Neo-Paganism Re-Captures Ancient Heresies
May. 16th, 2006 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badstarThis article is just so awful...my own cmmentary in bold.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/usnews/060512a.asp
CBN.com –The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown has captivated millions of adults worldwide. One of its controversial ideas is that Christianity is founded on a fraud hidden by the church from the beginning.
Note: this article has nuffin' to do with the Da Vinci Code. If you're reading for that...move along, nothing to see here.
But the worldview contained in Brown's book is part of a much wider impact. In the United Kingdom, Jedi is an official religion as listed by the government. Those are followers of the mysticism from the Star Wars film series.
In Revenge of the Sith the following exchange takes place:
Anakin: The Jedi use their power for good...
Emperor Palpatine: God is a point of view, Anakin.
I admit, i have a hard time taking seriously the idea of creating a religion from Star Wars movies. But I have no clue what the philosophy is. If I were to adopt such a philosophy...sorry I just couldn't call my religion "Jedi"
A recent study shows that three out of four American teens have engaged in psychic activities or witchcraft.
Some call this trend one circle religion because it has no creator above the one circle of life. There's just man, nature, and some kind of universal spirit all together. And if there is a god, well, he's part of the circle, too.
One circle religion? That name alone screams "cult". But back to the article...how does the cited statistic become the "one circle religion" trend?
Michael Graham found that one circle alluring with its cosmic promises of transformation and truth, revelation, and freedom.
wtf IS "one circle"?
He said, "…those four claims and promises really excited my interest as a young man, I thought, ‘Where do I sign up, that's exactly what I'm interested in.’"
Whether because of the lofty aspirations that hooked Graham, or just a desire to break out of a humdrum existence, more and more school kids and scholars -- the churched and the unchurched -- find this new grab bag of old spiritualities compelling.
Peter Jones started tracking the movement with his books The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back and Spirit Wars more than a decade ago.
He said, "We used to think that this stuff was a passing fad [and] liked to call it a left coast cult."
But now, he says: “For a lot of people it goes without saying that that's the way the modern thinking person would indeed think."
WHAT goes without saying? HOW would a modern-thinking person think?
And increasing numbers of women are thinking in terms of “feminist spirituality,” the “divine feminine,” and “goddess worship.”
In her book, Does Christianity Squash Women?, author Rebecca Jones describes how that thinking went wrong.
She said, "This male God of Christianity, we don't want Him any more, we don't need Him any more, and He doesn't have any right to define who we are. So let's get rid of Him, and as we get rid of Him - then we have to get rid of all the distinctions He made - He doesn't have a right to say, ‘this is male, this is female.’"
Christian scholars are thoughtfully responding -- with books and videos such as Unraveling the Advance Code dealing with the concocted idea that Advance painted himself:
Are we speaking the same language? Advance code? Did I miss something? Advance painted? Who is Advance?
In the book our hero lectures a group of prisoners about the Mona Lisa. There the old canard about the portrait as Leonardo in drag appears. That's where the hero of the Advance code injects a subtle message of androgyny.
Ah! So "Advance" is really an epithet for Leonardo Da Vinci?
Androgyny is a popular pagan idea of blending male and female, man and woman within the one circle.
Again with the one circle gibberish. Androgyny is a "popular pagan idea"???? News to me. Did I miss that class?
But is the response too little, too late for a proliferating paganism? Certainly paganism enjoys even greater power now that it's striking at the heart of the family by promoting all forms of sexuality outside marriage.
Yes, paganism is striving to undermine Christianity through wild orgies and immoral carousing. That's all it is and that's how it's going to take down the church. Bwa ha ha. Wait...when did pagans start recruiting? What are these people eating with their lunch?
“These ways of expressing one's self sexually fit with a pagan understanding of the world -- where there are no distinctions, no moral structures, no creational structures -- for there is no Creator," said Peter Jones.
No moral structures? No creational structures? No distinctions? Distinctions of what?
Linda Harvey of Mission America tracks these very trends in the schools. She said, “We are in a crisis situation…kids are turning to Wicca, they're turning to witchcraft, they're turning to all kinds of pagan gods and goddesses of the past.”
AAAAAAHHHH! No! Not Wicca! Not...*gasp* "all kinds of pagan gods and goddesses...of the past! Oh, heavens...anyhting but those!
And pagan sexuality is rising among kids tied to those pagan beliefs, she said.
Really? Explain to me this "pagan sexuality"? I mean, it sounds like it could be fun..but I'm pagan...and I don't know what it is, I want to find out so I can get in on the action.
Kids aren't alone -- everyone appears to be a target of this paganism. There's even blue-collar Buddhism on TV. The show is called My Name is Earl.
