Good and Evil, the Principal Flaw of Christianity
Shakespeare famously wrote in Hamlet, "For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
Good and evil describe contrasting aspects of existence which apply to moral and ethical decisions, behaviors, and intentions of individuals, societies, and institutions. The terms are used to judge actions and events, from personal conduct to historical occurrences and cultural narratives.
In mythology, and religion, good and evil symbolize the struggle between virtue and vice, order and chaos, or harmony and discord. These concepts have been integral in shaping moral frameworks and guiding principles across our culture.
What is important to note is that these concepts are judgment calls established by the culture we live in, and are not driven by divine entities. Nonetheless we have unfortunately made these concepts part of our false understanding of the divine, with a belief based on a good God and and evil Satan.
Good and evil as Divine concepts may appear obvious to us, but this is only because we were conditioned to view our reality this way. This misconception is malicious and may be the bases of many of the flaws of our society.
The nature of our sexuality makes us inherently competitive beings, good and evil are the words we use to define and contrast the outcome of competition. Good and evil is a point of view of the outcome of a competitive struggle, what is considered good to one party may be considered evil by the other.
This is misunderstood in most all religious text, as there is an attempt to see good and evil as divine forces that can be controlled only if you follow the instructions of your Priest. The contrast between good and evil, is a scare tactic used by religious institutions to manipulate and condition social behavior.
For the oppressed, it is clear good is preferred over evil, and when found helpless against oppression it is natural to see ones oppression as a spiritual force, it is understandable that one may seek comfort by calling for the assistance of a good God, as you can see no other solution. This false perception causes inaction against the perpetrator, as one hopes that God will intervene. Evil is corrected not by God, evil can only be corrected by education and a proper response to the situation.
Consider the civil rights movement in the United states, the proper action was protest and defiance, along with the reeducation of the general population of the need for equal rights. Evil is not a Devine issue but rather a problem of intellect, education, perception, or simply a mistaken point of view.
Within the context of slavery, methods such as whipping, starvation, and all other forms of punishment are viewed as evil. However, the slave master might perceive these actions as good and necessary for managing labor.
For those in power evil is a necessity, for it must be an acceptable norm if you wish to stay in power. Ultimately, if you rule over others, you are involved in the act of subjugation, and subjugation is the basis of slavery which is the foundational evil Moses frees his people from.
The first century Platonists saw no divine or spiritual conflict between good an evil, nor do the Jews have an evil Satan, whereas the Zoroastrians definitely do. This is why I believe that the Zoroastrian astrological Cult of Mithra, with Mithra as the mediator between good and evil, its priest who were called Father, and communion meal, was the secret religion of the Apostle Paul, the Emperor Constantine, and to this day is the true secret Cult behind the power of the Catholic Church. The Good vs Evil perception has been central to our western religion, and is the primary mistake of western thinking.
The misinterpretation of Good and Evil has shaped the competitive nature of civilization. Good is often personified as the weak and meek, while Evil is seen as a force that attacks what is good, the meek and weak, embodying the victor or superior as Evil. Within the framework of Western religious belief, this dynamic forces rulers into the role of Satanists, while the servant class becomes the meek who must be oppressed. This conception underpins our Western understanding of competition and power. These ideas are instilled in us from a young age through religious teachings, and as adults, they are reinforced through secret societies within the more dominant sectors of society.
The Christian Good versus Evil divine conflict fails to appreciate the very nature of the Platonic Nous or Intelligence, the emanation of the Unknowable God which the Soul through the Holy Spirit strives to know.
For the Platonist, evil is only the lack of intelligence or nous. This is seen as a failure of the Soul in its attempt to know God, (God which is what is Good}, through the Nous. Plato used the word "nous" as understood to the common everyday Greek, which simply meant "good sense" or "awareness," which is the same as intelligence to us. Therefore if you have developed your intelligence and have good sense you simply do not do evil. Good is natural and normal behavior and evil is simply what fools do, having no relationship to any divine forces.
The Christian Logos had hoped to produce the ideal community, maybe even to have transformed the world, but in my opinion it has this flaw, the conflict between good and evil.
While Christianity may have been effective within monastic communities, it has not transformed society at large. Historically, the Catholic Church has not been interested in the poor, it has always been a tyranny led by the aristocracy, Christianity has been from its inception a tool for conquest. The Church assumed a role akin to that of the Pharisees, transforming the Logos into an instrument of ecclesiastical power. It defended the authority of monarchs and the power they wielded over the subjugated and the meek.
