Letter Never Sent

Abortion foes involve police in new tactic

Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer’s canonization, only 27 years after the Spanish priest’s death, was achieved in remarkably swift time by the Vatican’s saint-making timetables, which often stretch over decades or even centuries. …

Opus Dei has rejected charges that it is elitist and secretive, and much of the criticism of Escriva’s personality seemed to be tempered as Catholics saw the pope move along Escriva’s cause for sainthood at a quick pace.

In Norse mythology, Odin descends to hell and hangs upside down on the world-tree (Yggdrasil) for nine days where he discovers the secret magic of the runes. An ex-Jesuit professor of mine used to describe Odin as a ‘kickass Jesus’. The similarities between this and the crucifixion of Jesus are interesting. The Norse version seems to be a more assertive, powerful story. Like Jesus, Odin is impaled by a spear in his side, but unlike Jesus he hangs himself UPSIDE DOWN for nine days AND in hell no less. Both end in a triumphant fashion with the resurrection and ascent of Jesus into heaven and with Odin learning the secrets of the universe.

From a Unitarian sermon:

The author of 4000 Years of Christmas theorizes that some information about Christianity came to the north in garbled form and got included in stories about Odin, who becomes an all seeing father god. Odin’s story has some amazing parallels to the crucifixion of Jesus. For nine days Odin made a sacrifice of himself and pierced by a spear, he hung on a tree. (Jesus hung on a cross not nine days but for nine hours.) At the end Odin received a drink of mead, and then he cried out the letters of the alphabet. Odin gave humanity the alphabet-runes is what they are called–which is a revelation to whoever will become versed in their mystery. It allows those who can use it the ability to speak silently, to send messages, to make records and to make shopping lists. It is the god’s gift of civilization. It’s the gift of the written word.

From About.com:

According to the Eddas, the poetic saga of the Norse Gods, the Runic alphabet was a gift from Odin. The word ‘rune’ means ‘wisper,’ or ‘secret wisdom.’ A selection from the Eddas tells of their discovery. Odin hangs for nine nights upon the world tree, wounded, without food or water; finally, he sees the reflection of the runes in the water:

“Wounded I hung on a wind-swept gallows
For nine long nights,
Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odhinn,
Offered, myself to myself
The wisest know not from whence spring
The roots of that ancient rood.

They gave me no bread,
They gave me no mead,
I looked down;
with a loud cry
I took up runes;
from that tree I fell.”

From here:

“The Tau was the basis for what is now called the “cross” taken from the Latin “crux”. “The shape of the [two-beamed cross] had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.”—An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (London, 1962), W. E. Vine, p. 256.

“It is strange, yet unquestionably a fact, that in ages long before the birth of Christ, and since then in lands untouched by the teaching of the Church, the Cross has been used as a sacred symbol. . . . The Greek Bacchus, the Tyrian Tammuz, the Chaldean Bel, and the Norse Odin, were all symbolized to their votaries by a cruciform device.”—The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art (London, 1900), G. S. Tyack, p. 1.

The people of the ancient lands used the cross in worship, some, like the Egyptians used it in Phallus worship, or, worship of the male sex organ. It was used as a symbol of fertility. “Various figures of crosses are found everywhere on Egyptian monuments and tombs, and are considered by many authorities as symbolical either of the phallus [a representation of the male sex organ] or of coition. . . . In Egyptian tombs the crux ansata [cross with a circle or handle on top] is found side by side with the phallus.”—A Short History of Sex-Worship (London, 1940), H. Cutner, pp. 16, 17; see also The Non-Christian Cross, p. 183.

The Ancient Church by clergyman W. D. Killen says, on page 316: “From the most remote antiquity the cross was venerated in Egypt and Syria; it was held in equal honour by the Buddhists of the East; and, what is still more extraordinary, when the Spaniards first visited America, the well-known sign was found among the objects of worship in the idol temples of Anahuac. It is also remarkable that, about the commencement of our era, the pagans were wont to make the sign of a cross upon the forehead in the celebration of some of their sacred mysteries.” The origin of the cross is indeed very pagan.

