CAN OTHER NATURAL SCIENTISTS AND MODERN THEOSOPHISTS ASSIST ME RESOLVE THESE ROAD BLOCKS TO INTERNATIONAL UNIFICATION OF PEOPLES SO WE CAN ENTHRONE A MEANING GLOBAL PEACE IN OUR CURRENT DIGITALISED GLOBAL VILLAGE
QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS ABOUT RELIGION
“Religion historian Martin S. Jaffee
answers questions about three of the world’s major religions—Christianity,
Islam, and Judaism—in this question-and-answer series. As a professor of
comparative religion and Jewish studies at the University of Washington inSeattle,
Jaffee is uniquely qualified to discuss areas of commonality among the three
religions. For example, do all three believe in an afterlife? Jaffee also
explores Jewish mysticism and the origins of Christian baptism, among a number
of other issues.” Unedited from here to the
end from Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia
Questions and Answers about Religion
Q: Which religions
believe in an afterlife?
A: Virtually all known religious
traditions, whether monotheistic or polytheistic, whether the product of a
simple or complex society, share to some degree a common idea: that there is an
element of the human person that is independent of the physical body and
survives the body’s death. Religions differ dramatically, however, on how they
define this nonphysical aspect of the person, how they imagine its origin and
destiny, and the degree to which belief in this nonphysical aspect plays a role
in the daily lives of individuals.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
this aspect of the person is usually called the 'soul.' It is understood to be
the creation of God, sent into a physical body to serve the Creator and
destined to return to the Creator after the death of the body. At some points
in the history of each tradition, the fate of the soul has preoccupied the
lives of believers and led to great acts of self-denial with the goal of
lessening the body’s power over the soul and hastening the soul’s ascent to
God. At other times, particularly in the scientific culture that has dominated
much of the world since the 19th century, many forms of Christianity and
Judaism in particular have sought to redefine the nature of the soul in ways
compatible with modern psychological or moral theories.
Similarly, conceptions of the life of
the soul after death have undergone a variety of transformations. Each
tradition in its classical form imagines a final historical moral accounting in
which the souls of the dead are reunited with their former bodies in a mass
resurrection and are judged for eternal reward or punishment. Again, in modern
times, many Christian and Jewish communities have rejected such beliefs as unscientific.
But even in the 21st century, most Muslims, and many members of the more
'traditional' forms of Christianity and Judaism, continue to affirm the reality
of the soul's survival after death and the promise of a future judgment at the
time of the resurrection.
Q: How has the
practice of Judaism in the United States been affected by American culture?
A: Dozens of thoughtful books have
been written on this subject over the past 50 years. However, in this context
it is impossible to describe all the changes, large and small, that American
Jews of the past several generations have introduced into the ritual practices
and customs that their ancestors brought to North America.
Perhaps the most important change,
upon which so many other things depend, is the universal adoption by American
Jews of a typically 'American' concept of religion. That is, religion is a
matter of private conscience that can’t be regulated by the government; to
affiliate or not to affiliate with a religious community is a matter of
personal choice; and even one who joins a religious community is free to shape
its discipline to his or her own taste and needs.
The enormous diversity of religious
practices within and across the spectrum of 'organized' Jewish religious
communities embodies these principles. American Jews choose to be Orthodox,
Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, New Age, or even 'secular' Jews; more
importantly, within those specific choices they craft and shape their lives in
accordance with a wide range of norms derived from the larger American culture
and interpreted through the filter of many forms of Jewish religious tradition.
I often tell my students that, in discussing American Judaism, almost anything
you can say about it will be true and false at the same time.
Here are three books I recommend on
American Judaism:
1. Glazer, Nathan. American Judaism.
2nd ed. University of Chicago Press, 1972.
2. Eisen, Arnold M. Taking
Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America. Indiana UniversityPress,
1997.
3. Heilman, Samuel C. Portrait of
American Jews: The Last Half of the 20th Century. University of WashingtonPress,
1995.
Q: Are there any
precedents for Christian baptism?
A: Water is among the most universal
of religious symbols. Whether as rain, sea, pool, or flood, water's life-giving
and cleansing nature have made it a rich symbolic vehicle for ideas about
spiritual cleansing, rebirth, eternal life, and so on. Immersions in pools of
water or rivers for purposes of spiritual cleansing and renewal are known
throughout the world’s religions and often predate the emergence of the
monotheistic religions.
Christian baptism has its roots in
Jewish practices that originated in rules from the biblical Book of Leviticus.
A key assumption of that book is that contact with death, blood, certain bodily
fluids, certain kinds of animals, certain types of skin ailments, and so on
convey to men and women a condition of uncleanness. This uncleanness is not
“dirt” from a hygienic point of view. Rather, it is a pollutant that renders a
person incapable of approaching the place of divine worship until the pollutant
is removed by a ritual rinsing of the body.
In postbiblical times, the custom
emerged among Jews to use immersion pools for the purpose of such ritual cleansing.
Special cisterns have been found throughout Israel that were
constructed for such immersion. Those entering these pools in states of
uncleanness emerged in purity. They could then make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem and
enter it to offer sacrifices.
Christian baptism descends from this
Jewish idea of cleansing. Ancient Jews had already begun to see moral flaw as a
pollutant that could be washed away through immersion. Among early Christians,
baptism was seen as an act of penitence that cleansed a person from former
sins. More importantly, it came to be seen as a ritual that transformed a
person's relationship to God by conducting one into the community of those
saved by the sacrifice of God's son. Thus, in Christianity, the cleansing power
of water comes to represent the capacity of the soul to be purged of sin and
death and to be purified and transformed into a being awaiting eternal life.
Q: Do different
denominations use different versions or translations of the Bible?
A: The most important difference in
versions of the Bible is the difference between the Jewish and Christian
collections of Scripture. In Judaism, the term Bible refers to
the 24 books that make up what Christians call the Old Testament. These are
ancient Jewish writings believed to have been revealed directly to prophets
such as Moses or to have been inspired in the minds of later prophets, such as
Jeremiah. Jews call these books collectively by the title of Tanach,
which is an acronym for the Hebrew words for law,prophets,
and the writings—the three kinds of books that make up the Hebrew
Scriptures.
There was no Old Testament until the
2nd or 3rd century AD, when emerging Christian communities began to collect
their own authoritative writings that sought to interpret the meaning of the
life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. This emerging collection of writings was
understood to testify to a “new covenant” or “new testament” that God had
entered into with the church. Gradually the Christian scriptures themselves
came to be called theNew Testament, while the ancient Jewish scriptures
were called the Old Testament.
To this day, Christian editions of
the Bible include both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jewish editions
contain only the Tanach. The term Old Testament is not used
among Jews, since they do not recognize the authority of the New Testament.
There are currently hundreds of
different English translations of the various versions of the Bible. The most
famous is the Authorized Version of King James from the 16th century. This
version is the basis of most Bible translations in use among Protestants. There
are a number of Bible translations that reflect Catholic interpretive
traditions, such as the Jerusalem Bible. Most Jewish communities prefer the
various translations published during the 20th century by the Jewish
Publication Society. All of these differ from one another in many subtle and
not so subtle ways. But that is a topic for another time.
Q: What is the
difference between a child baptism and an adult baptism? Is one more correct
than the other?
A: Baptism is one of the essential
rites for entry into the Christian community. Historically it has taken many
forms, from immersion of the entire body in water to anointing with a few
drops, and from a rite performed for infants to a ritual suitable only for
adults. From a comparative and historical perspective, there is no 'right' or
'better' form of baptism. The form preferred in a particular Christian
community depends upon the traditions that community regards as authoritative.
The ritual of immersion in water for
purposes of physical and moral cleansing has its roots in ancient Judaism. In
Christian tradition adult baptism in particular is linked to the activities of
John the Baptist and to Jesus' own baptism at the onset of his mission of
self-disclosure as the Savior. Most early Christians were baptized as adults
because they were adults when they converted to the new faith. As Christian
tradition developed in the first centuries of the church, however, it became
common to baptize infants, and adult baptism became rarer.
return to adult baptism is often
associated with the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Groups such as
the Anabaptists, Baptists, and others held that entry into the Christian church
should be an act of conscious faith. Thus, they claimed, the rite could be
performed only for adults who could freely make a choice. In the contemporary
Christian community, all new converts must be baptized. The Catholic and
Orthodox churches still favour infant baptism, while the diverse Protestant
denominations continue to practice different customs.