Humanity is a species driven by sexual dominance, often too proud to acknowledge its true animal nature. We exist within a deterministic framework, devoid of free will, which makes the concept of good and evil even more absurd.
The concepts of good and evil are constructs designed to instill fear in the ignorant and to empower those in positions of authority. Until we recognize how determined our behavior is we will not change, we will always kill the Messiah and we will crown the new dominant hairless ape.
Good and Evil within Justice
Although we all think we know what justice is, It has been difficult for mankind to comprehend justice. Although modern democracies profess equal justice, both equal justice and democracy is but an illusion. Democracies are managed through secret societies which are tyrannical and function through the principal of justice of the strong, which makes "equal justice" only a well organized deception.
If you have the money to hire lawyers and have friends and influence within the judicial process you will prevail, otherwise you will be trampled. Therefore, in order to succeed you must be a loyal servant of a secret society which will dictate what you believe, you will then be required to favor your brothers, and harm all others. There is a reason Democracy did not survive in ancient Greece and why democracy is only an illusion we practice today, tyranny is simply a far more effective form of governance.
“Justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger” Thrasymachus, Plato, The Republic
Being strong equals power and you obtain power by doing harm to others, while being loyal only to your kin and clan, a very effective precept for nationhood, but gave us our history of wars, and societies based on human enslavement. Socrates creates the argument that the "justice of the strong" is wrong, that we can live in a society of rules and laws equal to all. So we killed him.
Christ adds democracy and a divine nature to the Socratic argument of equal justice. So we certainly killed him as well.
You can see evolution in history, and you know you evolved from childhood. The type of evolution that matters today comes through knowledge, education, and reason. A process which requires time, effort and honesty. It is the equation for wisdom, and the cure for what we can call evil.
The evolution of religion has permitted the semi-democratic world we have today. Today we have quarterbacks, and not gladiators for entertainment, we have become slightly less barbaric. This evolution needs to take one more step, the redemption of all mankind.
How does God fit into an unjust world?
I believe that true justice can only exist when there is a collective will for it among the population. People must first overcome their narrow-mindedness, which will require a new way of thinking, a new kind of belief system or religion. Since God is a mental construct, God can be made to fit any world, just or unjust. Therefore, it is up to us to define and believe in a God that leads to a just world.
Many people can easily accept there is no God, but few will say that love of neighbor, or compassion is a bad practice.
Stop asking the God’s to fix our failures, stop blaming God or the devil for our faults. The path to heaven may not be dependent on good works, but here on earth the problems are caused by you, and if you don’t think, if you don’t act, you are the problem.
God has given us all that is required for each of us to have contentment, we are limited only by ignorance, and the fact that in our daily lives we face some of us who will constantly take our efforts as their spoils. The solution for these two issues is education, and an ability to keep a keen eye on corruption. To achieve this outcome I have suggested an open democratic form of governance coupled with a religion based on truth.
Recent discoveries of Gnostic documents have revealed that early Christianity existed in many forms. There wasn’t just one unified Logos but various interpretations on a similar theme. The New Testament, which has been used for nearly two thousand years, was a product of Emperor Constantine in 325 AD. This Bible, a distillation of diverse beliefs, was crafted to maintain dominion over a slave class and preserve a master-slave hierarchy.
Over the years, many texts that conflicted with the empire's chosen doctrine were either omitted or destroyed. The Bible, which we now use as an instruction book, is a carefully crafted manual designed to control an uninitiated, uninformed, and uneducated slave class—who tragically believe they are free and destined for heaven. Much of what is wrong with human behavior stems from misguided beliefs, and many of these failings can be traced back to Biblical teachings. If we ever hope to improve society, we must confront the flaws in these beliefs.
14- (7): Opinion
No matter how you wish to interpret the connection between history and Western religion, the New Testament stands as a theological and philosophical framework for governance that has failed the poor and uneducated for over 2,000 years. While Christianity may have aimed to inspire social change and liberate the oppressed, it instead became a tool for tyrants and those who thrive on dominating a subjugated class. Nations do not practice love of neighbor; instead, we venerate power, oppressing the meek and kindhearted. Those who were meant to find salvation in the Christian message have become the indoctrinated masses we exploit in an economy based on a master-slave paradigm.