“The Greek term signifies an upright stake on which criminal were executed, with no suggestion of a cross-beam. In the Latin versions the term ‘crux’ was used, but according to Livy of the 1st century B.C., the word meant no more than an upright stake; it was only later that crux came to mean a cross. Josephus relates how 2,000 were crucified at one time (‘Antiquities’ book 17; 10:10) hardly practicable if crosses had to be made for each one. There are Greek words which denote a cross, but none of these appear in the in any of the four gospel accounts of Jesus’ execution. At Galatians 3:13 Paul refers to the instrument as ‘a timber’ (A.V. a tree) a reference to the upright stake on which bodies of criminals were hanged under the Mosaic Law (Deut 21:22), and which Jesus fulfilled by his death.

Some have contended that the Romans did use crosses for execution at that time although Livy refutes this. Even if this were so, the Romans were also careful to observe local customs as fas as possible to avoid unnecessarily upsetting the populace, and so likely would have modified their method to conform to the Jewish practice. A rough upright stake would be in any case less trouble to produce than a hewn cross with a joint strong enough to bear the weight of a man.
Christians are sometimes disturbed to learn that the cross, considered for centuries as a Christian symbol, had its origin long before Christ and was actually used in pagan mythology.It was the symbol of the god Tammuz, and Bacchus, and the Egyptian Osiris. It was worshipped by the Celtic druids and worn on necklaces by the Vestal Virgins of Rome…As the Greek text shows, Christ was not executed on a Cross, that symbol can be regarded for what it is, a pagan corruption of Christian worship introduced in the early centuries of our common era. Thus in harmony with 2 Cor 6:15 although long cherished, it is something that Christians should shun.”

The Father (Heavenly god, sun or sky God, remote and inscrutable) = El (Canaanite for ‘Lord’) = Yahweh = Allah = Zeus = Odin = Elohim = Osiris

And let us not forget that our God, the God of the desert religions, is like this El in yet another significant way – He is constantly being spoken to on mountains and high places. Where did Moses commune with God? Mount Sinai. Where was the Temple built? Mount Moriah. Where did Yeshua give the beatitudes and pray frequently to His Father? Mount Olivet. What was seen as one of the most sacred places in Jerusalem? Mount Tsion. El, our God and their God, is a God of High Places! Perhaps that is why Melchizedek and Abraham gave him the title El Elyon, or God Most High.

The Mother or Consort (Earth Goddess, immanent, nurturing, intercessor, mediatrix) = Asherah = Ea = Inanna = Isis = Demeter = Mary (virgin AND mother)

The Mother is the weeping Demeter, crying for her daughter, the mother-of-all Gaia, or the wife Hera. Her powers go to support her children or husband. In one form she is also Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. She is any mythological figure devoted to her child.

The Son (Intercessor, messiah, earthly incarnation, human, infant, sacrificial god, male fertility) = Jesus (Yeshua) = Ba’al = Marduk = Dionysus = Adonis = Amun

Dionysos, of course, explicitly combined all these aspects: at once the ecstatic ithyphallic god of orgy, the divine infant Iakchos and the sacrificial god who was torn to pieces to be resurrected. …

The interesting thesis of Mr. J.M. Robertson that a mystery play underlies the story of the Passion seems to receive support from the discovery of some cuneiform tablets relating to the Babylonian god Marduk, whose death and resurrection were dramatically represented long before the Christian era. Marduk, the son of Ea and intercessor with his father for mankind, was tried, condemned to death, slain, buried in a mountain cave, and raised to life. He is also said to have visited “the spirits in prison” (a curious parallel to I Peter iii. 19). Possibly some form of this dramatic mystery was known in certain heterodox circles of Judaism. …

DID YOU KNOW that Jesus made wine out of water like DIONYSOS; walked on water like POSEIDON; was born in a stable like HORUS; was buried in a rock tomb like MITHRAS; was born of a virgin on the eve of the winter solstice like TAMMUZ; was mourned and found by women like ATTIS; performed “medical” miracles like AESCULAPIUS; was arrested, sentenced, chastised. Put to death with another malefactor as the god in the BAAL-MARDUK legend; his mother became “Queen of Heaven” as ASHTORETH- ASTARTE (compare Jeremiah 7:18); he rose from the dead like MITHRA; was a “son of god” like PHARAOH, and all the pagan Roman Caesars etc.