Q: Does the word
“worship” in the original Hebrew have many different connotations?
A: The Hebrew word behind worship is avodah. In
the Bible it refers almost exclusively to the sacrificial worship of the God of
Israel in the wilderness Tent of Meeting or, later, in theJerusalem Temple.
In later Hebrew, avodah can be extended to other worshipful activities, such as
prayer, study of the Torah, and devoted performance of divine commandments. The
word avodah comes from a root that means 'to serve.' The word eved (slave
or servant) comes from the same root. Thus, avodah is the service of God in an
attitude of devoted submission. This sense of worship echoes in Christian and
Islamic tradition as well. The Greek word leiturgos (which
means “public service” or “public servant”) is the source of the term
'liturgy,' the technical term for worship in classical Christianity. And the
common Islamic name Abd Ullah (or Abdullah) simply means 'servant of God,' the
Arabic term 'abd' being identical to the Hebrew 'eved.'
Q: Where and what
did Jesus do during his 'missing years'? I see him as a normal guy—pondering,
praying and meditating. But, did he know what he was sent here for?
A: The four overlapping accounts of
Jesus’ life that are included in the New Testament are silent about the years
from Jesus' childhood through his baptism and the onset of his teaching
mission. However, early Christian communities produced and preserved other
collections of Jesus' teachings and accounts of his life that historians
usually refer to as non-canonical gospels—that is, documents used for Christian
preaching and worship that did not ultimately gain acceptance as part of the
New Testament. These do fill in some of the obvious gaps about Jesus' life.
But, since these non-canonical works
have not become accepted by Christians as a whole, their stories about the
'lost years' have not gained much acceptance. Also, historians have tended to
dismiss these stories as legends. It is always possible that some of these
non-canonical gospels preserve early Christian traditions about Jesus that were
for some reason excluded in the official gospels of the New Testament, but
there is little consensus about this among historians. A good place to look at
some of these fascinating materials is in a book edited by Ron Cameron called The
Other Gospels, published by Westminster Press in 1982.
Q: Does Judaism
acknowledge any form of 'life' after death? If so, does it include 'rewards'
and 'punishments?”
A: If by 'Judaism' one means the 'Old
Testament' or 'Hebrew Scriptures,' then it is difficult to find a coherent
understanding of 'life after death' in Judaism. However, for well over 2,000
years most forms of Judaism have held rich conceptions of the eternal life of
the soul after its separation from the body, reward and punishment after death,
and the reuniting of the soul and body in a resurrection at the time of
messianic redemption and divine judgment. In virtually all cases, the beliefs
are linked to creatively interpreted Biblical proof-texts.
In ancient post-exilic Judaism, these
ideas are common in the Apocalyptic writings of Second Temple times (after 200
BC); in many of the Dead Sea Scrolls (ca. 140 BC-AD 66); in the writings of
Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria (e.g., the first century philosopher, Philo);
among the Pharisees (according to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus);
and in the Rabbinic writings of the third to seventh century AD.
Indeed, medieval Jewish philosophy,
as represented by such figures as Maimonides (12th century) and Nahmanides
(13th century), and Jewish mysticism, as represented in the Zohar and other
writings (13th-18th century), held firmly to the belief in the eternal life of
the soul as well as rewards for righteousness and punishment after death for
the unrepentant wicked.
In the past two centuries or so, many
forms of Judaism that emerged among the modernizing Jews of Central and Western
Europe have abandoned these beliefs, holding them to be unnecessary to
Judaism and without firm Biblical foundation. Nevertheless, belief in an
afterlife is deeply embedded in classical Jewish sources and continues to be a
firm conviction in all forms of contemporary Orthodox Judaism.
In general, this statement from the
third-century AD Mishnah is a reliable guide: 'All Israelhas a share in
the World to Come—except those who deny that the resurrection of the dead is
taught in the Torah.'
Q: Roman Catholics
and most Protestants differ on the breakdown and numbering of the Ten
Commandments. How do Jews distinguish the Ten Commandments?
A: The Ten Commandments appear in the
Torah in two slightly different versions. The first setting is the actual
revelation of the covenant at Sinai (Exodus 20:2-14). The second is in Moses'
summary of that event (Deuteronomy 5:6-18). In neither place are they actually
numbered. Throughout the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation,
therefore, scholars have struggled to divide the divine statements into ten
explicit propositions. In the Rabbinic tradition, which has defined Jewish
biblical interpretation for 2,000 years, the ten statements are usually
enumerated as follows (in the Exodus version). I paraphrase them for convenience.
Different English renderings may be
consulted in any reputable biblical translation:
1. I am the LORD your God who brought
you out of the Land of Egypt ... You shall have no other
gods before me (Exodus 20:2-3)
2. You shall not make an image
(Ex.20:4-6)
3. You shall not take the name of the
LORD your God in vain (Exodus 20:7)
4. Remember the Sabbath (Exodus
20:8-11)
5. Honour your father and your mother
(Exodus 20:12)
6. Do not murder (Exodus 20:13)
7. Do not commit adultery (Exodus 20:13)
8. Do not steal (Exodus 20:13)
9. Do not swear falsely against your
neighbour (Exodus 20:13)
10. Do not desire your neighbour’s
house, wife, or servant (Exodus 20:14)
Q: Why do
contemporary Jews reject Jesus as their Messiah? What is it about Jesus that
does not meet their expectations of a Messiah? What type of Messiah are Jewish
people looking for?
A: Christians often cite certain Old
Testament prophecy, such as Isaiah 53, as evidence that Jesus was the Messiah
that the Jews were awaiting. Christians believe that Jesus fulfilled other
Jewish symbolism in Abraham's offering of Isaac, Moses’ serpent on a pole, the
sacrificial system, the high priesthood and Passover.
The question is not really
“Why do Jews reject Jesus as the
Messiah?” but “Why have the great majority of Jews always rejected the
legitimacy of messianic claimants both prior to and since the career of Jesus
of Nazareth?”
As Jewish thinking about the biblical
prophetic texts has crystallized since the early Second Temple period (about
536 BC to AD 70) and in the generation since the destruction of the Jerusalem
Temple in AD 70, the standard expectations of the Messiah have come to include
the following:
* He must exemplify extensive
knowledge of rabbinic tradition.
* He must rule as king over a visible
empire in the land of Israel.
* He must preside over the
restoration of the Temple and its sacrifices.
* His era must witness the
restoration of all exiles.
* And so forth...
The accomplishments of all historical
messianic claimants, including Jesus, have failed to meet these expectations.
So, for most Jews in most times,
there simply isn't much of interest to discuss. It would be inappropriate to
engage in duelling proof-texts, since all messianic interpretations of
Scripture—Christian or Jewish—depend on already believing what the
interpretations set out to prove. It's a barren exercise and usually yields
nothing but bruised feelings. Christians and Jews would do much better trying
to simply live up to the high moral standards that each tradition embodies and
strives for.
Q: Having just
begun studying readings about the Kabbalah by Rav Berg, I am curious why this
area was unavailable to mainstream Judaism for so many years. I find many
answers to my questions concerning spirituality and the world. Can you explain
the reason for withholding so much valuable and relevant information?
Also, can you
direct me to further readings on the Kabbalah? Unfortunately, my Hebrew is
limited so I would have to read commentary or translations.
A: For most of its history, Jewish
mystical tradition, also known as Kabbalah ('tradition'), has been a form of
knowledge reserved to a highly selective intellectual and spiritual elite. Its
popularization among broader segments of Jewish society has been fairly recent,
since the 15th and 16th centuries.
Contemporary Hasidism has, since the
late 18th century, been the most common context in which kabbalistic ideas and
spirituality have been made available at a popular level. For most of the 19th
and 20th centuries kabbalistic learning was downplayed among central European,
western European, and North American Jews who were interested in modernizing
Judaism to conform with modern, scientific conceptions of the universe.
In more recent decades, especially in
the context of the general reorientation of North American culture toward inner
spirituality, Kabbalah has enjoyed a kind of resurgence among precisely the
sorts of Jews who once rejected it—those very closely in touch with the general
non-Jewish culture. It has, for many, become a 'route back' into Judaism.
Here are two helpful
works appropriate for the general reader:
Ariel, David S. The Mystic Quest: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism. Schocken, 1992.
Matt, Daniel C. The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism. HarperCollins, 1994.
