Chapter 8 -- A New Faith for a New Age

The genesis of Christianity is best understood as a synthesis of predominant Hellenistic and Near Eastern traditions. It amalgamated the Egyptian preoccupation with the afterlife, the Zoroastrian cosmic struggle between good and evil, and Platonic philosophy concerning the soul and a transcendent deity, while being fundamentally structured by a Jewish worldview and the scriptures of the Old Testament.

Judaism and Christianity, though often seen as connected, are fundamentally different. Judaism presents a war history and a guide for a "chosen people," while Christianity offers a philosophical messianic hope for the oppressed. Yet, both have been woven together into a singular doctrine that has shaped the governance of Western society.

The Old Testament gives us a dogma for a managerial-mercenary class, the “Chosen People.” The added Christian message serves to attract followers, and will indoctrinate a meek and well behaved servant class, thereby acting as the managing platform for the master servant paradigm our civilization has always had.

It is essential to recognize Judaism and Christianity as independent faiths, with Judaism naturally rejecting Christian teachings. From a Christian theological standpoint, however, the inclusion of the Hebrew Bible as the "Old Testament" meant the assimilation of the "Chosen People" concept into its own dogma. The result of this assimilation was the reinforcement of a distinct, divinely-ordained group possessing a unique authority. This effectively cast the Jewish people in a permanent, "managerial" role within the Christian narrative, a group to be both respected and protected as a core tenet of the faith.

Although the New Testament  says:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  1 Peter 2:9–12

Most Churches will preach the chosen status of the Jewish people. 

As Pope John Paul II said,

 "Jews are our elder brothers" in the faith.

Through this construct Jews can be placed in administrative positions and do the unpleasant tasks that would otherwise be done by the ruling elite, taxation, war,  justice of the strong, interest and banking, etc. This method of obfuscation and governance permits the ruling elites, royal families and the like, to wipe their hands of the many dirty deeds that must take place when power acts as it must in the exploitation of the lower servant class.    

The original example for this is seen in the crucifixion of Christ where the blame is taken on by the Jewish authority, as Rome washes its hands of the killing. Today we can see this in Gaza, as the United States washes its hands of a genocide, blaming a rogue Jewish state for the killing. This methodology of governance is what has given us the sad history of pogroms over the many years of western history.   

Here in essence is why I see Christianity as malicious. The message of the New Testament is a wonderful attraction for a servant-slave class as it promises benevolence along with an escape from servitude, albeit in an afterlife, or after some hoped for apocalyptic future time.

By combining the Old testament with the New Testament into the Bible, we have created a recruitment tool within Christianity for the more sociopathic elements that are required to manage our master-slave social order. Christian congregants who show promise as "masters" can be selected for initiation into secret societies that will tend to be tyrannical, antinomian,  and Old Testament in thinking.

Consider the potential: Secret societies target Christians who naturally disregard "turning the other cheek," instilling in them a callous, "what-do-you-care" attitude. Through this they are indoctrinated into the master class that governs us, thus forging a highly effective managerial elite. This gives us a hidden tyrannical order separate from our government, that lies within the military, police, finance, and corporate class.  In essence this is what we sometimes call the "deep state," an occult behind the scenes form of governance.      

The phrase "making good men better" depends greatly on your definition of good, and draws attention of the vast importance to the meaning of this word.     

For many, and for all of history power is seen as an important goal, and making men good is making them powerful, yet it has been established that power is not for the meek or kindhearted.  In addition, consider that the meek are generally the same as the uneducated, kind, and law abiding fools that work hard to be good people, unaware that power is both ruthless and deceptive. Traditionally, power has been intent on slavery, the cultivation, and harvesting of labor from a docile labor class. Therefore Obama may have been correct, it may be more accurate to say "the meek will not inherit the earth".      

“Thus Abraham our Father, peace be with him, is the father of his pious posterity who keep his ways, and the father of his disciples and of all proselytes who adopt Judaism.” Rambam’s Letter to Ovadiah the Convert.