The Daughter (Celestial female consciousness, fertility, intercessor) = Diana = Mary (virgin AND mother) = Anut = Isis = Ishtar = Aphrodite = Persephone

Everyone, who reads the Bible and sees how expressly it declares that, as there is only “one God”, so there is only “one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Tim 2:5), must marvel . . . . “How it could ever have entered the mind of anyone to bestow on Mary, as is done by the Church of Rome, the character of the ‘Mediatrix’.” But the character ascribed to the Babylonian goddess as Mylitta sufficiently accounts for this. In accordance with this character of Mediatrix, she was called “Aphrodite”. . . . that is, “the wrath-subduer” * . . . . who by her charms could soothe the breast of angry Jove (the god Jupiter), and soften the most rugged spirits of gods or mortal-men. In Athens she was called Amarusia (PAUSANIAS). . . . that is, “The Mother of gracious acceptance”. ** …

The goddess has been interpreted in three aspects: the virgin, the mother, and the crone. The virgin is the youthful girl and young woman, the new moon of potential. The mother is the full moon, pregnant with life. The crone is the wise old woman, the waning moon, who understands death’s mystery. The virgin archetypes are ever popular, for they are pleasing to men. The mother archetype also pleases and serves men, for mothers take care of boys and men and give them children. In Christianity, where the trinity is cast in masculine terms, the goddess survives as Mary, a combination of virgin and mother. But the crone, the most powerful aspect of the feminine deity, has become invisible and unwanted ever since the goddess and her animals were declared profane.

Occasionally, a virgin archetype survives in popular culture. The half-woman/half-fish mermaid is associated with the goddess in her virgin, or maiden, aspect. The mermaid can swim in the realms of the unconscious and live in the watery world of mystery. Fear of the intuitive maiden’s power has resulted in trivializing the mermaid, or making her a temptress who lures men to their death. The maiden is also referred to as the nymph, a free-spirited child. But too often the maiden qualities, which are sexually attractive to men, become distorted and the nymph unfairly becomes the nymphomaniac.

From the BBC, Saudis lash out at Christian extremism:

One newspaper, Watani, said the international media had concentrated only on Muslim fundamentalism, forgetting that Christian fundamentalism was just as dangerous.

The paper said the influence of Christian extremists in America had increased since the attacks on New York and the Pentagon last year.

The paper said Christian fundamentalism in the US was particularly dangerous because it was capable of influencing American foreign policy to further its own interests which, the paper added, were identical with Israeli interests in the Middle East.

Another newspaper, The Saudi Gazette, said Christian fundamentalists in the US were raising what it described as “dust of hatred” about Saudi Arabia, and it called on President Bush to rein in elements whose agenda was to initiate a clash of civilizations.

Lunatic Christian fundamentalists are happy with current events. They expect armageddon any day now. This is scary, especially since Bush is one of these ‘born-again’ uber-fundamentalist Christians. Since I grew up as a Southern Baptist I can tell you that Bush really scares me. I went to a church full of ‘born-again’ hypocrites every week who treated religion like a ‘get out of jail free’ card. There’s nothing more sickening than being surrounded by insincere, stupid, creepy, self-righteous, and hateful people who think they belong to God’s special club of true believers. Growing up with religious fundamentalists can really make you feel insane. I still remember being about 11-12 and obsessed with the Rapture and Armageddon. I was terrified that the Anti-Christ would come and my family would be beheaded for being Christians while I would be branded with a ‘666’ on the forehead for not believing in God. I would often lie awake at night just absolutely petrified and anxious. I’m not sure how much I really believed in all that, but people around me were certain it is was going to happen, and it scared the crap out of me. To know Bush believes something similar is terrifying.

From Philip K. Dick’s Divine Interference by Erik Davis:

Just as William Blake condensed the coming horrors of industrialism into his image of “Satanic mills,” Dick’s Black Iron Prison imaginatively captured the “disciplinary apparatus” of power analyzed by historian Michel Foucault. Demonstrating that prisons, mental institutions, schools, and military establishments all share similar organizations of space and time, Foucault argued that a “technology of power” was distributed throughout social space, enmeshing human subjects at every turn. Foucault argued that liberal social reforms are only cosmetic brush-ups of an underlying mechanism of control. As Dick put it, “The Empire never ended.”