This paganism. What paganism? I mean...okay, let's get this straight "Paganism" really isn't an "-ism". "Paganism" isn't really a religion in and of itself. but if I tried that argument with these people, their little pinhead brains would probably implode.
Earl narrates: "You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks. Well, that was me, every time something good happened to me, something bad was waiting around the corner: karma."
Karma is the idea that the universe somehow has consequences. Bad actions lead people to reincarnate as lesser beings. Bad karma scared Earl:
"That's when I realized I had to change. So I made a list of everything bad I've ever done, and one by one I'm going to make up for all my mistakes," he said.
*Sigh* Ummm...I hardly think that this sitcom character is trying to be Buddhist. But, ya know....whatever.
If karma's not good enough, Madonna and other wandering souls have discovered Kabbalah, an old Jewish mystical tradition. Kabbalah resembles pagan mysticism rather than biblical Judaism.
And for Madonna's daughter, there's Harry Potter with all those witches and warlocks. Madonna said her daughter is obsessed with listening to Harry Potter CDs.
*Sputters* Um...Hello? Segue? I mean...What the hell was that about? Kabbalah and then Harry Potter? Oh they both reference Madonna so they MUST be related.
Nate Atwood pastors a 1,500-member church. He recommends champions other than Harry potter characters:
"…what about like King David? Or Ruth? Or Mary? Or Jesus? Do you want to tilt them in the direction of neo-paganism which ends in the final analysis with them being a law to themselves - which is what the Third Reich was," he said.
Okay, that's a tad out of line. the Third Reich? Excuse me?
And in today's international politics, many in and around the United Nations are advocating a pagan global religion. To have world peace, we must all unite spiritually.
The UN said this when?
And Michael Graham? After years, he found the one circle empty -- when Jesus appeared to him in a vision:
I thought they forgot the one circle thing. An still They don't say what it is. Based on this article, I think I'd find the one circle empty too.
"All those years that I had sought a change of heart and mind in the eastern tradition had completely eluded me - then was given to me as a free gift of grace," he said.
So while neo-paganism continues to re-capture the ancient heresies, many are saying that its claims prove hollow.
Well, if a neo-pagan religion isn't what you believe in, then that's fine. But I'm seriously considering writing a similar article on how certain types of Christianity undermine your research and writing skills because dreck like this does nothing but make people's brains hurt and confuses people further on the topic.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/usnews/060512a.asp
CBN.com –The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown has captivated millions of adults worldwide. One of its controversial ideas is that Christianity is founded on a fraud hidden by the church from the beginning.
Note: this article has nuffin' to do with the Da Vinci Code. If you're reading for that...move along, nothing to see here.
But the worldview contained in Brown's book is part of a much wider impact. In the United Kingdom, Jedi is an official religion as listed by the government. Those are followers of the mysticism from the Star Wars film series.
In Revenge of the Sith the following exchange takes place:
Anakin: The Jedi use their power for good...
Emperor Palpatine: God is a point of view, Anakin.
I admit, i have a hard time taking seriously the idea of creating a religion from Star Wars movies. But I have no clue what the philosophy is. If I were to adopt such a philosophy...sorry I just couldn't call my religion "Jedi"
A recent study shows that three out of four American teens have engaged in psychic activities or witchcraft.
Some call this trend one circle religion because it has no creator above the one circle of life. There's just man, nature, and some kind of universal spirit all together. And if there is a god, well, he's part of the circle, too.
One circle religion? That name alone screams "cult". But back to the article...how does the cited statistic become the "one circle religion" trend?
Michael Graham found that one circle alluring with its cosmic promises of transformation and truth, revelation, and freedom.
wtf IS "one circle"?
He said, "…those four claims and promises really excited my interest as a young man, I thought, ‘Where do I sign up, that's exactly what I'm interested in.’"
Whether because of the lofty aspirations that hooked Graham, or just a desire to break out of a humdrum existence, more and more school kids and scholars -- the churched and the unchurched -- find this new grab bag of old spiritualities compelling.
Peter Jones started tracking the movement with his books The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back and Spirit Wars more than a decade ago.
He said, "We used to think that this stuff was a passing fad [and] liked to call it a left coast cult."
But now, he says: “For a lot of people it goes without saying that that's the way the modern thinking person would indeed think."
WHAT goes without saying? HOW would a modern-thinking person think?
And increasing numbers of women are thinking in terms of “feminist spirituality,” the “divine feminine,” and “goddess worship.”
In her book, Does Christianity Squash Women?, author Rebecca Jones describes how that thinking went wrong.
She said, "This male God of Christianity, we don't want Him any more, we don't need Him any more, and He doesn't have any right to define who we are. So let's get rid of Him, and as we get rid of Him - then we have to get rid of all the distinctions He made - He doesn't have a right to say, ‘this is male, this is female.’"
