Editor's Note: This article is part of a series; see the 8 link-icons below - each is best reviewed within a wide corpus of knowledge. My research, for nearly 60 years, attempts to get at what's real and true. Concerning priority of the topics, there's a song-lyric, "love changes everything" - so it is with the scientific evidence of the afterlife; its reality changes everything.

Editor's note:

During my early years of fundamentalism, when I'd come across a purported discrepancy of the Bible, in my "pathological harmonizing," I'd immediately account for such apparent inaccuracy with the defense of "mistranslation" of the text. But I would come to see that the facile excuse of "mistranslation" could not ultimately save the Bible against charges of errancy. You will notice that, in the main, the 80 points of error below have nothing to do with mistranslation and cannot be answered on that basis. This issue of biblical "infallibility" runs far deeper than any easy armor of "mistranslation" might remedy.

It should also be pointed out that the quick defense of "mistranslation" quickly becomes self-defeating. We are told that God has not only given us an infallible book but that he himself is "all powerful this" and "omni-that"; but, if we claim "mistranslation" as antidote to hundreds or thousands of charges of errancy, then where is the unlimited power of God to get a clear message out to the world? What good are the purported "pure and holy words" of the Bible if no one can get at their true meaning? - buried under interminable layers of copyists' and translators' human error. We are to be judged, it is said, by every word in a so-called perfect book - but no one knows what those true, original words are? This is nonsense. (see comments below by Prof. Bart Ehrman)

"Mistranslation" devolves to political-spin and soon becomes a farcical answer; just "snowballs in July, Doc."

'What is belief? - a state, not an act, of the mind.'  

Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871)

'It is not in the power of anyone to alter his state [of mind] by will. [There is] a tendency to suppose that profession [of mental position] might be taken for belief; the dishonest wanted only profession.'

The Gospel Of John commands belief; without which, it says, one is “damned already.” But there is no such thing as authentic belief led by will power. Human beings are constitutionally unable, lack the ability, to offer credulity on demand, even if they wish to do so and try very hard. Belief arises naturally, from the evidence, or not at all, even in spite of settled opinion.

And the fact that John suggests otherwise - indeed, commands - offers clear signal, to the objective reviewer, that this writing must be counted as fraudulent, an effort to engender fear in order to gain followers - a scheme of "the dishonest," warned De Morgan - and could never represent the mind of the real Jesus.

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Big Religion became the most powerful institution in the Western world by manipulating the fear of death, thereby controlling whole continents and civilizations

Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, PhD philosophy, PhD computer science, interviewed by Beshara Magazine:

“[Scientific] materialism didn’t become mainstream without reason. One of its biggest advantages is that in one fell swoop it eliminated the biggest fear humanity has had throughout its history, which is: what are we going to experience after we die? In Christian terms, are we going to go to hell? This fear has dominated human life to the point that the Church could control whole continents and civilizations and became the most powerful institution in the Western world. It is this fear that makes us feel guilty, which imbues us with anxiety and a sense of responsibility for what we do. But if we don’t believe in anything beyond material existence, we don’t need to worry.”

each gets a chance to say something on how God personally offered a lesson 

"A universal theology is impossible," says the Course In Miracles, "but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary." Paul’s small-group house-churches brought this principle to life in a practical way.

Each person was encouraged to share with the group how she or he had received an insight or lesson-for-living from God. Memorizing or quoting scripture was not emphasized, as the resultant numerous interpretations would only divide the group and then the world into thousands of sects and denominations; instead, Paul instructed,

“Tell us how God taught you personally, even in a small way, this past week. Maybe just a glimpse or brief flash of light. When you searched your own mind, when you meditated and communed with your own soul, what did you see, what were you given from God?”

God has no favorite kids but impartially teaches all, individually, who are willing to learn. God does not offer knowledge with a closed-shop, command-style, holier-than-thou, top-down pedagogy. The letters of John, as well, declare that God, via the spirit, will personally teach us about all the big issues of life (I John 2:27). This is the real "word of God," delivered to each human heart and mind, opened to receive it.

There can be no societal division or separation when religion is approached with this non-hierarchical, non-dogmatic, individual-centered mode of teaching but, instead, a “universal experience” based upon each person’s account of God’s private tutoring.