Related:

• Jerusalem by William Blake
• By networking information they are networking hierarchical observation on a global level. As philosopher Michel Foucault wrote before he’d even heard of the Internet:The perfect disciplinary apparatus would make it possible for a single gaze to see everything constantly. A central point would be both the source of light illuminating everything, and a locus of convergence for everything that must be known;… This idea is similar to Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a prison he designed.
• The New Panopticon: The Internet Viewed as a Structure of Social Control
• War as a tool for social control: Near the end of the Cold War, as the Soviet Union was about to self-destruct, Boris Yeltsin made a very revealing comment to the US government. He said, “We are going to do something very terrible to you. We are going to deprive you of an enemy.” The forever ‘WAR against TERROR’ is the new paradigm of social control.

From 1984: Theory of Hierarchical Society by Emmanuel Goldstein

Chapter 4: God is Power

…

And so it remains true that the first critique is the critique of religion; the first revolt is against the supreme tyrannies of theology and the phantom of God. Ever since the fantasy of a Divine Being took shape in humanity’s imagination, God — all gods, and among them above all the God of the Christians — has always taken the side of the strong and the rich against the ignorant and impoverished masses. Through his presence, he has blessed the most revolting privileges, the basest oppressions, and the vilest of exploitations.

As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth, and our reason and ability to create our own lives will be annulled. As long as we believe that we must unconditionally obey — and, vis-a-vis God, no other obedience is possible — we must of necessity passively and totally submit, without the least reservation, to the holy authority of all his agents, messiahs, prophets, divinely-inspired lawmakers, emperors, kings, and all their functionaries and ministers, representatives and consecrated servants of the two greatest institutions which impose themselves upon us, and which are established by God himself to rule over men and women — namely, the Church and the State. All temporal or human authority stems directly from spiritual and/or divine authority.

Authority is the negation of freedom, of human self-determination and self-management. God, or rather the fiction of God, is the consecration and the intellectual and moral source of all slavery on earth, and the freedom of humanity will never be complete until the disastrous and insidious fiction of a heavenly master is annihilated. To annihilate totally hierarchical power and thereby bring about human equality, it is necessary to annihilate God; to “kill” God, it is necessary to annihilate totally hierarchical earthly power. This is the inner secret of the slogan GOD IS POWER.

From The Guardian, flag-burning, peacenik orthodox jews. Awesome.:

The group is part of Neturei Karta, an anti-Zionist sect of the Orthodox Jewish community which is passionately opposed to the state of Israel and its government’s treatment of the Palestinian population. Since they are forbidden to use transport on the Sabbath, a few of its younger, fitter members have made the two-hour journey from Stamford Hill on foot in their Saturday dress of prayer shawls and fur-rimmed hats. Despite their prominent position in full view of the thousands below, they seem perfectly composed, holding a Palestinian flag and a placard bearing the slogan ‘End the occupation’. They don’t want to speak, so one of the organisers reads a statement on their behalf. It condemns, in no uncertain terms, the ‘atrocities committed by the Zionist regime’, lamenting ‘the plight of the Palestinian people’. …

It is the largest event that 35-year-old Alter Hochhauser, one of the four, has ever attended. He breaks into a smile when he recalls afterwards, in slightly halting English, what making such a public statement meant to him. ‘I was feeling very good. I always thought the Arab people have nothing against the Jews, only Zionism. The Zionist propaganda is so strong, that the Arabs would kill the Jewish people, but I knew it was not true. Now I saw it with my own eyes, how happy they were with us.’ His friend Elhanan Beck is also heartened by the impact of their presence. ‘I think many people changed their mind about Jewish people when they saw us,’ he says. …

And the power of peace-making and love.

And for Hochhauser, recalling his big day out at the demo, it’s worth it. ‘Somebody came to me; he said for 39 years he had hated the Jews. And now, when he saw us, he felt he had to come and shake hands with us. There were tears in his eyes.’

I have a few things to say for you. Haven’t we learned anything? Non-violence tastes great and is less filling. Remember the Sermon on the Mount from Sunday School?

• Matt 5:5: Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
• Matt 5:7: Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy
• Matt 5:9: Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
• Matt 5:20: Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.
• Matt 39: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
  40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy
  coat, let him have thy cloak also.
  41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
  42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
  43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
  44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
  45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
  46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
  47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
  48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.