Q: Is it true that
in the earliest period of Judaism (before the Babylonian captivity), there was
no notion of a 'messiah' because the Jewish people had no need for a mediator
between God and mankind?
A: Actually, the notion of Messiah
does in fact date to the pre-Exilic period, but Jewish notions of Messiah do
not include the role of a 'mediator' between God and humanity.
The Hebrew word for messiah,
mashiakh, refers in the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) and many
early prophetic writings to a person anointed with oil to serve as a
representative of the community before God. This could be a priest, as in the
book of Leviticus; a king, such as David; or even a prophet. During the Second Temple,
or postexilic, period, the concept of Messiah was expanded to include a
figure—either priestly or royal—who, at the end of time, would come to restore Israel to
its land and establish a divine kingdom.
Jews during this time seem to have
acknowledged more than a few candidates for this role, and Jesus was one such
candidate. But the idea that he is a mediator between God and humanity, sent
for the forgiveness of sin and the conquest of death, is a Christian one and is
not a part of Jewish messianic ideas.
Q: What is the
meaning of postmodernism in Christian theology?
A: Postmodernism is a recent
intellectual movement that has affected many fields of humanistic learning,
including philosophy, literary criticism, history, and theology. There is no
single definition of postmodernism. In general, it is characterized by a
suspicion or outright rejection of the claims of 'modern' thought (that is, the
main Western intellectual tradition since the 18th century) to provide
objective, unbiased truth about the world and human nature. For many postmodernists,
objectivity is impossible, and any claims to the objectivity of scientific
knowledge often mask deeply political motives for power.
Postmodern Christian thought tends to
react against the modernist trends of Protestant and Catholic theology that
sought to accommodate Christian belief to the 'objective' truths of the natural
and human sciences. Thus modernist Christian thinkers sought to revise
scriptural conceptions of the age of the world with scientific models of the
origins of the Universe. Or they sought to revise understandings of scriptural
events in light of modern literary, historical, and archaeological research.
Postmodern Christian thinkers question the modern 'faith in objectivity' and
point to the shifting versions of truth recommended by historical changes in
science itself. Many are especially critical of the institutional structures
inherited from Christian modernism, which in their view continue to harbor
distinct vices of modernism in general, such as nationalism, racism, and sexism,
all of which, at some moment or other, have been defended as scientific,
objective points of view.
Although Christian postmodernists
question many scientific perspectives on scriptural truth, they are not
fundamentalists. From a postmodern perspective, fundamentalism is a modernist
movement. That is, it accepts scientific models of objectivity and simply
claims that the Bible is the truth about science.
Q: Why are there
three different Sabbaths in the three monotheistic religions?
A: It is commonly said that the
Jewish Sabbath falls on the seventh day of the week (Saturday), the Christian
Sabbath on the first day of the week (Sunday), and the Muslim Sabbath on
Friday. This is, however, a misconception.
The root of the question is the
biblical institution of resting from all labor on the seventh day of the week
in commemoration of the divine rest on the seventh day of creation. This
Sabbath (from Hebrew shabbat, meaning “ceasing”) became in later
Judaism a day devoted not only to very strict restrictions on creative work,
but also to study of the Torah and extended feasting and public worship.
Contemporary forms of Judaism still honor the seventh day, from sundown on
Friday to sundown on Saturday, as a special time.
From the first Christian century onward,
as Christianity developed its consciousness as a biblically based religion
distinct from Judaism, the question was asked: Are Christians bound by the
commandment to observe the Jewish Sabbath? Most forms of Christianity have
answered in the negative. Early on, the first day of the week became a
preferred time for public Christian religious celebration. Since Christ was
believed to have risen from death on a Sunday, this day became known as the
Lord’s Day. It gradually attracted to itself much of the reverence that the
Sabbath enjoyed in Judaism.
In Islam, there is strictly speaking
no formal day of rest comparable to the Jewish Sabbath or the Christian Lord’s
Day. It became common custom in the first Islamic century, however, for Friday
to serve as a day of obligatory public prayer. To this day, in Islamic
settings, the Friday noon prayer service in the mosque is a major
weekly event.
Q: An increasing
number of people use the word ‘spiritual’ in place of ‘religious.’ What, in
your opinion, is the difference between the two terms?
A: In the history of Christian
theology there was a time in which the terms spiritual andreligious were
virtual synonyms. Both represented inner attitudes of faith that opposed
'worldliness.' Indeed, in medieval Roman Catholic tradition, the word religious did
not apply to all Christians baptized into the Church. Rather, it was used
specifically in reference to those who chose a 'spiritual' life of asceticism
and prayer, usually in a monastery or a convent. These were the 'religious,' as
opposed to other Christians who married, pursued their varied livelihoods and
enjoyed other forms of 'secular' life.
The contemporary sense that
'religion' and 'spirituality' are somehow at odds is not new; it has a
genealogy going back to the Protestant Reformation. Many Reformers attacked
Catholicism's conception of 'religion' as opposed to 'worldliness,' and sought
to turn worldly activity itself into a divine calling, a witness for
'spirituality.' Thus in Protestant countries, monasteries and convents were
abandoned.
Present usages of the terms
'spirituality' and 'religion' reflect this tradition. 'Religion' is seen as a
body of imposed rules and dogmas that often smothers the natural 'spirituality'
of human nature. This 'spirituality' is conceived in a variety of ways that
cannot be summarized easily. But it commonly appears as an inner sense of
connectedness to the ultimate forces of reality that lead to psychic wholeness
and other forms of inner strength. 'Religion,' in this view, tries to constrain
'spirituality' by packaging it in received formulas. Even contemporary
Catholics and Jews often speak the language of 'spirituality,' finding that
their 'religions' offer ample room for exploring the inner life of the divine.
Q: Do any religions
not believe in ascending upward after death?
A: If we stay within my own area of
familiarity, I would say that classical Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe
in both an upward ascent (of some souls to Heaven) and a downward descent (of
some souls to Hell). In the Hebrew Bible ('Old Testament'), however, it is very
difficult to find an explicit statement of an upward ascent to Heaven after the
soul leaves the body. There are, however, ample references to those who
'descend to Sheol' after death. Sheol is conceived as a shadowy nether world
whose inhabitants are somehow cut off from communication with the God of
Israel.
Microsoft
® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez has neither
subtracted nor added a single word, phrase, clause or sentence to these
depositions just to emphasise the historical derailment of authentic
Christianity that has eventually demonised the version of spiritual fellowship
the whole world had been condemned to since Roman pagans took over from Saul of
Tarsus. Now, if I may ask this question that has bugged me;
MY
BROTHERS & SISTERS, WHICH RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS, WORDS,
TRADITIONS
OR EVIDENCE ARE TRULY GENUINE?
Religious symbols
have been borrowed across cultures and religious boundaries for centuries that
they rarely mean same things to a variety of fanatical followers or worshippers
of the plethora of religions and denominations in our present world. How do we
penetrate centuries of historical distortions of the originals to define the
pristine truths from nature and established by our Creator so that we can
arrive at the most objective version that is egalitarian, humane and applicable
in all cultures, time and clime for world peace?
--Dr
J. K. Danmbaezue, PG Student (1981) Asked after the Rev Jones/Guyana Mass
Religious Suicide.
“Religion
was/is a superstitious search by humanity for its origin, existence, meaning
and relevance before the scientific era. The search was led by acclaimed sages
among the elders of a community who defined its theories and practices. It is
later ratified and recommended for legislation and implementation by state
apparatus by convincing stratagem or coercion by politico-religious
leaders. Thereafter, it is fine tuned and administered by ordained
priests and priestesses who hand it down along ancestral lineages from one
generation of lukewarm adherents, fanatics and mystics to another. Gradually,
strong personalities emerge claiming divine appointment and so pull strong
followers who idolise them as role models with supernatural powers. This
obsession confirms them as beacons of adulation and finally leads to full scale
idolatry.” Or, put in another fashion, how can
we be certain that the doctrines and dogmas we hold on to today were/are not
merely fake theories from the past. In short, how do we sift truth from human
beliefs, myths, legends and/or fables forged and fabricated by sages of old or
demagogues whose objectives were merely manipulating the masses of their
generation into reverencing and/or obeying them sheepishly? This is the task
before all of us. It is the only way to arrive at ONE WORLD RELIGION. That is
Integrational Spiritan Movement, led by the Holy Spirit of the Genuine Creator
we all ought to worship! A.k.a KENEZIANISM.
