Friday, December 6, 2013

The Audacity of Change

   There are three cornerstones to society. Religion, Finance, and Education. It does not matter which brand of society you prefer: these are the pillars of society. I am not a financial advisor. I am not an educator, my parents are. And I am not a religious guru. I am however an author. And as an author I take it upon myself to look under every rock and crevice in search of the truth necessary to generate a compelling article.
   This article is about society. What society is, what it is deigned to be versus what it is advertised as being.
   This article looks at the relationships between religion, finance and education, explores there connective heritage and seeks to convey the truth behind them. Our society, though it may not be who we are is truly what we are.
   Let's start with that vaguest of premises. The question: who are you?
   The answer is that no one actually knows what that means. It is a question designed to get everyone thinking about the possibilities. The goal is to convince ourselves that the possibilities are limitless and therefore so to is the potential of humanity.
   What we are is a question that cannot be answered by anything internal. This is a question related purely to our environment. If I introduce myself as a banker to a stranger an image forms. If I later on reintroduce myself as an investment banker a different image begins to immerge. Two different titles, two different identities. Why is this? Why do we seek to place each other in the context of financial aptitude?
   For two reasons. The first reason is that what we do for a living provides insight into our education background. One cannot be an investment banker if he did not graduate from college at some renown university.
   The second reason is of course finance. Where are you on the ladder of status and where might you have the potential to go?
   My brother told me a story once. He had just graduated from college with a four year bachelor of science degree. Jobs were hard to come by however, and so consequently he found himself working security at the convention center downtown. While working security on e particular day, a young lady and he began to strike up casual conversation. When my brother decided the lady was interesting enough to attempt to solicit her phone number he quickly discovered this was not going to happen.
   Later in the day my brother found himself talking to a friend of the lady he had spoken to earlier. In the conversation this friend became aware of the fact that my brother had a four year college degree. Had just recently been accept to the fire department academy and was also a professional fighter. This lady offers my brother her phone number.
   Later that evening, before my brother's shift ended, the lady he'd spoken to originally who'd denied him her phone number divulged that she had a conversation with her friend and this conversation encouraged her to see if my brother still wanted her phone number.
   In this example we find, not the commonly shallow nature of insecure women, but in this particular instance we are shown the nature of human value. And our value is more commonly associated with what we do to produce a manufactured asset called money than with anything else. This is a tragic, painstakingly unbalanced constitution but it is real. Where did this come from? How did it get here?
   The answer is opportunity.
   We- Americans- live in a capitalist society. We have decided that this form of society is more appealing than the other options; socialism, Marxism to name a few. But to understand capitalism you must first understand what it is.
   Capitalism is a social- economic system in which trade and industry are controlled by private owners with the ultimate goal of maximizing profits. *Under this system, the means for producing and distributing goods (the land, factories, technology, transport system etc) are owned by a small minority of people. We refer to this group of people as the capitalist class.
   The majority of people must sell their ability to work in return for a wage or salary (who we refer to as the working class.)
   The working class are paid to produce goods and services which are then sold for a profit. The profit is gained by the capitalist class because they can make more money selling what we have produced than there we cost to buy on the labor market. In this sense, the working class are exploited by the capitalist class. The capitalists live off the profits they obtain from exploiting the working class whilst reinvesting some of their profits for the further accumulation of wealth.*
   Capitalism is often confused with free market trade, equal opportunity and democracy. It is not. Capitalism in fact, is the direct opposite.
   You have heard the phrase "trickle down economics". There is nothing equal about it. What trickles down in fact is opportunity. But why, if we live in a free country with equal opportunity, must opportunity trickle down. Why is it not readily available for all who are willing to work hard and sacrifice? We live in times where the hardest working and most educated of us are working for minimum wage while some under qualified individual with less than half as much experience and education occupies the position. What is this? And what is this all about?
   It has a lot more to do with simple competition I can tell you that. If America is the wealthiest nation on earth you must ask yourself where this wealth came from. How did we get it? How do we have so many industries which amount to the world's largest economy?
   Well that is just the point. It didn't come from nowhere. Industries are based on resources. The energy industry is based on resources such as natural gas, coal, oil, ethanol.
   The food industry is based on crops. All these industries are based on natural resources and these natural resources have to be controlled. How are they controlled, where are they being controlled and who is controlling them, to what end, by what means? In order for one group of individuals to have,