Editor's note: Paul’s decentralized formulation of religious instruction reflects not only a respect for the dignity of each individual but a Gnostic perspective.

A pastor friend of mine, a good man, when he read the above item concerning Paul’s house-churches, commented with sincerity: “But isn’t there a danger in following one’s own ‘revelation’? How can we know if these messages are from God?” I responded, “Yes, there is a danger. For this to work as it should, one must be very honest with oneself, and not veer into illusion. The dysfunctional ego loves to wear a mask of piety and it will attempt to deceive with thoughts of pride and self-promotion.”

All this acknowledged, let us explore the alternative. The caution voiced by the pastor, in various forms, has been codified as official position in the Church at large: “The people are sheep. They will go astray if there is no representative of God to lead them. Thinking for oneself is the playground of the Devil (if there were such a being). Much better for all to adhere to time-honored doctrine; this way, we all speak the same thing, which promotes harmony and unity in the Church.”

In other words, that “alternative” is to allow someone else to do your thinking for you. Surrender your brains when you walk through the church door. Keep your opinions to yourself; better yet, stifle them, and believe.” The very word heresy means “opinion.”

The so-called “Church Fathers,” writing in the few hundreds of years after the time of Christ, often attacked the Gnostics, authors of “The Gospel Of Thomas” and many other documents (some of which pre-date the canonicals). In the missives of “the Fathers” the Gnostics were lampooned for allowing followers of Jesus to offer their own “revelations” at church meetings, pretty much exactly in line with what Paul promoted in Corinthians. “They trust in their own imaginations,” said the Fathers, “are all over the place with various crackpot ideas and concepts. Who can keep track of them all? This will end badly with a great many splinter-groups representing a hodge-podge of beliefs.”

Strangely, history unfolded precisely opposite to what “the Fathers” predicted. The Gnostics, allowing each to speak, with their many interpretations of how God works in the world, enjoyed relative peace and harmony – while “the Fathers,” the forerunners of Big Religion, would witness, over time, their efforts at strict mind-control devolving into tens of thousands of factions which have divided Christendom to this day, and continue to do.

For more discussion see the article on “The Gospel Of Thomas.”

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one does not die in a procession, one dies alone

From “The Vital Message” (1919) by the great afterlife researcher, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of "Sherlock" fame:

“But the commonest failing, the one which fills the spiritual hospitals of the other world, and is a temporary bar to the normal happiness of the after-life, is the sin of Tomlinson in Kipling's poem, the commonest of all sins in respectable British circles, the sin of conventionality, of want of conscious effort and development, of a sluggish spirituality...

fatted over

"fatted over by a complacent mind and by the comforts of life. It is the man who is satisfied, the man who refers his salvation to some church or higher power without steady travail of his own soul, who is in deadly danger. All churches … are noxious the instant that they allow him to think that by any form of ceremony, or by any fashion of creed, he obtains the least advantage over his neighbour, or can in any way dispense with that personal effort which is the only road to the higher places….

one dies alone

"One can get through this life very comfortably following without question in some procession with a venerable leader. But one does not die in a procession. One dies alone. And it is then that one has alone to accept the level gained by the work of [one's] life. And what is the punishment of the undeveloped soul? It is that it should be placed where it will develop, and sorrow would seem always to be the forcing ground of souls.”

The Dazzling Darkness is a concept representing a frame of mind untrammeled by the dysfunctional ego. Therein, freed from base-alloy animal inclinations, one might apprehend not only the identity of one’s true mate but also a realization of the living presence of God in one’s life. READ MORE

how can he blame you for being human when he made you human

episode 4, season 2, “The Driver” (1995) Debra (weeping): I can't do it right all the time. Monica: I know that. God knows that. How can he blame you for being human when he made you human?

Editor’s note: Absolutely. Monica nails the central issue. The vaunted “church fathers” would have done better asking themselves the simple question, How can God blame you for being human when he made you human? Our task today is to separate ourselves from the ancient “holy doctrines,” the respected lies about God, which purport otherwise.