--Rev.
Prof. J. J. Kenez, D.Sc. (2001) the Vessel of the Holy Spirit of the Creator of
the Universe.
Religion,
which is superstition sanctioned by the state, is actually an addiction to
man-made doctrines and dogmas invented, patented and copyrighted by a few demagogues.
·
It enslaves the mind more than
psychoactive drugs,
·
Benumbs human creativity and
resourcefulness thereby
·
Restricting the development of the
human potential and capital.
It
is the main cause of poverty of the mind and underdevelopment of third world countries
as its side-effects are indolence, redundancy, laziness and dependence on
finished products and services. In the final analysis, it is the predisposing
factor to lack of initiative, debilitating ignorance, fetish belief-systems,
abject poverty and perennial ill-health.
Perhaps its only advantage is that
it makes the polity docile and amenable to the whims and caprices of their
oppressive leaders. Often, it hoodwinks its adherents into believing that ‘The
God’ or ‘the gods’ they worship speak to them through the voices of their
egocentric clerics who therefore can conveniently exploit them to satisfy their
demonic desires of sensual pleasure and inordinate ambitions of amassing
wealth. Their wanton indulgence in gluttony, wine and women is seen in every
action and definitely this is the foolproof evidence of their demonic
genealogy.
The fallacy of HUMAN CONCEPTS OF THE ULTIMATE CREATOR AND WHAT HE DEMANDS OF ALL OF US is similar to the verdicts of the four blind men who went on an excursion to know what the elephant looked like. But in our case in religious buffoonery, it is not the personal verdicts of the first set of the blind men that we hold on to; that unfortunately is the tragedy of current day Religionists and the breeding ground for puerile bigotry, fanaticism, doctrines, dogmas, crusades and jihads. It is futile to not only believe the verdicts of the earliest FOUR BLIND MEN who were actually wrong but psychotically paranoid to swallow the bastardised versions handed down by degenerate grandsons of those cowardly and shameless blind men who never made the trip at all! So many blind religious leaders do not even set out to make the trip! Rather, they are satisfied by propagating what other blind men heard from the original four blind men that really touched the elephant. So it is that a thousand interpretations of what the wise explorers concluded is now bandied about what the original elephant looked and still looks like. The Elephant in his majesty refuses to say a word! Why, you may ask! It is unnecessary; for the glory, majesty and truths about the true worship of Our Almighty Creator abound in Nature and the Sane Human Beings observe them on a daily and hourly basis 365 days every year! Only the blind do not want to see the Natural and Eternal Laws he engraved into each macrocosm and microcosm He has made and given to all His Creations to share. We are equal heirs to His Infinite Love!
Every individual nature is part of the cosmos. To live virtuously means to live in accord with one's nature, to live according to the natural and eternal laws the designer of the universe intended by employing truth and right reason in all we do. Because passion and emotion are considered irrational movements of the soul, the wise individual seeks to eradicate the passions and consciously embrace the rational life. “True law is right reason in agreement with Nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions. . . . There will not be different laws at different countries or communities, or different laws now and in the future, BUT ONE ETERNAL AND UNCHANGEABLE LAW WILL BE VALID FOR ALL NATIONS AND FOR ALL TIMES.” The laws governing all living things; birth, growth, respiration, movement, nutrition, excretion, reproduction and finally death hold sway in every place on planet earth under normal temperature and pressure. Humans have the same anatomy and physiology despite our differing languages, child-rearing practices, skin colour, racial differences and social statuses. We are the offspring of the Almighty Creator of the macrocosms and microcosms we share. Our survival in our variety of physical environment follows the same laws. No man is an island. We need each other!
Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez also contends that natural laws are sacrosanct for they were made by the Almighty Architect and Engineer who created every being on planet; EARTH. They are divine and eternal; because they are universal and are no respecters of places and times of birth, parentage, race, educational level or religion! There are so many self-evident examples; the movement of the sun and moon regulate the hours of day, night, weeks, months and years; so also do gravity, temperature, pressure, emotion, motivation, conception, pregnancy, labour and birth regulate family life. If anyone disagrees, let him provide evidence to the contrary. The founders of HAPPY FAMILY NETWORK, INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT AND FINALLY FAMILY LIFE COLLEGE, therefore, posit that human slavery, in whatever form it is used to deny any Homo sapiens and others their fundamental human rights, was/is and will forever remain illegal! Caste systems must be abrogated both in civil and religious circles all over the world to arrive at;
The fallacy of HUMAN CONCEPTS OF THE ULTIMATE CREATOR AND WHAT HE DEMANDS OF ALL OF US is similar to the verdicts of the four blind men who went on an excursion to know what the elephant looked like. But in our case in religious buffoonery, it is not the personal verdicts of the first set of the blind men that we hold on to; that unfortunately is the tragedy of current day Religionists and the breeding ground for puerile bigotry, fanaticism, doctrines, dogmas, crusades and jihads. It is futile to not only believe the verdicts of the earliest FOUR BLIND MEN who were actually wrong but psychotically paranoid to swallow the bastardised versions handed down by degenerate grandsons of those cowardly and shameless blind men who never made the trip at all! So many blind religious leaders do not even set out to make the trip! Rather, they are satisfied by propagating what other blind men heard from the original four blind men that really touched the elephant. So it is that a thousand interpretations of what the wise explorers concluded is now bandied about what the original elephant looked and still looks like. The Elephant in his majesty refuses to say a word! Why, you may ask! It is unnecessary; for the glory, majesty and truths about the true worship of Our Almighty Creator abound in Nature and the Sane Human Beings observe them on a daily and hourly basis 365 days every year! Only the blind do not want to see the Natural and Eternal Laws he engraved into each macrocosm and microcosm He has made and given to all His Creations to share. We are equal heirs to His Infinite Love!
Every individual nature is part of the cosmos. To live virtuously means to live in accord with one's nature, to live according to the natural and eternal laws the designer of the universe intended by employing truth and right reason in all we do. Because passion and emotion are considered irrational movements of the soul, the wise individual seeks to eradicate the passions and consciously embrace the rational life. “True law is right reason in agreement with Nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions. . . . There will not be different laws at different countries or communities, or different laws now and in the future, BUT ONE ETERNAL AND UNCHANGEABLE LAW WILL BE VALID FOR ALL NATIONS AND FOR ALL TIMES.” The laws governing all living things; birth, growth, respiration, movement, nutrition, excretion, reproduction and finally death hold sway in every place on planet earth under normal temperature and pressure. Humans have the same anatomy and physiology despite our differing languages, child-rearing practices, skin colour, racial differences and social statuses. We are the offspring of the Almighty Creator of the macrocosms and microcosms we share. Our survival in our variety of physical environment follows the same laws. No man is an island. We need each other!
Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez also contends that natural laws are sacrosanct for they were made by the Almighty Architect and Engineer who created every being on planet; EARTH. They are divine and eternal; because they are universal and are no respecters of places and times of birth, parentage, race, educational level or religion! There are so many self-evident examples; the movement of the sun and moon regulate the hours of day, night, weeks, months and years; so also do gravity, temperature, pressure, emotion, motivation, conception, pregnancy, labour and birth regulate family life. If anyone disagrees, let him provide evidence to the contrary. The founders of HAPPY FAMILY NETWORK, INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT AND FINALLY FAMILY LIFE COLLEGE, therefore, posit that human slavery, in whatever form it is used to deny any Homo sapiens and others their fundamental human rights, was/is and will forever remain illegal! Caste systems must be abrogated both in civil and religious circles all over the world to arrive at;
· ONE ALMIGHTY CREATOR, ONE CREATED UNIVERSE, ONE HUMAN
FAMILY, ONE GLOBAL FAITH and ONE
MODE OF WORSHIP; which is our creed
· SERVICE TO HUMANITY INTERNATIONALLY; is the lifestyle
of all bona-fide members,
· LOYALTY TO THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH; in every thought, word
or deed is our international social ethics &
· OBEDIENCE TO ALL THE NATURAL & ETERNAL LAWS OF THE
CREATOR; is our gospel worldwide.
If you want to be a
foundation member of the board of directors for this all-inclusive humanitarian
FAMILY LIFE COLLEGE send us a proposal of what you can contribute and attach a
brief CV, your contact addresses and a current passport sized photo of
yourself.
Revolutionary
Professor Jideofo Jude Kenez, D. Sc.