there are even larger pockets of individuals who have not. Because what we have is being taken from others and controlled the a group of individuals who have developed a system to maximize profits from these resources and distribute them to the rest of the world. That is why you see children starving in Africa. It is why we have the drug wars in central and south America and Mexico. It's why we have the terrorist wars of the middle east.
   Without natural resources there is no industry which means there is no economy and therefore no opportunity. The role of capitalism is to identify the potential of these natural resources; the amount that exists (supply) the amount of people who need it (demand) and set out a course that ensures that those controlling these resources remain firmly in control while we sell our abilities to contribute to this wealth generation in the form of labor.
   But the dirty little secret is that natural resources have an expiration date. They dry up. Water wells dry up, oil fields dry up, bees become neurologically impaired and die off preventing the pollinizing of crops. This cause and effect scenario has two definitive outcomes:
   The first is that capitalists become tougher, harder and more oppressive. Stricter laws are passed limiting the ability of the citizen to own and produce his own commercial assets. Farmers are being taxed to hell and back. In some parts of the world it is illegal to collect rainwater. If I did get lucky and strike oil in my own backyard it would be the property of the state not mine.
   The second thing that happens is that conflicts become manufactured. The drug wars are not raging on to keep the community safe, in fact the exact opposite is being done. There are more than twice as many drug overdoses resulting in death from prescription narcotics then there are from illegal narcotics. And crime only exists because the drugs are illegal. The reason the war on drugs was created was to snuff out the competition for the health industry and the pharmaceutical cartel. It has nothing to do with the safety of citizens.
   Remember, the goal of capitalism is to maximize profits. That is the end game. There is nothing else. Profits must be maximized otherwise the capitalist becomes a working class citizen in which case it is no longer capitalism but socialism.
   So we find that there is a difference between wealth and money. Money is what trickles down from wealth. Money is what we all have access to in America if we sacrifice and work hard. How much money we attain is questionable. Wealth, on the other hand does not trickle down. Wealth is the accumulation of natural resources. And these natural resources are obtained through inhumane if not nearly always bloody methods. This is the reality that a capitalist society does not want to think about. That for those living in comfort, there are those innocents suffering because we've taken it away and restricted access, both domestically and abroad. Capitalism.
   It is not that there is anything wrong with capitalism. It is simply a system that people do not fully understand its mechanism. A socio economic system is accepted without question so long as it works for the majority and people believe they have a fair shake at a good life. But what happens when the trickle dries up? Look at Detroit. Do you believe this is an isolated incident? Look at countries like Spain, Greece. Understand that these countries bought into the system of capitalism. The trickle down economics simply didn't trickle down far enough.
   Let us now briefly turn our attention to religion.
   In America, the only religion that matters is the religion which supports the socio-economic structure determined by the capitalists.
   There is a well hidden fact about Christianity that nobody dares resurrect.
   The religion is fantastical. People are not born of virgins. This is not a rumor. This is not a conjuring of suppositions. This is not a loose orchestration of facts. These are the facts. It simply is not possible here on earth. This is like suggesting that a man can jump off an airplane 10 miles high and levitate.
   And yet, how the biblical Jesus arrived is just as suspicious as how we are told he left. He rose into the heavens, caught up with the clouds.
   Indeed. Where did he go? Forgive me for my baffled attempts to understand, but do we or do we not know what is up there, 15,000 feet into the atmosphere you cannot breath. But of course we are asked to believe that this individual was part god and part man which is why  he could do something like ascend into outer space without equipment. Which must also explain why he would be born of a virgin.
   But who is Mary? Where did she come from? Her genealogy is not included in the bible, only Joseph's...twice. And so if Mary is not historically accurate what does that say about the divine man who was also god? I don't know. But do not ask me to have faith in a myth. Ask me to have faith in something real. Something prophetic. Something unmanufactured and tampered with.
   You see I have read what the bible tells us that Jesus said. I have read what doctrine teaches us that Jesus said. And there too are the dead sea scrolls which I have read as well. You have three different narratives. The religion takes three different forms. And those who identify this inconsistency are labeled as blasphemers, unbelievers, evil, heretics; lost. Do I believe in miracles? Yes. I believe in the strength of will and the power of truth. I do not believe in divine intervention that is the sovereign arbitration of grace, mercy and love. The notion is ludicrous and the people who believe such a thing themselves live lives of hypocrisy.
   The condemnation is not that they are hypocrites. We all are. The condemnation is that they threaten others with condemnation who do not believe a story that not only does not make sense, but flies in the face of all we know to be true.