The reason why Christianity has been a religion of war and conquest is because the master-slave behavior is in our human nature, as bondage is the natural outcome of sexual competition. If we think, if we reason, if we approach intelligence we will recognize the absurdity of our existence, yet what we see we are unable to change, because our tyrannical reality is in our nature. Competition is the personification of the Alpha male and female. Competition is a primal instinct rooted in our sexual drive, which fuels evolution. We must recognize this reality before any meaningful change can occur.
Our Church should have been our salvation from this absurdity, but it is a monolith of dogma. It is not open to reason, it is tyrannical and was never designed to truly fulfill a Christian message. Rather its design was to make a slave population docile and subservient, to support Caesar, the vast variety of Kings and Nobility of Europe, and today corporate oligarchs.
Acts 17: And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
Nothing changed, everything remains upside down. If we could see the absurdity of our lives and redefine love as infinite compassion and empathy, instead of the desire we focus on today, our perspective would shift. If we recognized human existence as a collection of unnecessary suffering, we might finally understand the need to care for the least among us, instead of offering them the neglect and abuse they face now. We must stop pretending we can comprehend the unknowable, like the nature of God, and avoid labeling it as either good or evil. When we decide that life or God is "good," we create false narratives about our purpose, turning love into something possessive, a tool for gaining power over others.
Blinded by ignorance, we blame the devil for our failures and accept the absurdity of life as Gods will. We claim to be made in the image of a good God, but fail to recognize we are animals, driven by the same evolutionary instincts as apes. We fight and kill over resources, subjugate those we claim to love, and remain clueless about our true motivations or purpose, all while killing women and children in pursuit of power and land. We ignore the Christian message of love of neighbor as unrealistic, instead we accept the Old Testament model of a chosen people who strive to be so through war and aggression.
"The Sermon on the Mount was so “radical that the Defense Department wouldn’t survive its application." 2006 speech -Sen. Barack Obama
It is no longer inconceivable to build the world hoped for in the Christian message. Although class struggle has been how humans have moved forward and evolved, the norm is to the ideal and we will eventually come to this ideal.
Every rational person understands that we all benefit when our neighbors are intelligent and wise, and that there is no need for a leisure class or slaves to provide for us. Our economies already produce more than enough food and shelter for everyone; what we truly lack is truth and a proper education. Progress, in the traditional sense, is over for us. There is no further evolution for humanity, intelligence will become artificial, and evolution will continue increasing complexity until reality becomes even more incomprehensible. Our purpose, as it once was, is complete. The struggle is finished. Now, it is our responsibility to build a just and humane society.
A civilization is built on its beliefs, and we will never escape the need for religion, as it is the tool that shapes our worldview. However, our civilization has outgrown its current dogma. Our belief systems are no longer compatible with modern knowledge, history, or science.
Pastors can no longer fully believe what they preach, and if they do, it leads to a case of the blind leading the blind. If we continue to cling to the status quo, we will perpetuate a polarized society, divided between the ignorance of the masses and the hypocrisy of the elite.
We cannot simply abolish Western religion for some new-age concept. Any transition must preserve the past while guiding us toward a solution that truly fulfills or redeems the promises in our religious texts.
Since civilization is rooted in its beliefs, many of our problems likely stem from misunderstanding the truth about the unknown, what we call God. The solution lies in accepting that God is unknowable, while recognizing that what we seek from God is already within reach, attainable by all, and simple to realize.
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22
The above verse is how the New Testament ends, it is a warning not to change the word. Similar to a penalty for committing a crime when we know people will always commit crimes. What we overlook is that the message we are told not to change was created out of a variety of possible options. The Testament was selected by fourth century theologians and politicians from a large variety of different takes of a messianic message, with one concern underlying the process of compilation, "In hoc signo vinces," It was designed by the Pontifex Maximus, Constantine, for the dominion of the people of his empire, When we say Dominus, or Lord, we speak of Caesar.
What we use as our Testament did have text added, and was altered, it is a specific construct for dominion of the poor rather than its salvation. Yet, this is unimportant because the true message of an expected Messiah and the Logos is a truth which is instinctively known to all reasonable people. In other words, rational minds selected the text to be the Christian spiritual guide, and it went through editing and revisions to become the ideal Logos for tyranny, for Caesar, and today will require rational minds to give it a full revision in order for it to become a message that actually works for all mankind.