International
Animator of Integrational Spiritan Movement (ISM) Tel: 0803-9097614
Composed
from 03:07: 55 on 11th March 1990 to Monday 30/08/2010 @ 02:08:28 HRS GMT.
IDOLATRY IN TODAY’S CHRISTENDOM MAKES
NONSENSE OF THE CLAIM THAT MAN WAS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. DOESN’T IT?
Idolatry (Greek
eidolon, “image”; latreia, “worship”), the worship of a material image that is
held to be the abode of a superhuman personality. The concept of idolatry originated
in the confrontation between the three great monotheistic religions—Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam—and the polytheistic religions they encountered along
their way (see Polytheism). It was first articulated during the clash of
ancient Hebrew monotheism with the pagan cults of surrounding peoples. The
translators of the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures) used
the term eidolon to render about 16 Hebrew words associated with pagan worship;
it is in the Septuagint that eidolon acquired the pejorative sense of an image
that represents a false god.
In Exodus 20:3-5, Yahweh forbids not
only the worship of foreign gods but also the making of images that claim to
represent him. The worship of Yahweh in the form of two bulls (I Kings 12:26-32)
was regarded as a gross apostasy and was projected back into Israel's ancient
history as the episode of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32). A larger problem was the
persistent tendency of the Israelites to revert to the religious practices of
surrounding peoples (Judges 10:6; I Kings 11:7; II Kings 21:1-9). A succession
of Hebrew prophets denounced idolatry: Elijah and Elisha (I Kings 18:22-40);
Amos (Amos 2:4); Hosea (Hosea 4:12-13); and Isaiah (Isaiah 17:7-8). A common
theme in the prophetic denunciations is the emptiness of idols (Jeremiah 16:20;
Isaiah 44:14-17).
In Christianity, the issue of
idolatry arose in the context of Greco-Roman society, in which temples, altars,
and images were ubiquitous. Christians were subject to charges of treason for
refusing to offer sacrifices before the emperor's image. In the New Testament,
idol worship is sometimes equated with demon worship (I Corinthians 10:19-21;
Revelation 9:20). The early Christian apologists also emphasized that images
are made of inert matter and that the human form is inappropriate for
representing divinity (see Anthropomorphism). In his work The City of God,
Saint Augustine attempted a comprehensive critique of the Greco-Roman gods,
polytheism, and mythology, arguing that the pagan gods were lying angels who
were engaged in a struggle against the true God.
Muslim opposition to the worship of
images is the legacy of Judeo-Christian practice, which Muhammad traced back to
Abraham. The Arab tribes of the pre-Islamic era worshiped many gods; among the
objects of their worship were stones, trees, and statuettes. After the seizure
of Mecca in 630, Muhammad had all the idols of the Kaaba destroyed in his
presence. The Qur'an (Koran) contains many prohibitions against idols and
idolatry: Muslims may neither marry a woman idolater nor give their daughters
to idolaters in marriage (2:220-221).
In the 8th and 9th centuries,
idolatry again became a matter of controversy in the Christian world.
Especially in the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire, the pagan tradition of image
worship had survived in the practice of venerating icons. Christians of Semitic
origin were particularly wary of idolatry in any form, and their concerns were
intensified by the spread of Islam. In 725 and 726, Emperor Leo III first
prohibited the worship of images, then ordered their destruction (see
Iconoclasm). Supporters of icon veneration—called iconodules—argued that by
representing Christ's human likeness, icons reinforced the doctrine of Christ's
Incarnation—a doctrine called into question by the heretical teachings of
Monophysitism and Docetism. The use of icons in worship was vindicated in 843
when Theodora, widow of the iconoclast emperor Theophilus, engineered the
election of the pro-icon monk Methodius as patriarch. The restoration of icon
veneration is celebrated annually in the Eastern church as the Triumph of
Orthodoxy.
Microsoft
® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
EVIDENT IDOLATRY IN
CHRISTENDOM MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR GROUP OF SCHOLARS AND CHURCH OFFICIALS TO
ATTEMPT RE-INTERPRETING CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES AND DOGMAS
Modernism (religion), in theology and philosophy,
attempts by a group of scholars and church officials to reinterpret Christian
doctrine in terms of the scientific thought of the 19th century. The collected
attempts, although not a single system, were treated as such and called
Modernism by Pope Pius X in 1907.
The Modernists of the
Roman Catholic church tended to deny the objective value of traditional beliefs
and to regard some dogmas of the church as symbolic rather than literally true
(see Dogma). The leaders among this group included the Irish
theologian George Tyrrell, the British theologian (of Austrian parentage) Baron
Friedrich von Hügel, and the French theologian and Orientalist Alfred Loisy.
Such works as Life of Jesus (1863; trans. 1863), by the French
philologist and historian Ernest Renan, helped to lessen the authority of the
teachings of the church on early Christianity.
Modernism in Europe was
also a matter of political controversy. Those who supported the traditional
views on church and state opposed the Modernists and their drive toward social
reforms. Within the Roman Catholic church, the centralization of church
government in Rome and the influence of the Curia were attacked. Church
discipline over the clergy was strongly questioned. Perhaps most notable was
the movement among scholars to work and publish without supervision from the
church.
Censure of the movement
reached a climax in 1907. On July 3, 1907, a decree, Lamentabili
Sane (With truly lamentable results), was issued by the holy office
with the approval of Pius X. It listed and condemned as heretical, false, rash,
bold, and offensive 65 propositions, 38 of them related to biblical criticism
and the remainder to Modernism. On September 8 of the same year, the pope
issued an encyclical, Pascendi Dominici Gregis (Of the primary
obligations). Modernism, it said, is a synthesis of all heresies, “an alliance
between faith and false philosophy,” arising from curiosity and “pride, which
rouses the spirit of disobedience and demands a compromise between authority
and liberty.” Pius concluded his attack on the movement on Sept 1, 1910,
in a motu proprio (a message prepared on papal initiative
alone), Sacrorum Antistitum (Oath Against Modernism). He gave
assent to all articles of Roman Catholic belief and dissented from all the
tenets in all times condemned by the church of Rome. In the same document, he
required an anti-Modernist oath from all clerics in the Roman Catholic church.
Microsoft
® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
ECUMENISM FAILED
BECAUSE OF IDOLATRY IN CHRISTENDOM
Ecumenical
Movement, movement for worldwide cooperation and unity among
Christian churches. The termecumenical is derived from the
Greek oikoumenē (“inhabited”); thus, ecumenical councils of
the church, the first of which was held at Nicaea in 325, were so designated
because representatives attended from churches throughout the known world. In
the 19th century, the term ecumenical came to denote to the
Roman Catholic church a concern for Christian unity and for a renewal of the
church. To Protestants who have pioneered in and advanced the modern ecumenical
movement since the early 20th century, the term has applied not only to
Christian unity but, more broadly, to the worldwide mission of Christianity.
Until the 20th century,
only sporadic efforts were made to reunite a Christendom shattered through the
centuries by schisms, the Reformation, and other disputes. Pressure toward
unity was aided in the 19th century by the development of such organizations as
the missionary and Bible societies and the Young Men's Christian Association
and Young Women's Christian Association, in all of which Protestants of varying
denominations joined in support of common causes. In the early 20th century,
the unity movement was almost exclusively Protestant.
The World Missionary Conference
of 1910, held in Edinburgh, marked the beginning of modern ecumenism. From it
flowed three streams of ecumenical endeavor: evangelistic, service, and
doctrinal. Today, these three aspects are furthered through the World Council
of Churches, constituted in 1948; in the early 1980s it included more than 295
churches in more than 90 countries.
The evangelical concern of
modern ecumenism brought about the formation, in 1921, of the International
Missionary Council, comprising 17 national mission organizations. It
coordinated mission strategy and aided new churches.
The service efforts made
by Christians across denominational and national boundaries came to fruition
in 1925, inStockholm, when the Universal Christian Conference on Life and
Work was convened to study the application of the gospel to industrial, social,
political, and international affairs. This movement proceeded under the slogan
“service unites but doctrine divides.”
The movement toward doctrinal
ecumenism resulted in 1927 in the convening of the First World
Conference on Faith and Order. The conference concluded that “God wills unity
... (and) ... however we may justify the beginnings of disunion, we lament its
continuance.” A second Conference on Faith and Order met in Edinburgh in 1937,
the year in which another Life and Work Conference met at the University of
Oxford.