Judaism is not a race of Semites, but a religion of converts, which permits anyone interested in being “Chosen,” to simply convert. Over the years these two contrasting dogmas, Judaism and Christianity, have produced a sort of genetic selection mechanism, collecting traits of dominant personalities all into one religion, and the more servile into another. Excellent for the Master-Slave economies of the first and subsequent centuries, but inadequate for today.

Judaism is the religion of the Chosen People, chosen to be the mediators and mercenaries between power and servitude, Christianity on the other hand is the religion of the uneducated, meek, and kindhearted.

If you don’t want to be a master over others, or a slave to your master, the following suggestion for a religion may suit you.

Thomas Jefferson, in his “Jefferson Bible,” omits the Old Testament, believing that a new nation needs a religion that seeks equal justice. He saw any belief in a “Chosen People” as contradictory to the concept of justice. Long before Jefferson, Marcion, an early Christian theologian, creator of the first canon and evangelist, established a doctrine known as Marcionism. This doctrine, part of what we call Gnosticism today, asserted that the God who sent Jesus Christ was distinct from the “vengeful” God (Demiurge) who had created the world.

“Marcion declared that Christianity was in complete discontinuity with Judaism and entirely opposed to the scriptures of Judaism.”

Throughout history, countless cults have emerged, creating various divergent religions. It is difficult to get two people to agree on anything, and faith in its natural state has a lot of variety, this is why a single state dogma must be enforced by torture and death. First Century Rome was far more tolerant of a variety of religions than we think. Christianity itself was a chaotic mix of religious ideas, often based on themes that were both similar and wildly different to our current dogma.

In order to have a belief that matches our hoped values of equality and justice, as well as to bring each of us closer to God, I suggest even more simplification than that offered by Thomas Jefferson.

Although most people are unaware, the Church and state have always been one institution, so, in order to keep things open and honest, lets make the Church an economic and political solution, this way the Church would never again ask for money, as it would make its own money. Congregants could work in common toward social and business goals. This could be any business, providing work for the unemployed, as well as education and training for its work force.

The Ekklesia (or Church) would be reconstituted as an online, direct democracy where mandatory transparency ensures accountability and acts as a wall to the structures that enable corruption. Because our daily lives are so deeply shaped by the pursuit of a livelihood, this shift in how economic organizations are governed would, in itself, produce significant and widespread societal benefits.

Understanding the meaning of the word "good" and seeking truth would be the core of this religion, founded not on dogma but on a rational and honest depiction of reality and the divine, through open debate.

God would be understood in the Christian- Platonic sense as unknowable.  All we can say about God is the obvious, we believe in God, God is the creator, is infinite, and therefore is creating now, we exist by Gods grace, and God is good. It is understood that in an infinite evolving set there is no start point, therefore creation is seen as starting at any and every point.  For our practical objectives. “now” is always the first day of creation. 

How we see or understand God evolves from child to adult, therefore the concept of faith, God, or the divine is personal and different for each of us.  

Accept that God and the metaphysical is unknowable, yet we believe in God through faith, and that is always a speculation.

If good and evil are but reflections of personal opinion, then God must be the pure and unbiased reality that stands apart from both.   

The core of this theology focuses on exploring what "good" means to God, how it relates to humanity, and how it should guide the way we live our lives. Through our collective and truthful contemplation of God each community can devise the most effective and best aligned code of conduct for its people.

This religion would have two principals, along with a Trinity. All other teachings, can be found in the Bible and elsewhere, all understood at the discretion of your local “Home Church” through the open collaboration of all.

THE PRINCIPAL OF DETERMINISM 

“In nature there is nothing contingent, but all things have been determined from the necessity of the divine nature to exist and produce an effect in a certain way.” Baruch Spinoza

To see reality as deterministic helps us escape our absurd existence, and will change our faulty concept of free will. I will not explain here why a reasonable person should see reality as deterministic, and free will as a very good illusion, but if you think you have free will, you can study the neurology and physics which has proven the deterministic nature of reality. If we accept that all actions are causal and deterministic, we cannot blame others for their transgressions, and therefore, if we are reasonable, we have no choice but to forgive others when they harm us. This will put an end to sin and convert the confessional into therapy.

