumuzi's sister-twin comes out of nowhere to play a central role once her bro has been dispatched to Hades for his insensitivity. His twin sister represents his interests, from a feminine perspective, to his feminine counterpart, who lives as a lover-foil, rather than as an empty gender-switched reflection. I believe this is the secret of the difference between an opposite and a contrapositive or an inversion, depending on which direction the wheel of priority turns.

In both the Hebrew Bible and the Pop Comic Book, power couples do emerge, and the stronger dualistic framework is that of the Hero/Villain dyad, where the tension is infinite, and the room for betrayal just as much.  Romance is expressed mostly through this format, with “partners” existing in a sibling limbo of proffessional-sacred uneroticism.  Notice how much silver-age Lois Lane ultimately functions as something more like an enemy than a partner, disrupting in the hopes of courting, Superman's tantric greatness being his ability to maintain integrity and grace while still dodging the compromise that Lois is constantly trying to insist. Superman and Batman don't have to be lovers to be PARTNERS, neither do Jonathan and David. But they ARE lovers, as mythicly bonded as Dumuzi and Innana-- and maybe even more securely.

In the great future, they have a fight to the death, says one vision of the end of the Batman/Superman team. One goes awry (or appears to) and the other must stop him. The only constant hope of salvation that the team/coupling has in this model is to be interrupted by a greater villain, watching, clapping, laughing, or invading, who they are then united against. This is the great model of ALL super-hero encounters in the original Marvel way, to the point where an immediate camraderie and spirit of co-operation becomes suspect, ominous, and due to inevitably collapse, because of mind -control or some other subversion.

Because the characters are MADE to ENGAGE each other, generally with violence, because this is a visual medium. Whereas Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty only came to fisticuffs once, and even then, not in a manner choreographed through words, but instead described almost passingly, and with more attention to detail given to the environment that they were to have their final encounter in, rather than lovingly detailed Biffs! And Pows! Because analog literature prized the narrative and insight form of conflict much more than what Warren Ellis calls the Explodo! Model, of action prized far over lush description.

[we-arnold-lockshin-blog]

US was built on mass murder - 2

Факты, которые  подконтрольные ЦРУ СМ»И»  в России   скрывают...

Dictatorship USA – Run By A Plundering and Murderous Ruling Class - 2019 (705)

Uncle Sam was Born Lethal  - 2

For revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.  – Frederick Douglass, July 4, 1852

BlackAgendaReport, Aug. 21, 2019

Evangelical Christian barbarism wedded to lethal American white nationalism? American evangelicals have been terrorizing their fellow Americans and others around the world for as long as the United States has existed – and indeed before that.  Political scientist Carl Boggs reminds us that contemporary American right-wing Christianity is “an extension of traditional, homespun, God-fearing Protestantism that historically intersected with racist, colonial, and exceptionalist currents of Manifest Destiny.” Further :

“We know that slavery, along with every step toward extermination of Native Americans, was justified and even celebrated as part of God’s will. Did not President William McKinley, as the U.S. was preparing for a war in the Philippines that would slaughter hundreds of thousands of civilians, inform Americans that this was a Christian duty?…Replete with images of great violence, hatred, and repression,  the Bible in fact justifies all forms of mass murder, torture, warfare, and slavery. We have a text that takes enormous gratification in the mass slaughter of humans, with few limits. In the Bible we find executions for taking God’s name in vain, death to practitioners of ‘idolatry,’ and horrific punishment for adulterers not to mention genocidal military attacks on heathen nations and culture. Such fundamentalist views, resonant of the Dark Ages, can be likened to a modern fascist outlook.”

Seventeen years ago, the evangelical Christian George W. Bush, neo-fascistically turbo-charged by the Reichstag Fire-like gift of the Islamist 9/11 attacks, concluded that God had told  him to invade Mesopotamia. The invasion led to more than a million Iraqi deaths accompanied by countless explicitly racist and often evangelically infused acts of torture and murder committed by feral U.S. military forces.