Delegates to the two conferences
agreed that their work should be coordinated, and in 1938
a provisional committee was named to establish a “body representative of
the churches.” Formation of the World Council of Churches, which was to have
come about in 1941, was delayed for seven years by World War II. In 1961 the
missionary stream of Protestant ecumenical endeavor joined with the service and
doctrinal currents as the International Missionary Council merged with the
World Council of Churches.
The impulse to unity was
acted on almost solely by Protestants until 1920, when the ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople issued an encyclical summoning all Christians to
reunion. Eastern Orthodox churches have been members of the World Council since
it was constituted. Ecumenism continued to flourish among Protestants
and the Orthodox; for example, in 1950 the National Council of Churches was
formed by 29 denominations in the U.S. The Roman Catholic church, however,
remained uncompromising in its rejection of the movement. From the Roman
Catholic viewpoint, church unity could mean nothing less than the return of
schismatic “sects” to the “one true church.” An encyclical issued in 1928 by
Pope Pius XI had reemphasized this position, and as recently as 1954, Roman
Catholics were forbidden to attend the second assembly of the World Council of
Churches.
Change came in 1959, when
Pope John XXIII proposed the calling of a second Vatican Council to complete
the work of the first Vatican Council of 1870. Renewal and reunion were high on
the agenda, and the world followed the proceedings closely. The pontiff created
a Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. Breaking precedent, in 1961 he
permitted Roman Catholic observers officially to attend the third assembly of
the World Council of Churches. Also through his influence, when
Vatican II opened in Saint Peter's Basilica in 1962, Protestant and Orthodox
observers were accorded places of honor and included in all working sessions.
The 2500 Roman Catholic bishops who attended the four council sessions
(1962-65) dealt with Christian unity. Their decree on ecumenism, promulgated in
1964, spoke not of “schismatics” but of “separated brethren,” and it deplored
sins against unity committed over the years by Roman Catholics and Protestants
alike.
On the death of Pope John,
in 1963, his successor, Pope Paul VI, made known his intention to continue
ecumenical advances, describing unity as “the object of permanent interest,
systematic study, and constant charity.” The policy was emphasized by several
major gestures. In 1964 the pope and the Orthodox ecumenical patriarch had a
warm, historic meeting in Jerusalem, the first meeting of the heads of their
two churches in more than 500 years. In 1966, the archbishop of Canterbury,
head of the Anglican Communion, visited Pope Paul, and in 1967 the pontiff
visited the Orthodox patriarch in Turkey.
At the close of Vatican II, a Joint Working Group was
established between the Vatican and the World Council of Churches. Numerous
official dialogues were started in many countries between Roman Catholics and
Protestants. Significantly, the Joint Working Group declared in 1967 that not
two but only one ecumenical movement exists. Furthermore, at the fourth
assembly of the World Council, in 1968, a Jesuit theologian spoke of
Roman Catholics as partners with other Christians in the quest for the unity
“that is Christ's will for His Church,” and broached the possibility of Roman
Catholic membership in the World Council. That had not occurred by the end of
the 1980s, but the Roman Catholic church continued to have a good working
relationship with the World Council, regularly sending observers to its
sessions.
REV. PROF. J. J.
KENEZ HAS NOTHING TO ADD TO THESE REVEALING HISTORICAL RECORDS THAT CONFIRM HIS
ASSERTION AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS PROTRACTED DISSERTATION ON IMAGE
OF GOD; NAMELY OUR RESEMBLANCE IS ONLY IN THOUGHTS, WORDS
AND DEEDS, NOT IN ANY PHYSICAL
ATTRIBUTES! Quod Erat Demonstradum!
Religion, which is superstition
sanctioned by the state, is actually an addiction to man-made doctrines and
dogmas invented, patented and copyrighted by a few demagogues.
• It enslaves the mind more than psychoactive drugs,
• Benumbs human creativity and resourcefulness thereby
• Restricting the development of the human potential and capital.
It is the main cause of poverty of the mind and underdevelopment of third world countries as its side-effects are indolence, redundancy, laziness and dependence of finished products and services. In the final analysis, it is the predisposing factor to lack of initiative, debilitating ignorance, fetish belief-systems, abject poverty and perennial ill-health.
Perhaps its only advantage is that it makes the polity docile and amenable to the whims and caprices of their oppressive leaders. Often, it hoodwinks its adherents into believing that ‘The God’ or ‘the gods’ they worship speak to them through the voices of their egocentric clerics who therefore can conveniently exploit them to satisfy their demonic desires of sensual pleasure and inordinate ambitions of amassing wealth. Their wanton indulgence in gluttony, wine and women is seen in every action and definitely this is the foolproof evidence of their demonic genealogy.
To rescue humanity from the demonic stranglehold of idolatry that now predominates worldwide, you are invited to reason along with us and see that we provide an everlasting cure for sensual lust for food, wine, sex, wealth and power that are the trademarks of society heading for damnation! Are you going to sit on the fence and wait for another failed experiment in Messiahship that was riddled with myopic and ethnocentric bias? Who knows the Creator well enough to declare that he has ‘a chosen people’? Where is the evidence that Moses actually led the so-called people out of any oppressive regime? The history books and modern encyclopaedia did not record the enslavement of the Jewish race except as ‘they were believed as revealed truths’.
• It enslaves the mind more than psychoactive drugs,
• Benumbs human creativity and resourcefulness thereby
• Restricting the development of the human potential and capital.
It is the main cause of poverty of the mind and underdevelopment of third world countries as its side-effects are indolence, redundancy, laziness and dependence of finished products and services. In the final analysis, it is the predisposing factor to lack of initiative, debilitating ignorance, fetish belief-systems, abject poverty and perennial ill-health.
Perhaps its only advantage is that it makes the polity docile and amenable to the whims and caprices of their oppressive leaders. Often, it hoodwinks its adherents into believing that ‘The God’ or ‘the gods’ they worship speak to them through the voices of their egocentric clerics who therefore can conveniently exploit them to satisfy their demonic desires of sensual pleasure and inordinate ambitions of amassing wealth. Their wanton indulgence in gluttony, wine and women is seen in every action and definitely this is the foolproof evidence of their demonic genealogy.
To rescue humanity from the demonic stranglehold of idolatry that now predominates worldwide, you are invited to reason along with us and see that we provide an everlasting cure for sensual lust for food, wine, sex, wealth and power that are the trademarks of society heading for damnation! Are you going to sit on the fence and wait for another failed experiment in Messiahship that was riddled with myopic and ethnocentric bias? Who knows the Creator well enough to declare that he has ‘a chosen people’? Where is the evidence that Moses actually led the so-called people out of any oppressive regime? The history books and modern encyclopaedia did not record the enslavement of the Jewish race except as ‘they were believed as revealed truths’.
The Creator has hidden so much from our intellectual faculties that to date we are still unravelling those He is allowing humanity to glimpse at through divine dreams, intuitions, inspirations and revelations to devout souls! Do you want to have supernatural knowledge mediated by spiritual faculties of seeing, feeling, sensing and caring for others? Look inwards, for the kingdom of God is inside you, not outside as many preachers tell you. No one ever got eternal bliss by keeping the commandments of men. It is given to altruistic seekers of that Divine Guidance in the affairs of mankind, which many yearn for but do not know where, when and how to find it. Search for it in this book!
The creator gave humans some of his powers and knowledge for recreating the material universe for the mutual benefits of all his created beings but today many use his gifts to perpetrate evil. Either by design or demonic manipulation, the obverse is the case; the first datum that every living thing recognises is that someone put it here and caters for its welfare. Dogs respect and fight in defence of their owners. Every pet realises that it is loved and taken care of by someone who has value for its existence. It is human who pride themselves of being rational beings that do not recognise, respect or realise that all of us have a single owner. It is absurd! Some believe there is an Almighty Creator who provides for each creature on daily basis, some assert that he has turned his back on us due to our congenital wickedness and cruel ways, while others simply deny his existence!
This is my summation of the problem; “Religion was/is a superstitious search by humanity for its origin, existence, meaning and relevance before the scientific era. The search was led by acclaimed sages among the elders of a community who defined its theories and practices. It is later ratified and recommended for legislation and implementation by state apparatus by convincing stratagem or coercion by politico-religious leaders. Thereafter, it is fine tuned and administered by ordained priests and priestesses who hand it down along ancestral lineages from one generation of lukewarm adherents, fanatics and mystics to another. Gradually, strong personalities emerge claiming divine appointment and so pull strong followers who idolise them as role models with supernatural powers. This obsession confirms them as beacons of adulation and finally leads to full scale idolatry.