   I do not claim to be religious but I want to quickly share with you my views on some important questions. Some of the most philosophical and pressing questions I've ever heard include who are we? Why are we here?
   Interestingly enough I believe that Jesus was so profound an individual and such a paradoxical icon because he had the answers to these questions. And these answers were so heretical that 1) he was killed. 2) He was misquoted and intentionally misinterpreted. One thing I know about the bible is that it has been altered, time and time again. With repetition so countless One should stop counting.
   And yet if you read the dead sea scrolls, a text about the same man, written by historians not religiously motivated authors you will find a different Jesus. You will find a Jesus without the divine auora of unexplained  miracles. A Jesus who clearly and distinctly stated he was not god. You will find a Jesus who was an educator not a purported liberator. My study of this Jesus lead me to the following:
   1) There is no divine creator. We are the creators. The God that everyone searches for is not an ethereal God overseeing us all. Rather it is the unification of our spirits that is God; each of us, in spirit, is god. Therefore God is a multilateral existential deity, not a unilateral one. This is the answer to the first question who are we.
   There is an answer to the second question. Why are we here. The answer is my second.
   2) We are here because we created us.
   What does that mean? I believe the explanation is simple. Evolution only comes through creation. Artistic expression is of intrinsic value to our society and to us as individuals not because it is merely fun to create but because it is completely necessary for the continued existence of our spirits. When we are born, we are not born into sin, we are born into our own creation.
   The existence of the spirit world is not fantastical. It  is a simple reality we know as infinity. There is an existential reality to this number and this is what we call spirit; unbound by time, space and therefore gravity this existence has no past, present or future. It is all together everything. And yet the existence of something is preceded by opposition. There is light because there is darkness. There is darkness because there is light. So too there is infinity because matter exists. Which by the way is the reason matter cannot be created or destroyed.
   Matter, you see, is fueled by the invisible reality of something called possibility. And as long as this exists, there will always be matter. There will always be infinity, which means there will always be a medium to experience this matter which exists through the realm of possibility and there will always be artists existing in infinity which create the avatars of humanity so that we may experience and explore these possibilities- wherever they may lead- and make them better; a clearer explanation of the truth about its creators, the ultimate search for harmony.
   This is what I believe. And I believe this is what Jesus believed. I believe this is what Jesus taught. And yet we find varied post mortem explanations of his teachings, none of which mind you, are supported by the man himself.
   What we find is a manufactured creation of something whether it be the Hebrew Yahweh, the Christian Jesus, or the Islamic Allah. What we also find is the curious confluence of each religion towards its cultural form of government. We find Christianity conforming to pagan beliefs and rituals; adopting pagan holidays and worshipping abbreviated deities in the form of saints in place of gods.
   Jesus himself is representative of the sun. His twelve disciples are representative of the twelve ages of symbols of the zodiac. Even the cross was not originally the symbol for Christianity, itself it is a pagan symbol of pagan worship. I'd like to take a few excerpts from an article written by a colleague of mine.  The excerpt is denoted by asterisk
    *We must keep in mind that the early Church of Rome used all of its political, financial, and social power to conquer Paganism and its followers at any price. Sacred Pagan literature was destroyed and all heretics were "eliminated".
Assisted by the Roman Empire, the Church engaged in a long and terrifying war against the "infidels". It was a battle, which of course the Church at the end won.
Old-fashioned Paganism was extinct and the world was "purified." Nowadays, Paganism is considered a dead religion, and what we encounter in modern times are new branches of the old mystery traditions. Ancient Paganism has turned into Neo-Paganism, which is systematically gaining new members in various countries.
Our current, negative, and dark image of Pagans is the one, which the Church has presented to us for 2,000 years. It is a very long time and we all know that old ideas and beliefs do not die quickly.
Nevertheless, it is utterly wrong to proclaim that Christianity is against Paganism, when Christianity itself originates from it. This might sound as a bold statement and naturally, many readers will demand convincing proof. Still, to provide a person with proof is not a problem, however to change old, deep-rooted beliefs is a task that cannot be easily accomplished.
Actually, Christianity contains so many aspects of Paganism that it is difficult to imagine this religion without the occult features. This brings us to another rather obvious question - if there really are so many parallels between these religions, why are these similarities not common knowledge? The answer is straightforward and simple - because the early Roman Church did all in its power to prevent us from discovering them.
Early Christians were aware of the common ground they shared with followers of the mystery religions. Today, these Christians would be judged as heretics. The ancient beliefs have long been forgotten and the true meaning of the symbols, festivals, and rites was erased from history. Certain Christian symbols and celebrations, like the cross and Christmas for example were, because of their pagan origins later even condemned by the Church Fathers.
  