The use of messianic Christianity to justify murdering and maiming people of color en-masse goes back to the original British invasion of what would be called New England. The U.S. Declaration of Independence’s description of North America’s original inhabitants as “merciless Indian savages” by projecting onto Native Americans the genocidal practices that white “settlers” exhibited from day one. Consider the historian Eric Foner's description of the grisly and religiously infused Mystic River Massacre of 1637:

“A force of Connecticut and Massachusetts soldiers, augmented by Narraganset allies, surrounded the main Pequot fortified village at Mystic and set it ablaze, killing those who tried to escape.  Over 500 men, women, and children lost their lives in the massacre.  By the end of the war [of New England settlers on the once powerful Pequot tribe], most of the Pequots had been exterminated or sold into Caribbean slavery. The treat that restored peace decreed that their name should be wiped from the historical record.”

“…The colonists’ ferocity shocked their Indian allies, who considered European military practices barbaric.  A few Puritans agreed. ‘It was a fearful sight to see them frying in the fire,’ the Pilgrim leaders William Bradford wrote of the raid on Mystic.  But to most Puritans, including Bradford, the defeat of a ‘barbarous nation’ by ‘the sword of the Lord’ offered further proof that they were on a sacred mission and that Indians were unworthy of sharing New England with the visible saints of the church.”

The Puritans wept with joy and thanked “God” for helping them flame-broil Indian women and children who stood on ground they would turn into a heavenly “City on the Hill.”

After a cruel campaign of ethnic cleansing (at the conclusion of “King Phillips’ War”) in which the white settlers pushed most of the last Indians they had not killed out of New England in the mid-1670s, “the image of Indians as bloodthirsty savages,” Foner writes, “became firmly entrenched in the New England mind.”

Killing Native-Americans en-masse was supplemented by the torture and exploitation of millions upon of millions of African-Americans as slaves – the highly profitable and hidden secret  to America’s rise to prominence in the world of nations by the mid-19th century. Racialized chattel slavery found regular Christian “justification” on the part of the white “settlers.”

Slave owners tortured slaves to extract the last ounce of profit from them in cotton fields built on blood-soaked land stolen from Native Americans. They stood atop a vicious chattel system whose polemicists justified the regular rape of Black females as a “safety valve” that protected the virtue of white “southern womanhood.”

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass asked in 1852. “A day,” Douglass answered, “that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” Further:

“To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour…Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.”

To be continued...

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Перед нами - коварный и опасный мошенник, расист, лжец и фашист Дональд Трамп, порочный Конгресс, нацистские ФБР - ЦРУ, кровавые милитаристы США и НАТО >>> а также и лживые, вредоносные американские СМ»И».

Нынешние киевские власти — фашистские агенты американского империализма...  Именно то, чего хотят Трамр/ США и в Венесуэле!

А также в Иране. А также в Cирии.  Затем и в России!

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Правительство США жестоко нарушало мои права человека при проведении кампании террора, которая заставила меня покинуть свою родину и получить политическое убежище в СССР. См. книгу «Безмолвный террор — История политических гонений на семью в США» - "Silent Terror: One family's history of political persecution in the United States» - http://arnoldlockshin.wordpress.com

Правительство США еще нарушает мои права, за 15 лет отказывается от выплаты причитающейся мне пенсии по старости.  Властители США воруют пенсию!!  

ФСБ - Федеральная служба «безопасности» России - вслед за позорным, предавшим страну предшественником КГБ, мерзко выполняет приказы секретного, кровавого хозяина (boss) - американского ЦРУ (CIA). Среди таких «задач» -  мне запретить выступать в СМИ и не пропускать отправленных мне комментариев.   А это далеко, далеко не всё...

Арнольд Локшин, политэмигрант из США

BANNED – ЗАПРЕЩЕНО!!

ЦРУ - ФСБ забанили все мои посты, комментарии в Вконтакте, в Макспарке, в Facebook (“a dangerous account — your post goes against our Community Standards so only you can see it”), в Twitter (“Your account is suspended and is not permitted to perform this action”), в Medium.com, Одноклассники (почти всё) ... и удаляют ещё много других моих постов!

[denisonforum]

My visit to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC

I toured the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, yesterday.

The Museum is truly amazing. Its 430,000-square-foot building is located just three blocks from the US Capitol and has been rated one of the ten best museums in Washington.

It is an immersive experience in the history and stories of God’s word. Walking through its galleries took me back to the first century and demonstrated the impact of Scripture on humanity.

I cannot imagine a more powerful or persuasive witness at the heart of our nation’s capital.

As I toured the Museum of the Bible, I was struck by the difference one person can make. The Museum is the vision of Steve Green, the president of Hobby Lobby and son of the founder, David Green. The Green family has largely funded the $500 million project.