If the new and old testament has served us for this many years why could we not evolve our interpretation of the text into a more truthful version of the human reality. Certainly if we do we can then commence with the initiation of the Messianic Age that has been so awaited for.
Each of us as humans have similar motivations, and it has been from these motivations that we built the structure of our religion, society and its laws. What can we honestly ask of God that we can not provide for ourselves?
In that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, Romans 2:14
In the past, a pantheon of gods, symbolized by planets and stars, was used to explain the mystical forces of nature. These gods were thought to influence human traits, with love and war being expressions of their will in relation to humanity, all interpreted and mediated by a priestly class.
With Christ, however, we are introduced to Platonic ideas: an unknowable God, the Logos (Son or Intellect), and the Holy Spirit, which links us to the divine. This shift calls for the removal of the priestly intermediaries and places the responsibility on each individual to understand God through their own soul, applying a law focused on the well-being of others.
Recognizing that the New and Old Testaments reflect two distinct theologies could serve as a foundation for rethinking our beliefs and practices.
Competition is effective albeit brutal, throughout the world people compete, we exalt competition, a behavior which is based on taking something called profit from another. The reason we see so few people living under a law that is directed to the benefit of neighbors is because we have chosen to do the opposite, we choose to compete, therefore we live in an absurd society based on good and evil, greed and competition, we live in misery, and we produce misery only because we choose to do nothing about these facts.
The reason we choose to compete is because it is our nature, and although reasonable people may choose otherwise, it is not natural to be reasonable, reason requires education and not everyone has this opportunity.
I don’t expect people to stop competing, but I do believe that there are reasonable educated people that can see that life is better served in service to others, people that see a better world and are not motivated by the shiny objects that we obtain through competition. There are people that find it unpleasant to be motivated by sexual desire and find greater pleasure in the aesthetic values of a better society.
I call on these people, the rational, and considerate, to come together and build a proper belief and factual reality for the future.
Constantine discovered the value of Christianity as a tool for dominion, and would build a Church that would dominate the western world. A new priest class, and universal belief that was ideal for the empire. Today's Rome is not the city of Rome, but an institution that extends from the pastor of the local Church to the international cabal of rulers that profit from human toil, all fueled by our stupidity. In all these years since Jesus Christ, humanity has evolved and prospered, yet little has changed in the relation between slave, and master. It has been our Church that has carefully maintained this status quo.
Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.' And they cast lots to divide his clothing” Luke 23:34
Human evolution has been characterized by a brutal competition among hairless apes, a process we now refer to as civilization. This barbarism has been perpetuated by a Church that acts out of ignorance rather than understanding.
Civilization can be seen as an unfortunate, yet inevitable sequence of conflicts, wars, and enslavement that will persist unless we become self-aware, assess our circumstances, and face these truths honestly. Our church or religion can only promote what people are willing to accept, and people can only accept what their intellectual capacity allows. Therefore, if we truly desire a better world, it becomes essential to elevate the consciousness of everyone.
“The only good is knowledge. And, the only evil is ignorance.” — Socrates
Our plight stems from ignorance of our reality, and only through proper reasoning can we hope to transcend this absurdity. By engaging in thoughtful contemplation rather than reacting impulsively to life, we can avoid being controlled by governments, others, or circumstances.
15- Traditional Christianity contrasted to an updated perspective
To better understand Christianity, we should view it as a fusion of several distinct religious elements: the Egyptian concept of the afterlife, Zoroastrian ideas of good and evil, and Platonic notions of the Trinity, Soul, and unknowable God—all framed within the context of Judaism, with the Old Testament as its foundation.
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 messianic hope for the oppressed. Yet, both have been woven together into a singular doctrine that has shaped the governance of Western society.
The reason for this compilation of faith can be traced back to Josephus, Titus, and the many Jewish revolts of the First Century, but to explain this would side tract the point of this chapter.
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.
Of course Judaism is a completely separate religion, and Jews do not teach Christianity to their people. As for Christianity, by incorporating the Old Testament within the Jewish faith you include the "Chosen People" as part of the Christian dogma. This enforces the idea of a separate and superior or chosen people that have greater authority, a managerial group that Christians must protect and respect.
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 the 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. Either through conversion into Judaism or initiation into secret societies Christians can be selected for their propensity to not "turn the other cheek," and instill a “what do you care” attitude to its initiates. They will be introduced and indoctrinated into the world of the masters over others, thus producing a managerial elite. This gives us a hidden tyrannical order separate from our government, that lies within the military, police, finance, and corporate class. The phrase "making good men better" depends greatly on your definition of good. In essence this is what we sometimes call the "deep state," a secretive and behind the scenes form of governance.