Before we take a closer look at rituals, symbols, festivals, and Jesus role as savior of humanity, all elements, which unite the Christians and Pagans, it is wise to listen to the voice of the Church. How do priests explain these remarkable similarities between these two religions? The Church fathers attitude towards the Christian/Pagan connection has changed over the years, or perhaps we should say that the explanations have changed, the denial has always been present. The greatest problem for the Church is of course to explain how Pagan myths, which predate Christianity by hundreds and sometimes-even thousands of years have so much in common with the biography of Jesus Christ.
The early Church Fathers such as Justin Martyr (100 - 165 CE), Tertulian (160 - 220 CE), and Irenaus (130 - 202 CE) claimed that the similarities were the result of "diabolical mimicry". They accused the devil of "plagiarism by anticipation". They pointed out that the devil had deliberately copied the true story Jesus Christ in advance. This was the devil's attempt to mislead all the naïve and innocent people.
Some Church Fathers were a bit more open-minded. They suggested that the parallels between Jesus and other dying and rising savior gods before him should be regarded as premonitions or prophecy of Jesus coming.
Modern priests claim there are only minor similarities between Christianity and the mystery religions. Many Christian authorities of today use to point out that mystery religions were based on gods who were not historical persons. Therefore, there is no need for the comparison at all.
Are we really supposed to believe that all Pagan deities worshipped on every single continent were fictional characters, and Jesus Christ was the only person, who lived and died as a savior of humanity? What makes the Jesus myth more reliable than the myth about Osiris, Dionysus, Mithras, Adonis, and others?
Not long ago, I read an article in which a Catholic priest stated that the biggest threat to Christianity was not one of the major religions, like Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. No, the greatest danger towards Christianity was in fact Paganism. This is interesting, is it not? It is quite a contradiction. That is indeed surprising to hear, considering the official declaration that Pagan gods never existed and Christianity has so little in common with the occult traditions. So, why should Christianity be threatened by mystery religions from the past?
Maybe the answer to our question is hidden in the distant past. Maybe an examination of certain similarities can give us more clues to the true origins of Christianity and the reason why the Church have always feared Pagans.
  
