It is well nigh incredible how the abject and brain-jacked fundies can't seem to process basic rational thought or logic to save their souls (pardon the pun). The latest take in some fundie redoubts is "no wonder atheists worship Rob Bell" ...because of his perception (quite justified as I already showed) in a more expansive and generous deity. But to claim we "worship" Bell merely because he exhibits a refreshing independence of mind and thought? Nope....since we worship NO one! Not Jesus, God, Allah, Jehovah, or ....Bell! We merely point out that if one human (like Bart Ehrman also) can break free of the Cult of Fundyism, more could also if they exercised some brain cells.
The consistent problem of fundies is that, locked in their total belief cycle cults, they're incapable of thinking outside them. You can expose the deficits in their loopy thought all you want, but all they see in that is more "Satan presence" or infiltration, as opposed to another human trying to break into their concrete like craniums, impervious to reason. To them, their KJV is all that matters, never mind it's the most destitute, compromised version of the good book available. Trot out dozens of contradictions within it, all blatant and obvious, and they will fob each off with a wave of their hand referring to "previous arguments" advanced which they never really made in the first place, they only thought they did.
Some fundies are so bereft of grounding in logic they actually cite certain segments of the TIME piece I referenced, and don't even see the utter irony in their doing so! Indeed, in the zealots' yen to criticize Bell some have "quoted" material that isn't even in the TIME article, viz.:
"[T]o take away hell is to leave the church without its most powerful sanction. If heaven, however defined, is everyone's ultimate destination in any event, then what's the incentive to confess Jesus as Lord in this life?
But nowhere is this even in the article! (Though it does expose for us all to see the reason absolutists and fundy cultists covet "Hell" so obsessively: because minus their fear and mental terror card they have nothing with which to hold the masses!) The actual TIME quote, on page 43, reads:
"If Bell is right about hell, then why do people need ecclesiastical traditions at all?"
Which is exactly the point!! They DON'T! If they are indeed invested in God or spirituality to that extent, they can grow, mature and find it on their own. Like a kid who starts out riding his bike on training wheels, they can eventually be disposed of as he takes off on just two wheels! The same is true with leaving any organized religion behind, full of its money-grubbing parasites, hell clown Elmer Gantrys and the like. Recall here Philosopher Joseph Campbell's famous words (The Power of Myth, 1989 Anchor Books, New York, p.261.):
"The psychologist Jung has a relevant saying: 'Religion is a defense against the experience of God.' The mystery has been reduced to a set of concepts and ideas, and emphasizing these concepts and ideas can short-circuit the transcendent, connoted experience."
Campbell's point, expatiated much more in the book and also the (PBS) video series, is that rather than bringing people closer to what they believe is God, a barrier of mind is erected. In its place, human intermediaries occupy the space, but not in any sincere manner, but to leverage their power. Their power over minds, as well as their power to attract money and political power for their own unseemly use. The most extreme form of this was beheld in the Rev. Jim Jones and how, using his Bible and words, he eventually led all those who followed him to their untimely mass death in Jonestown, Guyana in November, 1978. This ought to be an object lesson for every and anyone, and no less than the many youngsters predated by Roman Catholic pedophile priests. Or many others exploited throughout history by surrendering their minds and emotions to hell fears, such as the young teen girls in Barbados' Jenkins mental asylum ca. 1973, who became schizoid catatonics from their overt fears of Hell laid on them by a fundamentalist pastor.
In the same TIME piece, another fundie zealot whines about the putative loss of Hell due to Rob Bell. This is R. Albert Mohler (of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), the same pain in the ass blowhard who once pronounced on the set of MSNBC's 'Phil Donahue Show' (in December, 2002- still have the tape!) that all 4 billion-odd Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists were "hell bound" unless they embraced "Jesus as Lord and Savior". The bigotry and sense of misplaced superiority was so profund I just wanted to reach inside the set and slap this fool upside the head. Anyway, in the TIME article he's quoted as saying:
"When you adopt universalism and erase the distinction between the church and the world then you don't need the church, and you don't need Christ, and you don't need the cross"
Again, he conflates too much, as he whines too much, all the while showing that what he really regrets is HIS loss of power and control over those he regards as subjects. This is exactly why these buffoons resort to Hell, because it confers on them a useful device to leverage fear in their flocks, and thereby control their minds. But as the Anglican priest I debated pointed out, no one under the doctrine of Universalism need "dispense with Christ", and if people truly want to seek him (or the cross, or miracles, or whatever) they can do so on their own without power hungry intermediaries getting in the way and mucking things up with their inevitable power trips, egos and fear pandering.
So why not let people do that? The simple reason is that these holier- than- thou power mongers don't trust people to act in their best interests, or to make judicious spiritual choices. They treat people as teat-sucking infants, or at least babies who need the sippy cup (or crutch) of their church-based "faith" which is exactly the primary impediment to a genuine spiritual connection.
But the fact is people can find their own spiritual core by using their own compass. They merely need to enact their brain cells as part of the process, as opposed to allowing themselves to be led around by the nose in a cult. Because make no mistake, any church or group that dictates x, y or z to believe in(and especially threatens H-E-L-L if one doesn't), is mandating a cult or at least a cult authoritarian framework. And they're not doing it for your benefit but for their own aggrandizement and mind control, or better, your mental enslavement.
Not all people can easily make such breaks to live an "un-churched" spiritual life, but many millions are leaving churches and organized religions each year to do so. That includes my long time friend John Phillips, now a spiritual master in his own right (and former Anglican) as well as my sister-in law Krimhilde, a former Lutheran. (See attached photos) They make their way unafraid, and enjoying the benefits of a liberated spirituality, not beholden to tin horn egomaniacal religious dictators, hell benders or self-righteous, judgmental posturing clowns...and they are the better for it! Fear of Hell? They LAUGH at it! As a resident of the 21st century ought to, in the same way as he might laugh at people in the Dark Ages believing "spirits" carried the common cold.
No comments:
Post a Comment