“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 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 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 and sects have emerged, creating various divergent religions. This is nothing new. in fact, early 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.
To simplify life, lets make the Church an economic and political solution, no longer would the Church ask for money, as it would make its own money. Congregants could work in common toward business goals. This could be any business, thus providing work for the unemployed and skilled training for the unskilled.
The Ekklesia, or what we call Church, would be an online, open, direct, and transparent Democracy. With this fundamental change society will improve, ideas will exchange freely, and transparency will handicap corruption.
This religion would seek truth, would not be based on faith, but on a search for truth. 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. The central point of the theology is to attempt to understand what "good" may mean to God, how that may apply to us, and to how we live our lives.
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 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.
We can love those who harm us, “for they know not what they do,” love becomes an infinite pity or compassion.
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 we no longer need God, or a priest to forgive our transgressions. 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, and as the nature 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.
A deterministic reality driven by sexual competition clearly points to a history of enslavement to desire and circumstance. Life is a deterministic chain of events that enslaves us, this must be recognized before we can hope to be free.
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 the absurdity. This awareness will force us to see love as an “infinite pity” instead of the sexual motivation it has 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 tragedy.
In order to build a religion and society that is functional, we first need individuals who understand these two key principles, that reality is deterministic, and is 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.
Let us consider the Church, democracy, and what a new belief may look like.
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 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 which is run by its employees for the benefit of its employees. Furthermore, this community, with the exception of a few principals, is free to believe whatever it wants. This faith does not discriminate, you can be an atheist, Jewish, Muslim... your belief is unimportant to the Church, your abilities and actions are what 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 of faith 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 distinct 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, 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. Greater awareness of this fact will lead us to greater freedom and to fewer transgressions which affect others.
Please let me restate the principles of this congregation:
I suggest a very simple sort of Neo-Christianity, with only two key principles, and a Trinity:
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 into behavior that may not be rational. Once we know this, we will no longer take seriously the many motivations we have.
The Trinity is described as follows…
The “ONE” or God is the first part of the Trinity, God must be seen as "good," and as the creator. God is unknowable, and this causes a contradiction as our task as a Church is to know God, to understand what "good" signifies, yet by this definition little can be said about God as factual, and what can be said must be accepted as faith.
The Second aspect of the Trinity is Christ, the word, or Logos, can be found anywhere, and is discovered by being truthful.
The Third aspect is the Holy Spirit, our connection to God which is within us. With the "Holy Spirit" we search for truth, we use reason and logic to understand the Logos, and gain some glimpse of God. Although God is unknowable, the Logos along with the Holy Spirit permits us to know some aspects of God, through which our Soul matures, we become free, and our lives are enriched.
Nothing more! If we can know Christ, or the Logos, then we will function correctly, and the Church will function correctly.
16 - From Platonism- to Christianity- to Kabbalah- to a better today
A first-century Platonist would have understood the logos as the universal reason or principle that orders the cosmos and provides coherence. This concept was heavily influenced, if not created, by Heraclitus, who used the term to describe the underlying order and rationality of the universe. For Platonists, the logos was seen as the divine reason that permeates all things and connects the material world with the metaphysical realm of forms or ideas.
The concept of the logos was not introduced by Christianity but by Heraclitus, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived around 500 BC. He was born in Ephesus, the same city where the Apostle Paul would later teach Christianity. The Greek Platonic concepts of both the Trinity and the Logos were modified and then incorporated into the new Christian faith for the first century Roman Empire.
For first-century Christians, the "Logos" and the "Word of God" were synonymous; Jesus Christ is the Logos, both are one and the same. These terms describe the Nous or Intelligence, which is the second aspect of the Platonic Trinity—the only aspect of God we can know.
“In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.” — John 1:1
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14
In this reinterpretation of the Genesis story, Jesus Christ is identified as the Word (Logos), existing with God from the beginning and being one with God. "Logos," originally a Greek term, means "reason," "discourse," or "principle." In Greek thought, particularly Stoicism, Logos referred to the divine, animating principle of the universe—a concept foundational to Greek philosophy, and is not in any way part of Jewish tradition.