The Pagans believed angels and demons governed over specific aspects of a person's existence. In order to invoke an angel or demon, you had to pronounce his or hers name aloud. By doing so, you could make your request to this entity and your wishes would come true.
The act of calling upon supernatural beings and ask for their assistance was performed among Pagans and is practiced among Christians today. Whether the invoked being is an angel, demon, or a saint is irrelevant, because the principle is still the same.

Christmas - a Pagan Holiday

Each year, many people look forward to Christmas. Together with our family, and other people we hold dear we exchange gifts and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Still, the birth of Jesus did not occur on 25 December.
Actually, there is no reason for us to believe that Jesus was born on Christmas Day at all. The date of Jesus birth is unknown. Both the year and month of his birth are unknown. There are no real clues in the Bible to when Jesus was born. The only hint we have, is that we are told shepherds were watching their flocks by night. This means that the date of the Nativity could not have been in December since this was a rainy season in Palestine, and neither shepherds nor flocks could have been out at night in the fields of Bethlehem. Thus, based on the Gospels, it is more likely that Jesus was born in the spring or summer.
We celebrate Jesus birthday on 25 December because Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian Monk told us to do so. In 530 A.D. Dionysius Exiguus, who at that time was also an abbot and astronomer of Rome was ordered to decide a date for Christ's birth. For year, he assigned the date, which we now adopt and for day and month, he chose deliberately 25 December. Why did he select that particular day and month? The answer is rather simple. The 25th December was reckoned as the day of winter solstice and of the Nativity of the Sun. This date was also recognized throughout the Roman Empire as the birthday of various Pagan gods. On this day, the Egyptians celebrated the birth of Osiris, god of the dead and underworld and of Horus, the sky god. The Phrygians and later the Greeks paid tributes to Adonis, their dying and rising god. For the Persians this was the birthday of Mithras. Apollo and Hercules were honored on this day. The Roman god Bacchus, known as Dionysus among the Greeks was also believed to have been born 25 December.
It is understandable that the Roman Church decided that Christians should celebrate the birth of Christ on 25 December. The dates of main religious Pagan festivals were so popular that Christianity was obliged to accommodate itself to them.
However, it took a long while to unite Christians and convince them to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus on this particular day. Many early Christians celebrated the birthday of their savior on 6 January. Armenian Christians still do. The Church of Jerusalem began to celebrate Christmas in the 7th century, Ireland in the 5th century, England in the 8th century and Slavic lands in the 9th and 10th century.
Many of the symbols and practices we associate with Christmas are of pure Pagan origin. The decorated evergreen tree, the giving of gifts, the holly, the yule log, the mistletoe, the ivy and so on were all elements adopted from the ancient Pagan traditions. In fact, some Christian authorities even considered the Christmas so Pagan in origin that people were encouraged to abandon the Nativity celebrations on this day. For example, during the 17th century, the Puritans in Massachusetts tried to ban Christmas completely, but they were unsuccessful. Still, there are Christians today like the Jehovah's Witnesses who do not celebrate Christmas.
Christmas is of course not alone in having its roots in Pagan traditions. Other festivals like John the Baptist in June took place of the Pagan midsummer festival of water and bathing, All Souls Day that takes place early in November was based on the famous Pagan festival of the dead and their ghost at the same season, and the list goes on…

The Cross and Crucifixion

"Hu, of light died on the cross at the equinox, descending to the southern hemisphere, and was re-born at Christmas, when rising toward the northern summer lands."
Myfyr, the late Welsh Archdruid
In Christianity, the cross is considered a sacred symbol and for believers it is a representation of the Christian faith. There are many different designs of a cross. The Anglican Church recognizes as authentic at least fifty variants of the Christian cross. Yet, again the cross was used by the Pagans millennia before the appearance of Jesus. We can find several types of crosses in many ancient cultures.
The Ankh
The Ankh