Every person who visits will be impacted by their faith and faithfulness to our Father.

“People are increasingly hopeless”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that suicides and drug overdoses have driven life expectancy down in the United States. Overall, there were 2.8 million US deaths last year, nearly 70,000 more than the previous year and the most deaths in a single year since the government began counting more than a century ago.

What is driving this epidemic of drug overdoses and suicide?

Dr. William Dietz, a disease prevention expert at George Washington University: “I really do believe that people are increasingly hopeless, and that that leads to drug use, it leads potentially to suicide.”

It’s tempting to become hopeless about the hopelessness of our culture. But that’s exactly the wrong response.

From lockup to opera

Consider Ryan Speedo Green (no relation to Steve Green), a former juvenile delinquent who was incarcerated as a twelve-year-old after he pulled a knife on his mother and brother.

A teacher named Elizabeth Hughes contacted him at the lockup. “Don’t let this moment define you,” she told him. “You can be better. You can do better.”

A caseworker and a psychiatrist provided by the state of Virginia began working with him. When he left juvenile detention, he entered a new school in another town. A class trip to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City changed his life.

Ryan is now a member of the Vienna State Opera, singing bass-baritone roles in a variety of languages for audiences from around the world.

Saving a dying church

Larry Duggins left a successful career in investment banking a decade ago to become a seminary student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. There he met an evangelism professor named Elaine Heath. Together, they brainstormed ways to help dying churches thrive.

As Jonathan Merritt notes in The Atlantic, this is a massive problem in America. Six thousand to ten thousand churches die each year in the US, a number that will likely grow as denominations age and religiously unaffiliated Americans increase.

Duggins and Heath wanted to help churches “think creatively about how to help people encounter others and God in their everyday lives.” They partnered with White Rock United Methodist Church in Dallas to try their ideas. The church was once a massive and thriving congregation, but the neighborhood’s demographics shifted and membership waned.

The Missional Wisdom Foundation, the nonprofit Duggins and Heath formed, moved into the building. It converted the fellowship hall into a co-working space and transformed Sunday school rooms into workshops for local artisans. It created an economic empowerment center, where African refugees are taught language and business skills. And it started a yoga studio and community dance studio.

Today, the church building is bustling and the congregation has new life.

“You can be everything God wants you to be”

What do these stories have in common? They demonstrate the power of an individual to change the culture.

Consider Hezekiah. His father was one of the most ungodly kings in Jewish history, but Hezekiah knew that our past cannot imprison us without our permission. His nation was under divine judgment because of its idolatry and immorality (2 Chronicles 28:19), but Hezekiah “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 29:2).

The spiritual reforms he initiated returned his people to God and saved their nation.

Without the valor and integrity of George Washington, would we still be a British colony? Without the courage of Abraham Lincoln, would we be two nations? Without the ingenuity of Henry Ford, could I drive to work? Without the creativity of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, would I be able to communicate these words to you?

You might say, “If they hadn’t done what they did, someone else would.” That’s my point–“someone” would.

Max Lucado: “You can be everything God wants you to be.” As he notes, “DaVinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of YOU. He custom designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment.”

What is yours?

The post My visit to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC appeared first on Denison Forum.

source https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/visit-museum-bible-washington-dc/

[the-record-briefs]

May 30, 2018: In other news

Sermon given by David Johnson for ChickenFest

Editor’s note: this is the sermon given Sunday, May 27, at The Record Park by Arbor Grove United Methodist Church’s lay leader David Johnson.

 Good morning!  Welcome once again to America…my favorite nation…home to my favorite state, North Carolina…which houses my favorite county, Wilkes….which contains my favorite communities…two of which I am living in simultaneously these days due to family illness…Mulberry and Purlear. It’s great to wake up here. I am very glad that there is a "here" to wake up to.  But for the grace of God and the sacrifices of many men, women, and families, it might be a very different "here"…a different reality that we would be living in.

But for those who willingly went to fight our enemies on foreign battlefields…our salutes and allegiances might be to a flag containing a swastika, a rising sun,  a hammer and sickle, or even an Isis insignia instead of the stars and stripes.  I have read about and seen the effects of these regimes in their heyday, and I thank God that they were not successful in raising those flags over American territory.  In all of our imperfections as a culture, I still prefer our way of life and our creed to those of our political and military enemies.