Instead of a sense of vengeance against those who harm us, we can study the causal factors that produced the transgression, then engineer circumstances so that unfortunate acts will not recur, over and over again.  No longer will we blame some metaphysical construct for our errors, nor falsely say we are forgiven, instead we will recognize our faults, then look for and apply solutions, thus improving society. Prisons will become institutes for personal growth, and police will become social workers. 

 We can love those who harm us, “for they know not what they do,” love becomes an infinite pity or compassion, a force for good, the motive for the repair of mankind. In essence, this is Christ’s message on the cross: our shortcomings stem not from a lack of technical or mathematical knowledge, but from a lack of self-awareness, personal skills, and a true understanding of purpose. Simply put, most of us do not know how to live harmoniously with ourselves or others.   

If reality is deterministic, can we change what tomorrow will bring?

I believe that changes in awareness, and fundamental shifts in how we perceive reality, is as close as we can come to free will. Our self-perception and understanding of reality shape how we respond to future events. In other words, our beliefs create the deterministic path that we refer to as our future.

Repairing the human condition can be done through the ability to forgive, converting the idea of an “eye for an eye” to one of engineered solutions. If we believe that existence is deterministic, then there can be no sin, and forgiveness is unnecessary. The solution for what we had once called sinful or evil is to simply fix the problem, and we are certainly clever enough to do that.

THE PRINCIPAL OF SEXUAL COMPETITION

A key to improving the human condition lies in acknowledging the role of sexual competition in our evolution as the cause of our enslavement. As animals, our progress is shaped by the need to compete for reproductive success, driving us to survive and adapt. This struggle for sexual dominance not only motivates our evolution but also shapes the fabric of civilization, it's responsible for wars, fashion, art and almost everything we do.

A deterministic reality driven by sexual competition clearly points to a history of enslavement to desire and circumstance. Life produces a deterministic chain of events that enslaves us, this must be recognized before we can hope to be free.

Attempting to persuade a sixteen-year-old boy to suppress his sexual motivations would be both futile and misguided. We need to recognize that these motivations can be harmful; however, society often glorifies and encourages them, which only exacerbates the issue. Our behaviors are influenced by the desires we mimic or emulate, and if we become less preoccupied with sex and love, it would reduce the impact of this condition on human suffering.

"I wish that people who are conventionally supposed to love each other would say to each other, when they fight, "Please - a little less love, and a little more common decency"  Kurt Vonnegut, Slapstick

Human biology will not change, we will remain sexually motivated, what can change is an awareness of the fact, and with that a recognition of both the absurdity and enslavement to desire. This awareness will force us to see love as an “infinite pity” instead of the sexual motivation it has always been. This will give us a deep concern for the tragic plight of the other and spur our impulse to engineer methods which will prevent future suffering.

In order to build a religion and society that is functional, we first need individuals who understand these two key principles, 1. that reality is deterministic, and 2. we are driven by sexual motivation. 

Then with individuals who seek the truth, and are reasonable, it would then be possible to build a political-economic framework that would produce a democracy that is direct and transparent. To achieve this change, we need a religion that incorporates these two principals, and preaches a belief and law based on them.

THE CHURCH – A DEMOCRACY

A republic is not a democracy, simply electing officials will not produce the ideas we would hope for. An Ekklesia is a Greek word we translate into Church and is the word for the principal assembly of the Greek democracy. For this religion, the Church is where the elect come to govern the kingdom of God.

Democracy may work well where a small group of individuals directly choose what they will do collectively, but in larger communities elected officials can, and will be corrupted.

It is fundamental to our current belief that we are all sinners! If there is one thing sinners do, it is to hide their sins, and we know that corruption, or crimes do not fare well when caught in the act. We know criminals and corruption are made dysfunctional by transparency; therefore a transparent economic system is essential.

Simply place the Church online, make it open and transparent, involved in day-to-day commerce, and directly governed by reasonable well-educated people.

An Ekklesia governed by reasonable individuals that understand that reality is deterministic, and driven by sexual dominance, would better recognize the issues in society, and work to correct flawed situations.

With an online, open, transparent, direct democratic framework we would eliminate the church and steeple, and permit individuals to build a political and economic reality providing greater freedom and equality for its adherents.