The Egyptian gods are often shown with the Ankh cross, which was a symbol of life and immortality.
The Ankh was later adopted by the Coptic Church as its unique form of the Christian cross.
The Celtic cross pre-dates Christianity. The cross was used in Ireland long before St. Patrick reached the country. The crosses of the Tuatha de Danaan are often associated with snakes. The Druidical temple of New Grange is in the form of a Latin cross. In China, the cross was a symbol of the earth. Sometimes it was used as a depiction of power and strength. The Chinese Emperor Fu-Hi, 2953 B.C. is depicted with a cross. For Assyrians the cross was a representation of their sky god Anu.
When the Spaniards landed in Mexico in 1519, they were surprised to find crosses in the natives' temples. It was the Toltecs' symbol of their gods Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl. In the Osirian temple at Alexandria the astonished, Christians encountered a huge cross on the marble pavement.
The Greek sun God Apollo used to carry a cross on his tunica. The solar cross was used in Asian, American, European, and Indian art from the dawn of history. There are numerous carvings of this cross all over the world. The Greek cross with four arms of equal length was a common symbol in the Near East, Sumer, and ancient Greece. The swastika is of pre-hindu origin. It was used as a symbol of the sun. The arms represented also the four directions, north, south, west, and east. In Scandinavia, the Tau cross symbolized the hammer of the god Thor. There are many other examples of the ancients' use of the cross.
So, as we can see followers of the mystery religions were very familiar with the best-known Christian symbol, the cross. Early Church Fathers even condemned the use of the cross due to its Pagan origins. The first appearance of a cross in Christian art is on a Vatican sarcophagus from the mid 5th century. It was a Greek cross with equal length arms.
It is very difficult to trace the origins of the cross. Some scholars believe the cross might have its roots in the practice of the solar religions. In many cultures, the cross became a symbol of the sun as a dying and resurrected god. From an astronomical and religious point of view, the sun was hung on a cross, in other words crucified when it passed through the equinoxes. The dark winter sun was believed to be the crucified one. It is resurrected as the bright summer sun that ascends into heaven. The crucifixion must have been especially important for the people living in northern climates. The Scandinavians had a crucifixion ceremony of the sun on the shortest day.
In ancient times, the cross was used as tool for torture and punishment. There have been many debates concerning the original shape of the crucifixion device. It is believed that people were sometimes executed on a Tau cross, from time to time on a Roman cross, and sometimes on a stake. Obviously, St. Augustine must have believed that the Christian savior died on a Tau cross.
The current Christian cross is an invention of St. Augustine, who changed the original shape of the Tau cross into the Latin cross. Apparently, he did not want Jesus to be identified with the same type of cross that was used to crucify criminals and prisoners. However, it is uncertain whether Jesus was crucified on a Tau cross or a stake. What we do know on the other hand is that Jesus was not the only Son of god who died for humanity, descended into hell, and rose from the dead.

Jesus and other Crucified Saviors

Currently everyone seems to be focusing on the Da Vinci Code. Now it is suddenly believed that Jesus never died on the cross. Instead, he escaped with his wife Mary to Europe. In Rosslyn Chapel, in Scotland the Holy Grail is supposed to be hidden. Mary Magdalene, who was also the mother of his child, was apparently a former prostitute, or maybe not, this allegation seems to be an uncertainty. Well, it is indeed a remarkable story, and of course, anything is possible.
Still, let us examine the story of Jesus life from a different angle. What if Jesus never lived during the period he was supposed to be crucified, but rather much earlier? Is it possible to trace the life and death of Jesus hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years back in time? What if the story of Jesus was based on a Pagan myth describing another resurrected savior of the world? Afterall, all Pagan myths pre-date the birth of Jesus by centuries.
What did the specific Pagan gods, who were regarded as human saviors, have in common with Jesus Christ? Let me present a very short overview from list that sometimes seems never ending.