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footnote to Brother John's comment, 'the beginning of the end for the Church'

Buffalo attorney and afterlife researcher Edward C. Randall was introduced on the “direct-voice medium” and “Summerland: 1-minute” pages. For 22 years, in the early 1900s, he worked with the aged and frail Emily French, by whose mediumistic agency thousands of voices from the other side were received. You’ll want to read about this.

However, in reference to Brother John’s view concerning the Church’s loss of influence in our time, Randall offered the following assessment in his book “Frontiers Of The Afterlife”:

Randall: “There was opposition to this work in spirit spheres [by evil spirit persons] in the beginning, just as it is opposed now in this world. Some churches exist as institutions in the afterlife, and are just as jealous of their domination there as here."

Editor’s note: Yes, these churches exist over there, but not in the ‘better neighborhoods,’ and only until their followers realize that they’ve been jerked and snookered, royally had. This was my father’s new clarity, as he, with regret and dismay, communicated with me from the afterlife.

Randall: “In our earliest work, these [evil spirit-person] opponents often tried to prevent speech by interrupting and disorganizing the circle, fearing that the truth might cause loss of temporal as well as spiritual power both here and there.

“Great efforts were made by the spirit-group [on the other side, working with Randall and French] and ourselves to maintain conditions and keep them out.

an angry RCC priest grabbed the secretary's papers and threw them across the room

Randall: “I recall one evening, when my stenographer was taking a lecture in shorthand [from a speaker on the other side], that a Catholic priest in the spirit world gained admittance. Such was his strength that he suddenly wrenched the stenographic book from the hands of the stenographer and threw it with great violence against the wall of the room. Our group finally forced him out and, as he was leaving, I heard him say, What can one man do among so many millions?"

In other words, this militant and despotic priest, an evil-spirit, afraid of any diminishment of power over others, haughtily smirked, “For millennia, we have deceived and psychologically enslaved, through the fear of death, vast millions with 'infallible' books, 'infallible' Dear Leaders, magic handsigns and magic words, and what is one man, Randall, on the Earth, going to do about it?”

However, while it may be a 'long good-bye,' the days of dominion for Dear Mother Cult are numbered now. This contemptuous and perverse RCC spirit-person was not unlike the hostile clergyman who, when I was 17, attempted to ridicule and intimidate me.

Editor’s note: On my 71st birthday -- that's 71 not 17 -- I scheduled a reading with my favorite psychic-medium Sue Barnes. She said that several of my relatives were on hand to offer greetings. But then Sue relayed a message suggesting that some of them “were beginning to understand why I had left the RCC” almost 55 years ago, that there were many problems now evident in the church. I thought this to be an interesting comment. Reading between the lines, I saw that many – not all -- of my closer relatives lived in a “RCC ghetto,” wherein they still adhered to the old doctrines and rituals. However, it’s clear to me that, with my cousin John’s – the former priest – apostasy, and now with my own straying from the fold, some are finally beginning to awaken to broader planes of thought. If this is all you know, if you only hear what they want you to hear, and you’ve never questioned the legitimacy of the status quo, it might take a while for the faux-authority of Dear Mother Cult to lose its luster. I could tell that these relatives still saw me as that long-ago teen boy, “going through a rebellious phase,” as they saw it, “but he’ll return in old age," they comforted themselves. I believe that, when I enter their world, and they speak with me, they’ll realize I’m not quite the agent or pawn of Satan they had presumed, and then many will be “shot from a cannon” out of their “prison for the mind.” A quick final note on Sue’s reading: two relatives, religious bigots, came through who had caused me much damage during their Earth time. They wanted to be friendly but weren’t repentant, and tried to make excuses for why they’d acted as they did, why they weren’t really to blame, and why it was still my fault after all. It was plain to me they hadn’t learned a thing yet. As we're instructed by missionary Spirit Guides who serve in the Dark Realms, it’s no good even talking to people while they’re in this disingenuous “face saving” period. It just makes them worse, as they believe they’re fooling you.

"...like da Bible always says - ya
ain't gonna get a second chance"

 

 

Editor's note: Mickey's line from Rocky, stated quite "sinceriously," is funny because it highlights a misconception about the Bible. But then, there's a lotta that going around.

you can have it all laid out in front of you, but it won't make you think 

Concert for George
Royal Albert Hall
November 29, 2002 

Horse To Water