Christian scholars are thoughtfully responding -- with books and videos such as Unraveling the Advance Code dealing with the concocted idea that Advance painted himself:
Are we speaking the same language? Advance code? Did I miss something? Advance painted? Who is Advance?
In the book our hero lectures a group of prisoners about the Mona Lisa. There the old canard about the portrait as Leonardo in drag appears. That's where the hero of the Advance code injects a subtle message of androgyny.
Ah! So "Advance" is really an epithet for Leonardo Da Vinci?
Androgyny is a popular pagan idea of blending male and female, man and woman within the one circle.
Again with the one circle gibberish. Androgyny is a "popular pagan idea"???? News to me. Did I miss that class?
But is the response too little, too late for a proliferating paganism? Certainly paganism enjoys even greater power now that it's striking at the heart of the family by promoting all forms of sexuality outside marriage.
Yes, paganism is striving to undermine Christianity through wild orgies and immoral carousing. That's all it is and that's how it's going to take down the church. Bwa ha ha. Wait...when did pagans start recruiting? What are these people eating with their lunch?
“These ways of expressing one's self sexually fit with a pagan understanding of the world -- where there are no distinctions, no moral structures, no creational structures -- for there is no Creator," said Peter Jones.
No moral structures? No creational structures? No distinctions? Distinctions of what?
Linda Harvey of Mission America tracks these very trends in the schools. She said, “We are in a crisis situation…kids are turning to Wicca, they're turning to witchcraft, they're turning to all kinds of pagan gods and goddesses of the past.”
AAAAAAHHHH! No! Not Wicca! Not...*gasp* "all kinds of pagan gods and goddesses...of the past! Oh, heavens...anyhting but those!
And pagan sexuality is rising among kids tied to those pagan beliefs, she said.
Really? Explain to me this "pagan sexuality"? I mean, it sounds like it could be fun..but I'm pagan...and I don't know what it is, I want to find out so I can get in on the action.
Kids aren't alone -- everyone appears to be a target of this paganism. There's even blue-collar Buddhism on TV. The show is called My Name is Earl.
This paganism. What paganism? I mean...okay, let's get this straight "Paganism" really isn't an "-ism". "Paganism" isn't really a religion in and of itself. but if I tried that argument with these people, their little pinhead brains would probably implode.
Earl narrates: "You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks. Well, that was me, every time something good happened to me, something bad was waiting around the corner: karma."
Karma is the idea that the universe somehow has consequences. Bad actions lead people to reincarnate as lesser beings. Bad karma scared Earl:
"That's when I realized I had to change. So I made a list of everything bad I've ever done, and one by one I'm going to make up for all my mistakes," he said.
*Sigh* Ummm...I hardly think that this sitcom character is trying to be Buddhist. But, ya know....whatever.
If karma's not good enough, Madonna and other wandering souls have discovered Kabbalah, an old Jewish mystical tradition. Kabbalah resembles pagan mysticism rather than biblical Judaism.
And for Madonna's daughter, there's Harry Potter with all those witches and warlocks. Madonna said her daughter is obsessed with listening to Harry Potter CDs.
*Sputters* Um...Hello? Segue? I mean...What the hell was that about? Kabbalah and then Harry Potter? Oh they both reference Madonna so they MUST be related.
Nate Atwood pastors a 1,500-member church. He recommends champions other than Harry potter characters:
"…what about like King David? Or Ruth? Or Mary? Or Jesus? Do you want to tilt them in the direction of neo-paganism which ends in the final analysis with them being a law to themselves - which is what the Third Reich was," he said.
Okay, that's a tad out of line. the Third Reich? Excuse me?
And in today's international politics, many in and around the United Nations are advocating a pagan global religion. To have world peace, we must all unite spiritually.
The UN said this when?
And Michael Graham? After years, he found the one circle empty -- when Jesus appeared to him in a vision:
I thought they forgot the one circle thing. An still They don't say what it is. Based on this article, I think I'd find the one circle empty too.
"All those years that I had sought a change of heart and mind in the eastern tradition had completely eluded me - then was given to me as a free gift of grace," he said.
So while neo-paganism continues to re-capture the ancient heresies, many are saying that its claims prove hollow.
Well, if a neo-pagan religion isn't what you believe in, then that's fine. But I'm seriously considering writing a similar article on how certain types of Christianity undermine your research and writing skills because dreck like this does nothing but make people's brains hurt and confuses people further on the topic.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-17 05:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-17 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-20 01:37 am (UTC)i hardly think earl is a buddhist either. and what's so wrong with teaching the idea that you have to do good to have good in your life?