-Caveat Lector-
Many thanks to DasGoat for jumping in here with some very cogent words on
this subject, and I will defer all comments along this topic to what he has
said below, and ask all who would discuss such topics to bear this in mind.
In a message dated 11/20/99 9:01:07 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:
> For Western Civilization as a semi-Christianized culture (the other main
> influence is the Greco-Roman or "classical" tradition), "Satan" aka
"Lucifer"
>
> is an ARCHETYPE of the Conspirator -- specifically, as the rebel leader of
> an
> actual (or attempted and ongoing) coup d'etat against the Divine Order.
The
> Bible IMPLICITLY refers to that Conspiracy, using it to cosmically mirror
> the
> dualistic struggle in (Biblical) human history between God's Chosen People
> and the "Sons of Belial" (Cainites, descendants of Ham, Egypt and the
> Canaanites, etc), toward the ultimate goal of realizing, through man's
"free
> will," either the "Kingdom of Heaven" or its opposite, on the earthly plane
> -- i.e., as a social system and universal (global) State for the latest
> addition to the Creation, humankind.
>
> That perspective is so much a "given" among Jews and Christians --as well
as
> among those not even especially religious but who are subconsciously
> INFLUENCED by our cultural root-assumptions-- that, IMHO, it need NOT be
> continuously and repetitively "proven" by citations from the Bible -- a
> PUBLIC source-document ALREADY on our bookshelves! The main problem here
is,
>
> in order to "prove" that the above-described Conspiracy is REAL, one FIRST
> has to "prove" that the fundamental doctrinal beliefs or dogmas of
> Christianity (and of Judaism, in its Old Testament form) are LIKEWISE
"real,"
>
> because the validity of that Conspiracy Theory, especially in literalistic
> terms, depends entirely on the validity ("truth") of its THEOLOGY.
>
> So, any argument GOING BEYOND accepting the "Satanic" or "Luciferian"
> Conspiracy codified in the Bible as just an ARCHETYPE --a "dramatized"
> symbolic representation of something deeply rooted in human nature,
manifest
> in history-- or, to accommodate even religious literalists, accepting it
as
> a
> HYPOTHESIS (in practice, "let's ASSUME, for the sake of argument, that this
> is a feasible explanation , and now let's all TEST it skeptically, to see
> how well it "fits" when faced with "outside," "contradictory" data"),
> is inevitably doomed to become a polemical THEOLOGICAL argument, leaning
> toward
> PROSELYTIZING for a distinct "partisan" belief system (which, by its very
> nature, can't avoid being ANTAGONISTIC toward expressions of NON-belief and
> rational criticism) -- UNLESS great care is taken to AVOID us falling into,
> or being pulled into, that trap.
>
> If highly emotional debates on the validity of "truths" premised
> fundamentally on "faith" ("truths" which do not brook the more noncommittal
> rational critical analysis which is primary on this list) and overtly
> partisan "proselytizing" can be avoided here, in a forum expressly designed
> to be a "safe" place for discussions among subscribers who have MANY
> DIFFERENT points of view and who may entertain DIVERGENT "hypotheses,"
> then the "Satanic" or "Luciferian" Conspiracy Theory favored by Christians
> and Jews
> is WELCOME here, because it is, in fact, one of the major hypotheses in
this
> area.
>
> Important to keep in mind, however, that it is, as I say, only ONE of those
> hypotheses,
> and it should be taken for granted that it will NOT be accorded any
> "privileged" status
> alongside OTHER hypotheses, which, please note, may ALSO be of a
> "theological" or
> philosophical nature -- for example, Indo-Iranian Dualism (a major source
> for
> what later
> turned up in the Old Testament, according to scholars) and its offshoot,
> Gnosticism, (which played a major role in shaping several "orthodox"
beliefs
> in early Christianity),
> or Western Pythagorean-Platonism and Neoplatonism (one basis for
> "Hermeticism")
> and its Eastern equivalent in Kabbalah -- or even the "mythologies" (more
> accurately "religions") of the Sumerians, non-Israelite Semites,
> Indo-Europeans -- who, by the way, ALSO refer to something like an
> Arch-Conspirator and a cosmic Coup d'Etat -- e.g., in the Greek story of
> Prometheus and in the Babylonian account of "Creation."
> This is intended to be a forum where "orthodox" religious doctrines can be
> discussed AMICABLY alongside discussion of ancient mythologies and esoteric
> philosophies --
> as a backdrop for discussion of more modern "secret societies" and their
> worldviews,
> the CENTRAL subject matter, really, of our field crudely named "Conspiracy
> Theory."
>
> Here, we let readers make up their OWN minds about what is ultimately
"true,"
>
> with no PRESSURE --direct or subtler-- for them to "believe" one way or
> another, and toward this end, contributors are asked only to provide
> worthwhile DATA for readers to weigh
> and compare to OTHER data in DIFFERENT contexts, toward a broader
> understanding
> outside the more restricted, more familiar contexts that are often used to
> deliberately
> MISLEAD us or at least guarantee that we arrive at only pre-determined
> conclusions.
>
> Every contributor with his or her own "theory" of course BELIEVES in it and
> can't avoid attempting to persuade others to SHARE that belief -- but when
> the effort to CONVINCE readers takes precedence over the sharing of
credible
> FACTS useful in allowing others to form their OWN judgments, the line is
> crossed to "evangelizing" and "proselytizing," which amounts to
> PROPAGANDIZING -- INAPPROPRIATE in THIS forum, which often posts material
to
> help subscribers recognize the subtle techniques of "propaganda" and
> "disinformation" as forms of "mind control," and which aims at assuring
> EVERYONE a "no-pressure" freedom of thought, allowing us to look coolly at
a
> VARIETY of beliefs.
>
******************************************************************************
***********************************
"Welcome to the desert of the real." Morpheus, "The Matrix".
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human
mind to correlate all its contents.
We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of seas of infinity,
and it is not meant that we should
voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have
hitherto harmed us little; but someday
the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying
vistas of reality, and of our
frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation
or flee from the deadly light into the
peace and safety of a new dark age." H.P.Lovecraft; "The Call of Cthulhu"
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be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
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