That would deal with both the Church and the economy, no longer would anyone need to give money to their Church, and the Church would become a primary economic institution within a community, providing education, infrastructure and social services.

The words of Christ are similar to those offered by Socrates, with the added belief that it comes from God’s incarnation. If the words of Socrates are enough to get him killed, the words of Christ are far more dangerous to those in power. When power comes from the subjugation of a population, a plan to set people free, could be misinterpreted by the status quo.

This concept I propose should not have any opposition, it is not communism, and can only exist within a free market economy. It does not take over governments, as it is basically a small business run by a Church that promotes education and charity, which is run by its parishioners for the benefit of all.

Furthermore, this community, aside from a few guiding principles, is free to believe as it wishes. This faith does not discriminate: you may be atheist, Jewish, Muslim, or anything else. Perhaps there cannot be two truths, but there can be one underlying truth expressed through many beliefs. Church, then, is where we come to practice diversity and build community.

The goal is to approach the truth, to understand what defines “good” and find your personal spiritual sense. Although the truth is absolute, your belief is your own. Your abilities and actions are what really matter.  

THE TRINITY

Any description of a religion must have a God, and this is understood through a trinity, not a divine trinity, but a trinity that is used to understand God within us, and around us.

The first part of the trinity is of course God and is the same as understood by both Platonism and Christianity, unknowable. The object is to know God, yet this can only be done by faith, as anything unknowable cannot be known. We see God as "good" and to know God is about understanding what good is, for the word may be relative for us but must be a distinct form for God.   

The second aspect of the Trinity is the Logos, the Son, the word of God, or Nous, representing intelligence. This can be found through the Church in open and truthful discussions with others, and it can emerge from sources like the Bible, philosophy, science, or any other facet of human knowledge. The Logos is the word of God and can be very effective, but it remains speculative and can never become dogma, as God is ultimately unknowable.

The Holy Spirit is the third aspect of the trinity. This is God’s inspiration upon us, upon our Soul, our means to comprehend God’s intentions, thus allowing us to align ourselves with God. Consider the Platonic-Christian perspective of a God beyond human understanding, where intelligence is a divine emanation, representing the truth of goodness. The sole path to God is through our capacity to reason, and reason is viewed as the means by which we uncover the truth, or Logos, with the proper development of our Soul being contingent on our quest for truth. Through the development of our Soul and through the Holy Spirit, we work for an individual pursuit of truth and wisdom, whereby we achieve freedom.

According to this view, the ideal community described by Christ depends on our ability to nurture our Souls and to know and comprehend God through the Logos, which the Platonists refer to as intelligence. Religion, in this context, becomes a personal quest to transcend worldly desires, aiming for cognitive and reasoned existence. A society, democracy, or economy cannot be humane or harmonious when its members are seen as mere instinct-driven beings, lacking in soul and engaging in base sexual competition.

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 1 Peter 4

Although seemingly simple and straightforward with just two principles and a trinity, this concept is actually quite radical. If God is the Unknown cause, causality suggests that human behavior cannot be merely explained by free will. Instead, it is influenced by either the first cause, the absence of it, or the human modification of it. While the origin or creator is unknowable, we can understand certain aspects with some certainty. However, as Wittgenstein argued, there are limits to what we can discuss seriously, this forces us to have faith in order to understand the many aspects of reality that are beyond our understanding.

The second principle emphasizes our sexual motivations, revealing that we are often enslaved by our desires. Through a clearer understanding of this principle, we achieve not only greater personal freedom but also a natural decrease in the transgressions that impact our fellow human beings.

Please let me restate these principles:

1. There is no free will, therefore we must forgive all transgressors, and work to repair the world, what a Kabbalist would call “Tikkum Olahm.”

2. We are motivated through sexual competition, which enslaves us and produces irrational behavior. Once we know this, we no longer take seriously the many pointless motivations we have.

The goal of religion is to draw us closer to God; to do this, each of us must first define a true Logos. The path to God requires us to apply this Logos to guide our soul's evolution. Through this maturity, we learn to relinquish material desires, fortify our pursuit of truth, broaden our compassion for life, gain a true awareness of our reality, and arrive at a serene acceptance of death.