INTRODUCTION TO INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN
MOVEMENT
The Computer-Age Spiritual Fellowship for Citizens of Our Global Village
Many people are mere conformists. They are those personalities that are satisfied with ‘going through the motions’; doing what everyone else is doing to make a living and waiting for the final ‘call to glory’ as they brand death! Many of us are born and live an inconsequential life; bland, uneventful and without anything particular to be remembered for after our exit from this mundane world, a temporal habitation for the soul. There are some others, whose lives and contributions to the society made a difference! They changed the ‘status quo’ by either extending the frontiers of knowledge or developing their immediate communities. They improved the understanding of human nature and taught others the values of humanitarianism. These heroes and heroines touched the lives of many both inter-racially and internationally.
They added colour to the doldrums of routine existence on planet earth!
A few had tall dreams and went ahead to transform them into reality despite all odds. This group devised methods of changing the deplorable situations and the deprived circumstances of the lifestyle they met on becoming adults. Some adolescents dream of the courage to better their social status, but often take off on the wrong foot of seeking for titles, money, fame and crowning it all with indulging in romantic relationships.
Others dared to pursue the unknown, to break new grounds and blaze trails for followers to tread on. Their zeal, inquisitiveness, passion, persistence, desire, motivations and prayers were fully rewarded if they paid the prize for success; optimism, dedication and the refusal to quit. Their philosophy of life was ‘When the task gets tough, the tough get it going!’, ‘Never say, never again!’ or ‘All that it takes to make the impossible possible is the power to remove the ‘im’ in front of the possible!’
They eventually became geniuses, inventors, explorers, leaders or discoverers! They evolved into the innovators and pioneers who helped to enlarge the frontiers of human civilisations and removed the age-old boundaries of the unknown. Joining this select group of animators or league of achievers is usually not by accident or by mere wishful thinking. Beyond desire and hard work is a divine factor that must be recognised, respected and appropriated in unveiling the unknown that the Divine Architect had hidden there for ages waiting for a brave soul to convert it from obscure dormancy to utilitarian vibrancy. This author, Dr Kenez wants to know where you belong in this universal continuum. Or, are you waiting for ‘manna from heaven’?
The Computer-Age Spiritual Fellowship for Citizens of Our Global Village
Many people are mere conformists. They are those personalities that are satisfied with ‘going through the motions’; doing what everyone else is doing to make a living and waiting for the final ‘call to glory’ as they brand death! Many of us are born and live an inconsequential life; bland, uneventful and without anything particular to be remembered for after our exit from this mundane world, a temporal habitation for the soul. There are some others, whose lives and contributions to the society made a difference! They changed the ‘status quo’ by either extending the frontiers of knowledge or developing their immediate communities. They improved the understanding of human nature and taught others the values of humanitarianism. These heroes and heroines touched the lives of many both inter-racially and internationally.
They added colour to the doldrums of routine existence on planet earth!
A few had tall dreams and went ahead to transform them into reality despite all odds. This group devised methods of changing the deplorable situations and the deprived circumstances of the lifestyle they met on becoming adults. Some adolescents dream of the courage to better their social status, but often take off on the wrong foot of seeking for titles, money, fame and crowning it all with indulging in romantic relationships.
Others dared to pursue the unknown, to break new grounds and blaze trails for followers to tread on. Their zeal, inquisitiveness, passion, persistence, desire, motivations and prayers were fully rewarded if they paid the prize for success; optimism, dedication and the refusal to quit. Their philosophy of life was ‘When the task gets tough, the tough get it going!’, ‘Never say, never again!’ or ‘All that it takes to make the impossible possible is the power to remove the ‘im’ in front of the possible!’
They eventually became geniuses, inventors, explorers, leaders or discoverers! They evolved into the innovators and pioneers who helped to enlarge the frontiers of human civilisations and removed the age-old boundaries of the unknown. Joining this select group of animators or league of achievers is usually not by accident or by mere wishful thinking. Beyond desire and hard work is a divine factor that must be recognised, respected and appropriated in unveiling the unknown that the Divine Architect had hidden there for ages waiting for a brave soul to convert it from obscure dormancy to utilitarian vibrancy. This author, Dr Kenez wants to know where you belong in this universal continuum. Or, are you waiting for ‘manna from heaven’?
As a doctor and a theosphist I am available to all shades of human
beings at my websites, e-mails and clinic located at C82, Federal Housing
Estates, Trans-Ekulu, Enugu or during the summers; at Ezeawara town in Ihiala
LGA of Anambra State if I am not on holidays to Houston-Texas, USA. ENGLISH
Greetings to Rational Beings of this computer age! By having a website you are
now recognised and respected as a Citizen of the Global Village. You are no
more a racist, a chauvinist nor a parochial religionist. You are a special son
or daughter of the Almighty Creator who has given us the macrocosms and
microcosms to share. Let us live in peace like we ought to, equal heirs to the
benefits we derive from being HOMO SAPIENS! Please visit http//www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com for the scientific creed and
international educational guidelines and youth rearing practices that can make
us ONE HUMAN FAMILY living in ONE CREATED UNIVERSE as children of ONE ALMIGHTY
CREATOR. FRENCH Salutations à des êtres rationnels de cette ère de l'informatique!
En ayant un site web vous sont désormais reconnus et respectés en tant que
citoyen du village global. Vous n'êtes pas plus raciste,chauvine, ni une un
religieux paroissial. Vous êtes un fils ou une fillespéciale du Créateur
Tout-Puissant qui nous a donné le macrocosme et le microcosme de partager.
Laissez-nous vivre en paix comme nous devrions, héritiers égal aux avantages
que nous tirons de se HOMO SAPIENS! S'il vous plaît visitez http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com pour la croyance scientifique et directives internationales et les
pratiques éducatives des jeunesd'élevage qui peuvent nous faire une famille
vivant humain dans ununivers créé que les enfants d'un Créateur Tout-Puissant.
GERMAN Grüße an
Rational Wesen dieser Computer-Zeitalter! Durch eineWebsite, die Sie jetzt
anerkannt und respektiert als Citizen of theGlobal Village. Sie sind nicht mehr
ein Rassist, ein Chauvinist noch eine engstirnige Glaubensgenossen. Sie sind
eine spezielle Sohn oder die Tochter des allmächtigen Schöpfers, der uns
gegeben hat,der Makrokosmos und Mikrokosmos zu teilen. Lasst uns in
Friedenleben wie wir sollten, gleich Erben, um die Vorteile wir aus
Homosapiens! Bitte besuchen Sie http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com für die wissenschaftlicheCredo und
internationalen Bildungs-Richtlinien und JugendErziehungsmethoden, die uns eine
menschliche Familie lebt in ONEgeschaffene Universum als Kinder eines
allmächtigen Schöpferskann. SPANISH Saludos a los seres racionales de esta era de la informática! Al
tener un sitio web que está ahora reconocida y respetada como un ciudadano de
la Aldea Global. Tú no eres más racista, chovinista, niun religioso parroquial.
Usted es un hijo o una hija especial del Creador Todopoderoso, que nos ha dado
el macrocosmos y elmicrocosmos de compartir. Vivamos en paz, como
debemos,herederos igual a los beneficios que se derivan de ser homo sapiens!
Por favor, visite http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com para el credo científico ydirectrices internacionales y las prácticas
educativas de jóvenes de crianza que nos puede hacer vivir UNA FAMILIA HUMANA
en un universo creado como hijos del Creador Todopoderoso.
Religion, which is superstition
sanctioned by the state, is actually an addiction to man-made doctrines and
dogmas invented, patented and copyrighted by a few demagogues.
• It enslaves the mind more than psychoactive drugs,
• Benumbs human creativity and resourcefulness thereby
• Restricting the development of the human potential and capital.
It is the main cause of poverty of the mind and underdevelopment of third world countries as its side-effects are indolence, redundancy, laziness and dependence of finished products and services. In the final analysis, it is the predisposing factor to lack of initiative, debilitating ignorance, fetish belief-systems, abject poverty and perennial ill-health.