The concept of the Trinity also draws from Platonic ideas. While Plato did not describe a Trinity, the Platonic framework includes the One (the Good), the Intellect (Nous), and the Soul (Psyche), forming a metaphysical triad. In a Christian context, the One aligns with the unknowable God, the Intellect (Nous) represents Christ, or the Son, and instead of the Soul, Christians hold that the third element, the Holy Spirit, is a divine force that guides the soul toward good.
Thus, within this view, Logos (as Christ) represents divine intellect, the second aspect of the Trinity, with God as the unknowable One, the first aspect. The third aspect, the Holy Spirit, acts upon the human soul, guiding it toward God or ultimate goodness.
To be able to understand the relationship between Platonism and Christianity, it is important to understand the Platonic concept of Forms, which was central to Plato's philosophy.
Similar to how Christians understand God, in Plato's view, Forms are the perfect, unchanging concepts or ideals that exist in an abstract realm, beyond our physical world. Everything we see in the physical world is just an imperfect reflection or copy of these perfect Forms. For example, when we see a beautiful object, it is beautiful because it participates in the Form of Beauty, which is perfect and unchanging. The Platonic Form of beauty is not that which is in the eye of the beholder, it is an ideal and perfect beauty, something that requires maturity of the soul to see. It is very possible to see something as beautifull that is not beautiful, or think someone is wise that is not. The Forms are close to God, perfection and therefor almost unknowable.
Here lies the prime aspect or true value of Christianity, Christ the Logos, this perfect understanding of God or that which is "Good," as "Good" is the principal Form, and the most difficult to know. We approch God through the maturation of our Soul, and with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. This is why Christianity requires no temple, it is a very personal life long effort toward intelligence, a road way to God, to mature our soul, to live a real life, and to prepare for death.
These are some key points to understand about Platonic Forms:
1. Forms are perfect examples of concepts or qualities (e.g., Beauty, Justice, Equality).
2. Forms do not change; they are eternal and constant.
3. Forms exist independently of the objects in the physical world.
4. Forms are universal; the Form of Beauty, for instance, applies to all beautiful things.
Plato believed that true knowledge is knowledge of these Forms. While we can only perceive the physical world through our senses, we can grasp the Forms through our intellect and reasoning. The same should be said about the Christian Logos, we can grasp the Logos or Christ through our intellect and reasoning.
Philo of Alexandria ( 20 BC– 50 CE), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. He gives us an insight into how important Hellenism and the Philosophy of Platonism was to many Jews at the time of Christ. Philo interprets the Logos, which is the Divine Mind as a Platonic Form of Forms, the Idea of Ideas or the sum total of Forms or Ideas. The Logos is an indestructible Form of wisdom, also known as Sophia.
The Apostle Paul must have also seen the Platonic similarities to the Trinity, their Unknowable God, and Soul - all of which are not part of his Jewish faith.
Comparisons between Christianity and Platonism:
Concepts such as the Trinity, Logos, and Soul are not in the Torah, they are not Jewish, it is no wonder Jews do not accept Christ. Modern scholarly consensus holds that the Torah makes no reference to an immortal soul independent of the body. The Trinity and its Logos is absolutely a Platonic concept, and the reason why Sophia is such a common name for many Catholic institutions.
Christianity is the Ekklēsia, originally the principal assembly of ancient Athens during its Golden Age, the time of the world's first democracy, and the only polis until the United States became a government resembling a democracy.
I do not believe Christ ever intended for His church to become a tool for domination used to control a population. The Church of Christ was to be a spiritual and political governing body, a lawful assembly of free people, a force that made the Logos of God a spiritual reality on the material earth. We know this because the Greek word Ekklesia, used for Church by Jesus, was a political term, used in the government of the assemblies of those days.
It is only through our Soul that we can know Christ, the Word, Logos, Nous, Intelligence, or Divine Mind.... call it what you will, but it is only through our Soul that Christians can know the "Word of Christ." Our Soul is not born "intelligent," it must be developed from our discovery of "truth," which in turn comes from our ability to "reason." Therefore, in order to have a Soul that is of any value, we each must be able to reason, and discover the truth, and this is why Christ says...
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26
The Church, or Ekklēsia, is the place where Christ, the “Logos,” or “reasoned discourse” should take place. We are all sinners, but not so much when others are present, Church is how a community finds the truth, through a transparent dialogue about how to understand the Logos, how to behave, and what work must be done for Christ.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." John 14:12 .