Let me share a short scripture about these sacrifices:

John 15:13  

…greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends…

It almost seems inevitable that the nation who would have the most personal freedom and become the most desirable goal for those that would leave a land of their birth to relocate in a land of more advantage, would become the nation that would have to fight the hardest for Survival both from outside and also from within.  And that has been the case with the United States.

Over two centuries ago we invoked the name and blessings of God in our very creed and national motto when we said that we considered all men to be created by that God as equals…and then we spent the next century combining enslavement and relocation of two different races of people in our quest to occupy and flourish on the continent.  But by the grace of the Lord, our national conscience eventually changed and his words uttered first to the Hebrews that he had delivered from their own slavery, then uttered to the gentiles (that included Greeks, Romans, Ethiopians, and of course, our ancestors)…those words kept coming up in our national dialog and in our desire to live up to our creed.  Eventually, by God's help, we have progressed closer to that point of true personal freedom for all our citizens than ever before.

Yet all through the years of our efforts to govern ourselves, we still have taken our place on the age old stage of warfare.  Sometimes, we were fighting amongst ourselves while we were fighting other nations. Yet to this point of today, God has seen fit to let us exist and given us the strength to persevere over our enemies both outside…and in.

This survival came and still comes with a price…a price in wealth…war is expensive…but more importantly, and sadly, a great price in human lives.  No one in their right mind who has ever been in a war wants to see another one. Yet many who have fought one battle and survived, have willingly fought again in order to keep our country, our people, and our way of life secure.  And many of these folks paid the price with their own lives.  It is them that we wish to honor today.  Yet how can we do that?

How do you repay someone that has given their life for you?

In Old Testament times, the Hebrews followed the commands of God through Moses…reluctantly sometimes, because they desired to be free from Egypt's slavery. Yet whether they knew it or not, it wasn't just the Egyptian captivity from which they needed to escape, it was the power of sin and their over and over again rejection of god's plan for them that they needed to be freed from.

Their success against their worldly enemies only seemed to make them more dependent upon earthly answers like a human king with a crown and successors.  Earthly idolatry would constantly come between them and God.

Only the hand of God plus the faith of some Israelites would allow them to survive wars with philistines, defeat and captivity by the Babylonians, and occupation by the Romans, plus being exiled and dispensed into the world for centuries.

Yet the faith of some, plus the power of an almighty god brought them back to the land for which they had fought so many times at the cost of countless lives. Their heroes are commemorated in scriptures…Joshua, Gideon, Samson, David, and a man you may have heard of named Jesus, who many of them rejected, plus many others. Their descendants are still there now…not just because of their might, but because god decreed it and allows it.

We are told these histories by songs, by sermons, and by reading the Bible.  It is important that we remember them because their story... Is our story.

In our case, as English subjects in the 16 and 1700’s we felt enslaved by oppressive government.  Men and women desired to live a life of their own choosing, even if in a harsh environment in order to feel free from the hand of a king. Our first war in America was one of decision…are we willing to risk death to be a free people?  Against a superior military force from England, 13 colonies made that choice and fought those battles.  As in all wars, not all the troops came home…but there was no controversy as to the results of the war.  We wanted to be a free nation…and we had paid the price to be one.  And by God's help and only by his help we became one.

Yet less than a century later we would fight the war that not many nations survive…                                       a war amongst ourselves.  Five years later at the end of that war, we started patching things up…but at the cost of over a half million troops and citizens, all Americans…all dead.

 Only the hand of god had kept us from totally disintegrating.  It was actually at the end of this war that our memories of our fallen soldiers began to take on days of commemoration, one state or one town at a time. Decoration days began to form.  Yet warfare continued to be a constant part of our culture.

Just after the industrial revolution, the world tried its hand at a global war, and men marched off to trenches in France, Germany, and other parts of Europe. When it seemed that United States allies or interests were threatened, our troops took their place before the cannons, guns, and mustard gas.  Some of your kinfolks didn't come back.  But they had been willing to go in order to see us survive.

World War Two was just a bigger, wider, more technologically advanced version of world war one…with one striking difference.  This time the enemy had hit us at Pearl Harbor…our land…the home front.

The result was an industrial upheaval…many businesses were converted to wartime efforts.  Gas, clothing and other goods were rationed willingly.  Even housewives gave broken skillets or pots, all scrap metal was collected to be shipped and converted to weaponry.