Perhaps its only advantage is that it makes the polity docile and amenable to the whims and caprices of their oppressive leaders. Often, it hoodwinks its adherents into believing that ‘The God’ or ‘the gods’ they worship speak to them through the voices of their egocentric clerics who therefore can conveniently exploit them to satisfy their demonic desires of sensual pleasure and inordinate ambitions of amassing wealth. Their wanton indulgence in gluttony, wine and women is seen in every action and definitely this is the foolproof evidence of their demonic genealogy.
To rescue humanity from the demonic stranglehold of idolatry that now predominates worldwide, you are invited to reason along with us and see that we provide an everlasting cure for sensual lust for food, wine, sex, wealth and power that are the trademarks of society heading for damnation! Are you going to sit on the fence and wait for another failed experiment in Messiahship that was riddled with myopic and ethnocentric bias? Who knows the Creator well enough to declare that he has ‘a chosen people’? Where is the evidence that Moses actually led the so-called people out of any oppressive regime? The history books and modern encyclopaedia did not record the enslavement of the Jewish race except as ‘they were believed as revealed truths’.
• It enslaves the mind more than psychoactive drugs,
• Benumbs human creativity and resourcefulness thereby
• Restricting the development of the human potential and capital.
It is the main cause of poverty of the mind and underdevelopment of third world countries as its side-effects are indolence, redundancy, laziness and dependence of finished products and services. In the final analysis, it is the predisposing factor to lack of initiative, debilitating ignorance, fetish belief-systems, abject poverty and perennial ill-health.
Perhaps its only advantage is that it makes the polity docile and amenable to the whims and caprices of their oppressive leaders. Often, it hoodwinks its adherents into believing that ‘The God’ or ‘the gods’ they worship speak to them through the voices of their egocentric clerics who therefore can conveniently exploit them to satisfy their demonic desires of sensual pleasure and inordinate ambitions of amassing wealth. Their wanton indulgence in gluttony, wine and women is seen in every action and definitely this is the foolproof evidence of their demonic genealogy.
To rescue humanity from the demonic stranglehold of idolatry that now predominates worldwide, you are invited to reason along with us and see that we provide an everlasting cure for sensual lust for food, wine, sex, wealth and power that are the trademarks of society heading for damnation! Are you going to sit on the fence and wait for another failed experiment in Messiahship that was riddled with myopic and ethnocentric bias? Who knows the Creator well enough to declare that he has ‘a chosen people’? Where is the evidence that Moses actually led the so-called people out of any oppressive regime? The history books and modern encyclopaedia did not record the enslavement of the Jewish race except as ‘they were believed as revealed truths’.
The Creator has hidden so much from
our intellectual faculties that to date we are still unravelling those He is
allowing humanity to glimpse at through divine dreams, intuitions, inspirations
and revelations to devout souls! Do you want to have supernatural knowledge
mediated by spiritual faculties of seeing, feeling, sensing and caring for
others? Look inwards, for the kingdom of God is inside you, not outside as many
preachers tell you. No one ever got eternal bliss by keeping the commandments
of men. It is given to altruistic seekers of that Divine Guidance in the
affairs of mankind, which many yearn for but do not know where, when and how to
find it. Search for it in this book!
The creator gave humans some of his powers and knowledge for recreating the material universe for the mutual benefits of all his created beings but today many use his gifts to perpetrate evil. Either by design or demonic manipulation, the obverse is the case; the first datum that every living thing recognises is that someone put it here and caters for its welfare. Dogs respect and fight in defence of their owners. Every pet realises that it is loved and taken care of by someone who has value for its existence. It is human who pride themselves of being rational beings that do not recognise, respect or realise that all of us have a single owner. It is absurd! Some believe there is an Almighty Creator who provides for each creature on daily basis, some assert that he has turned his back on us due to our congenital wickedness and cruel ways, while others simply deny his existence!
This is my summation of the problem; “Religion was/is a superstitious search by humanity for its origin, existence, meaning and relevance before the scientific era. The search was led by acclaimed sages among the elders of a community who defined its theories and practices. It is later ratified and recommended for legislation and implementation by state apparatus by convincing stratagem or coercion by politico-religious leaders. Thereafter, it is fine tuned and administered by ordained priests and priestesses who hand it down along ancestral lineages from one generation of lukewarm adherents, fanatics and mystics to another. Gradually, strong personalities emerge claiming divine appointment and so pull strong followers who idolise them as role models with supernatural powers. This obsession confirms them as beacons of adulation and finally leads to full scale idolatry.
The creator gave humans some of his powers and knowledge for recreating the material universe for the mutual benefits of all his created beings but today many use his gifts to perpetrate evil. Either by design or demonic manipulation, the obverse is the case; the first datum that every living thing recognises is that someone put it here and caters for its welfare. Dogs respect and fight in defence of their owners. Every pet realises that it is loved and taken care of by someone who has value for its existence. It is human who pride themselves of being rational beings that do not recognise, respect or realise that all of us have a single owner. It is absurd! Some believe there is an Almighty Creator who provides for each creature on daily basis, some assert that he has turned his back on us due to our congenital wickedness and cruel ways, while others simply deny his existence!
This is my summation of the problem; “Religion was/is a superstitious search by humanity for its origin, existence, meaning and relevance before the scientific era. The search was led by acclaimed sages among the elders of a community who defined its theories and practices. It is later ratified and recommended for legislation and implementation by state apparatus by convincing stratagem or coercion by politico-religious leaders. Thereafter, it is fine tuned and administered by ordained priests and priestesses who hand it down along ancestral lineages from one generation of lukewarm adherents, fanatics and mystics to another. Gradually, strong personalities emerge claiming divine appointment and so pull strong followers who idolise them as role models with supernatural powers. This obsession confirms them as beacons of adulation and finally leads to full scale idolatry.
INTRODUCTION TO INTEGRATIONAL
SPIRITAN MOVEMENT
The Computer-Age Spiritual Fellowship for Citizens of Our Global Village
Many people are mere conformists. They are those personalities that are satisfied with ‘going through the motions’; doing what everyone else is doing to make a living and waiting for the final ‘call to glory’ as they brand death! Many of us are born and live an inconsequential life; bland, uneventful and without anything particular to be remembered for after our exit from this mundane world, a temporal habitation for the soul. There are some others, whose lives and contributions to the society made a difference! They changed the ‘status quo’ by either extending the frontiers of knowledge or developing their immediate communities. They improved the understanding of human nature and taught others the values of humanitarianism. These heroes and heroines touched the lives of many both inter-racially and internationally.
The Computer-Age Spiritual Fellowship for Citizens of Our Global Village
Many people are mere conformists. They are those personalities that are satisfied with ‘going through the motions’; doing what everyone else is doing to make a living and waiting for the final ‘call to glory’ as they brand death! Many of us are born and live an inconsequential life; bland, uneventful and without anything particular to be remembered for after our exit from this mundane world, a temporal habitation for the soul. There are some others, whose lives and contributions to the society made a difference! They changed the ‘status quo’ by either extending the frontiers of knowledge or developing their immediate communities. They improved the understanding of human nature and taught others the values of humanitarianism. These heroes and heroines touched the lives of many both inter-racially and internationally.
They added colour to the doldrums of routine existence on planet earth!
A few had tall dreams and went ahead to transform them into reality despite all odds. This group devised methods of changing the deplorable situations and the deprived circumstances of the lifestyle they met on becoming adults. Some adolescents dream of the courage to better their social status, but often take off on the wrong foot of seeking for titles, money, fame and crowning it all with indulging in romantic relationships.
Others dared to pursue the unknown, to break new grounds and blaze trails for followers to tread on. Their zeal, inquisitiveness, passion, persistence, desire, motivations and prayers were fully rewarded if they paid the prize for success; optimism, dedication and the refusal to quit. Their philosophy of life was ‘When the task gets tough, the tough get it going!’, ‘Never say, never again!’ or ‘All that it takes to make the impossible possible is the power to remove the ‘im’ in front of the possible!’
They eventually became geniuses, inventors, explorers, leaders or discoverers! They evolved into the innovators and pioneers who helped to enlarge the frontiers of human civilisations and removed the age-old boundaries of the unknown. Joining this select group of animators or league of achievers is usually not by accident or by mere wishful thinking. Beyond desire and hard work is a divine factor that must be recognised, respected and appropriated in unveiling the unknown that the Divine Architect had hidden there for ages waiting for a brave soul to convert it from obscure dormancy to utilitarian vibrancy. This author, Dr Kenez wants to know where you belong in this universal continuum. Or, are you waiting for ‘manna from heaven’?