Life is a task, first to mature the soul, understand what is good, then to act acordingly.
The governing body of the Christian community is not a Church or Synagogue filled with ceremony, or rants and singing, but a reasoned discussion on how to govern, and as such would have built the community spoken of, and hoped for by Christ in the New Testament.
Today western theology is a dual search for redemption, one of the New Testament for the Gentiles and another for the Jews found in the Old Testament. Between the master and slave, the goy and chosen - a theology was molded into a religion from our animal characteristics of sexual dominance.
Our modern economic system offers more than enough potential to fulfill both the Jewish, Islamic and Christian view of redemption, where there is no longer any need for a slave class to till the fields, nor any benefit gained from a master class to exist from the toil of others. The meek can and should inherit the earth, the chosen people can return to Israel, and the Christians can love their neighbors, and we can make all this happen without further human conflict.
There is such an excess of material things in the developed world that it's only a matter of time before we reject the material in favor of the aesthetic. Education is what turns our attention to more aesthetic and selfless goals. Education must become our new status marker, what we evangelize must be truth and knowledge, then the working class will produce art, the priest class will educate and govern us, all while the leisure class will become stylistically absurd.
The truth has always been kept away from as many as possible, secret societies, inquisitions, and outlawed books have been the norm. Belief is controlled... but today information is close at hand to anyone, giving us the ability to dramatically improve our consciousness, as well as the practical aspects of living.
We are responsible to be honest and careful in how we define the truth, we are the jurors of our reality. With a true understanding of who we are, our lives will be enriched with love and peace. Today, for once in all history, we can actually act to produce utopia and end this absurdity.
In order for this to take place, for this Utopia, or Messianic age to become real, we simply need to know what to do, and do it. Unfortunately, although simple, we are so far from the mark, that this will be a radical change of belief from the current status quo.
Platonic forms are those things imagined that we then make real, we build things that were once metaphysical and make them part of reality. We discovered America, we discovered electricity, we discovered computers, all these things were there and were not created by us, but were already there when we came to them. Technology is given to us by God, it is a Platonic form, we discover it and evolve from it because we search for truth. Reading and writing is also a technology, and by definition the word.
If Christianity is a set of instructions to save the meek, humble and oppressed, then it has failed, yet there is a set of words which form a Logos which actually works, and it is this new Logos that will be transformative to us.
I have compared religion to an algorithm, and know that there are instructions for a better world, we can find these instructions in the same way we find Christ, because the knowledge is within us.
Today's technology will educate us, feed us, and provide a collaborative way for Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, and communities to manage themselves. Transparency will weed out the hypocrites, and bad actors, compelling congregations and businesses to compete not for profit, but to do real honest good.
When we abandon the absurdity of good and evil, and the mistaken concept of Satan, we will see that evil is no more than primitive human behavior patterns which arise from our sexual nature, and lack of education. We will fear stupidity and pity transgressors. We must see that we are not that far removed from a chimp, that evil is left behind when we evolve from the flesh, to the spirit, rather from animal to well educated humans.
Tikkun Olam
Let us accept that our entire western belief system is based on the Jewish people as the chosen people, now chosen to “Tikkun Olam,'' or to repair this world. That it is the divine duty of the Jewish people to interpret God's intentions, and to produce this coming Messianic age. This way the Messiah is the entire Jewish people, and any opposition to a better world would have no single Messiah to re-crucify. The Christians and Islam with their love of neighbor, and do well unto others precepts, would of course assist in the production. If the Jewish people do not take the lead, then this must happen regardless, for reason must prevail.
We must recognize what is obvious, the Old Testament is a war manual, and the people of Abraham were created by the Pharaoh as soldiers for the protection of a frontier. Time over time the Israelites have been the administrators between power and servitude, and now simply need to change their masters to "we the people'' as should be in any democracy.
In order to prevent corruption, place the entire mechanism for the process of “Tikkun Olam” onto a variety of open transparent online platforms. A variety of separate economic institutions because humanity is not homogeneous, we are distinct, and we should choose the economic system we prefer. Here all can work to improve, and verify the quality of the social economic product they use. Apply aspects of artificial intelligence to automate the individual attention to education and repair every aspect of society.
This would combine the economic, educational, and spiritual aspects of life, to be administered by a direct open democratic system. The status quo would not be upset, as this would not replace anything, this proposal would only provide a rational opportunity to repair the absurdity we all currently are forced to live with.