All of the Pagan gods:
  • were born out of a Virgin Mother.
  • were born in a cave or some underground chamber.
  • toiled for the sake of humanity.
  • were referred to as savior, healer, mediator, deliverer, light-bringer.
  • were conquered by the dark forces.
  • descended into hell or the underworld.
  • rose from the dead and became the guides of humanity leading the way to the heavenly world.
  • founded communions consisting of saints and churches into which followers were received by baptism. Osiris, the Egyptian god was born out of a virgin in a cave or cowshed. His birth was prophesied by a star. During marriage ceremonies, he could perform miracles turning water into wine. His followers were baptized. He was described like a quiet man with long hair and a beard, precisely like Jesus. He had twelve disciples and was unjustly accused of heresy. He was hung on a tree or crucified, and he died for the sins of the world. After death, he descended into hell and resurrected on the third day. He appeared to his disciples and thereafter ascended into heaven. Osiris died and resurrected on the same dates as Jesus. During the end-times, Osiris shall return to earth and judge the human race.
    The pyramid texts, which describe the life, death, and resurrection of Osiris were written before 2,500 B.C.
    Mithra, the Persian god, whose birthday is on 25 December, was also born in a cave out of virgin. He traveled a lot and acted as a teacher of mankind. Naturally, he too had twelve disciplines. Mihra was called the savior and sometimes he figured as a lamb. He was buried in a tomb from which he rose again. His resurrection was celebrated each year.
    Krishna, the Indian god was born in a cave. His mother was a virgin and a star announced his birth. A massacre of infants took place because Krishna as baby was ordered to be killed. He performed miracles wherever he went. He could heal sick people, deaf and blind and raise the dead. He taught spirituality and devoted his time to the poor and oppressed. According to some ancient texts, Krishna was killed by an arrow, other sources tell he was crucified. He descended into hell and rose again from the dead, ascending into heaven in the sight of the people. Krishna is believed to come during the final days and judge.
    Krishna lived and died at least 14 centuries before Jesus Christ.
    This is only small fraction of all the Pagan gods who lived and died a similar life to Jesus. As we can see, the resemblances between the Pagan deities and Jesus are numerous. The question is - was the story of Jesus derived from myths about other gods or did the real Jesus exist in a different time and place?
    Whether we believe that Jesus was the only true son of god, or an extraterrestrial being, or a pure myth, or figure based on the history of another god, or a married man with a child, the recent debate regarding the origins of Christianity is in many ways a positive sign. It can help us to find the "true source" of Christianity - because one thing is certain - Christianity needs to be re-examined.*
  • -Ellen Lloyd

       The purpose of religion, and by default Christianity, is to conform the people to a system of governance, encourage these same people to view other forms of governance as hostile and infidels to their way of life. It is therefore much easier to herd the masses along a certain agenda no matter how true or false the myth because what matters in governance is the consolidation of power. Christians are no more redeemed than Muslims who are no more sacred than Jews who are no more absolved than Catholics who are no more chosen than the pagan gods of history. They are myths; and the value of a myth is not in its truth but in its ability to convince people to believe. People may resist a man with a book of laws. But they will conform to their beliefs.
       What shall we say then? Will we continue to follow myths we have reason to question? Or do we question them under threat, even that, of being ostracized. Do you have the courage to look at the explanations of life's most compelling questions from within?
       The pillars of society will not change. What those pillars are built on can and must change for our evolution to continue. And the societies which these pillars uphold must evolve as well.
        What I believe is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I do not believe that there is an inexplicable deity in the ether sphere that created us- to whom we will ultimately answer to. I believe we created us. And therefore we answer to each other after this life is over. God is a multilateral existence which we have misinterpreted as a unilateral one. Our spirits are unified as one and this oneness is the only God that exists. Our spirits know this and they pull us back to this truth with every breath we take towards the demise of our flesh and blood avatars. This is what life is. I believe that the reason we are here is to improve the art that we created. I believe that the search for profit obscures this knowledge and this reality. And therefore the goal of life is not just to find ways to live comfortably even if it comes at the expense of others; rather the purpose of life is to understand the flaws of our creation, including ourselves, so that when we go back to the drawing board in death we can continue to evolve the ideas that make us moral and the concepts that make us unique. And this is why I do not champion one socio economic experiment over the other. They have the wrong agenda.
       Now you must ask yourself what do you believe?
       As always Fear Not, Love Now

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