And almost all families gave up young men and in some instances young women that would not return from the effort.  But it was done with the prayer that God would bless that effort and our land would survive and thrive.

As the years progressed to now, we have not escaped our involvement in war.  There are those who say that our leaders have gotten us into most of the modern day ones willingly for wealth or world domination etc.  I don't know the truth about that.  But I do know many of the people who have fought…I know some who have died….and I know some who are fighting now. The ones that I know or knew either went when called, or volunteered.

And they did it because they loved this land.  And in most instances they loved the lord who allowed us to be in this land.

We know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we do not live in a perfect world.  And as much as I love it, I will be the last to say that America is a perfect nation.  But my hopes and prayers for her survival involve her becoming a more faith-filled nation and a more godly nation. 

Yes, we are in the middle of the opioid crisis, yes we are ridden with moral problems, with school shootings and corruption in high places, (and in low places for that matter), homelessness plus latter generations some of who don't even recognize that there is God, not to mention the terrible war technology with which many nations hold each other and parts of the world hostage.

But these problems are still symptomatic of the same sins that brought us to war before.  The same sin that pits North Korea against the U.S. is from the same source that caused Cain to kill Abel. The genocide that has taken place in Syria and other parts of the world also took place when an early Pharaoh tried to kill all young Hebrew male babies in order to find and eradicate a future Moses…or when Herod tried the same trick to find and kill a baby Jesus. Even in the middle of the slaughter, God's plan prevailed.  Satan is Satan, and the wages of sin is death.  How miserable would we be if there was not a better way?

There is probably no one sitting here that has not been touched directly or indirectly by a death of a family member or friend on a battlefield somewhere sometime.

What makes men and women risk their lives for a cause?

Not just the status quo…not just a national pride…but the hope and prayer of something better.

Soldiers have died from American forces ever since there was an America not just because they wanted America to survive, but because they wanted a better America to survive!

If we could talk to fallen soldiers what would they tell us their desires for us would be?  

How would they want to be honored or remembered?

 They would probably tell us they hoped that the battle they fell in would be the last one…or that our nation would turn itself into a more Godly representation of his love.  

I wonder if they would tell us to be more about the Golden Rule than the golden bank account?

Would they tell us to pray to the God that helped us found this nation that we can stop being so polarized and deathly opposed to each other before we crank up the next Civil War?   With the technology that we possess even locally, who wants to fight that conflict again?

Yet we seem to fight our own personal wars with each other on all the social media sites.  How long until this boils over into the streets?

War is a reality…Satan has seen to that.

God's words from Jesus confirm it.

Matthew 24:6 

 …and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

    But don't we have a responsibility as well to assure each other that our friends and family members didn't die in vain?

They sacrificed themselves so that we can keep the fight on the home front against sin, both in our lives and in our nation.  It will not be defeated until Christ returns yet what are we supposed to do until he comes?

We witness...we work…….we feed those who can't feed themselves…we house those who have no roof…we testify as to what God has done for us and what he can do for others.

 And we remember those whose lives were given for us to have the opportunity to do these things.

What brought the victory for them?  Sacrifice!

What brought the sacrifice?  Love! Love of God, love of family and love of this country!

It wasn't mercenary payment that made them fight!

It wasn't prestige, nor fear, nor pride…it was the continued survival, comfort, and freedom of those they loved!

This love motivated them to stand in front of otherwise insurmountable odds and still fight on.

Love reminds us of the presence of God within us…for without God there is no love…only a mockery of love.  The gospel of John says that Christ was here from the beginning and went to the battlefield for our own survival. The only mention of motivation in John 3:16 was love.

Our fallen war dead are the David’s and Gideon’s and Joshua’s of our day.  We can remember them with flags, flowers and tombstones…but, the only way to honor them is to perpetuate and improve the imperfections of the nation that they left us in a more Godly way.  To do this we must love God and because of his love we should love others just like we love ourselves.

 In this way we not only honor them and their sacrifice, but we honor the God who made us and Jesus who made the ultimate sacrifice for us in the battle for our souls.

It is only by joining in that struggle that we improve ourselves…improve our nation…and honor our fallen heroes in a way they would approve.

God bless you all.  Fall in behind Jesus….and fight on.

Amen