It's All About Me

Uh oh. Yet more online video. Some years ago in a church i was put off by how self centered the "worship" seemed to be. Now someone's decided to market it - check out the rather humorous Me Worship.

Thanks to Saxpest from BLJ for passing this on.

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And flatmate PoetryMan introduced me to young Lasse. This is a rather clever piece of music, and illustrates how i make music myself - by building it up from samples. Unlike Lasse, I can play guitar passably and piano falteringly.

listening to Cripple Mr Onion | Six Days of Silence

Esoteric Secrets of The Evil Christians

(For those who have no idea, Nicea is in modern day Turkey, and the first Nicean council was a major gathering of christian leaders in 325 CE with the support of the Roman emperor Constantine – a nice change as many past emperors were as likely to have christians killed in gruesome ways.)

One of the things that was presented as a short story at Magick Earth (in an informal context, but with academic authority) went something like: “Here is how the list of what books should be in the Bible got created. Constantine called a council at Nicea, and they decided what books should go in the Bible, and got rid of all the ones they didn't like”. Along with various, sometimes true and sometimes plain wrong facts about Constantine himself, who I couldn't care less about so will say no more.

That “story” didn't accord with my reading of history but I said nothing as my memory was vague and I wanted to check my facts. I read the appropriate chapters of a couple of history books on my shelf, and surfed the net a bit.

Cutting it short, deciding the canon (list) of books which belong in the bible was never on the agenda at Nicea, and never happened there. Furthermore, the only book burning that was commanded were those of Arius. None of what are now called non-canonical books (such as the Shepherd of Hermas or Gospel of Thomas) were burned or prohibited there.

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While I'm here, apparently some people believe the idea of reincarnation was in the bible, but was removed at this first council in Nicea. Again, this was never discussed, and never happened at this council. Or any other one, for that matter.

I've decided to quote Roger Pearce's footnote in full

This idea [about reincarnation being removed at Nicea] may derive from some confused statements in Shirley MacLaine, Out on a Limb, Elm Tree Books, London (1983), ISBN p-241-11106-6. Unfortunately the book seems to be a fictionalised autobiography, so all the personae are more or less fictional, as a note on the frontispiece makes clear. (MacLaine is apparently a New Age propagandist). The book is without any footnotes, index or bibliography. Quotations are typed from the original.

"So, are you religious, Kevin?" I asked.
He choked involuntarily on his tea. "Are you kidding? What church would have me? I'm treading on their territory. I say folks have God inside them. The Church says it has God inside of it. There's a phrase in the Bible which states that one should never countenance spiritual entities other than God. Most Christians go by that. But then the Bible says nothing about reincarnation either and it's quite well known that the Council of Nicea voted to strike the teaching of reincarnation from the Bible."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"Well, most serious metaphysical students of the Bible know that. The Council of Nicea altered many of the interpretations of the Bible. The man Jesus studied for eighteen years in India before he returned to Jerusalem. He was studying the teaching of Buddha and became an adept yogi himself. He obviously had complete control over his body and understood that the body was only the house for a soul. Each soul has many mansions. Christ taught that a person's behavior would determine future events--as karma, as the Hindus say. What one sows, so shall he reap."
I didn't question these rather sweeping assumptions. I offered Kevin a cookie. He seemed to like sugar. He ate it in two bites.
(p.182. 'I' is MacLaine's persona - 'Kevin' is a medium).

And another later on:

"... He said that when Christ returned to Israel he taught what he had learned from the Indian masters, that is, the theory of reincarnation.
"But David," I said, "why aren't these teachings recorded in the Bible?"
"They are," he said. "The theory of reincarnation is recorded in the Bible. But the proper interpretations were struck from it during an Ecumenical Council meeting of the Catholic Church in Constantinople sometime around 553 A.D., called the Council of Nicea. The Council members voted to strike those teachings from the Bible in order to solidify Church control.
"The Church needed to be the sole authority where the destiny of man was concerned, but Christ taught that every human being was responsible for his or her own destiny -- now and future. Christ said there was only one judge--God--and he was very opposed to the formation of a church of any kind, or any other kind of ceremonial religion that might enslave man's free will or his struggle for truth."
This confirmed what Kevin had said, but it seemed logical that anyone heavily into reincarnation would have read about that famous Council.
The sun began to set behind the waves now, sweeping a pink-purple slash across the clouds above the Pacific. (pp.236-7.
'David' is another persona, identified earlier only as 'a painter and a poet').

The occasion referred to here is clearly not the First Ecumenical Council - the First Council of Nicaea - but the Fifth Ecumenical Council (the Second Council of Constantinople). This council condemned the propositions known as Origenism, and with them the pagan idea of the transmigration of souls (not reincarnation), which some writers had picked up as a technical idea from Greek philosophy without realising all the implications. The idea that the bible was edited to remove the idea in 553 is not consistent with the extensive manuscript evidence for the text (including complete codices) from the 3rd century onwards.

It would seem reasonable to propose that a hazy recollection of these passages lies at the root of this legend.

In conclusion,

From [all of these collected documents] there appears almost no evidence that the council of Nicaea made any pronouncements on which books go in the Bible, with the ambivalent exception of Jerome, or about the destruction of heretical writings, or reincarnation. However it did condemn Arius and his teachings, and the Emperor Constantine did take the usual Late Roman steps to ensure conformity afterwards.

from http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/nicaea.htm

but you could also look at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/sbrandt/nicea.htm or even (shudder) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea#Agenda_and_procedure


listening to Buzzcocks | I don't mind

Spong Sung Blue

At the beach, doing busy, stressful-type things like play poker, watch Sonboy kayak, lie on the beach and read while Sonboy boogie-boards, and drink wine. And of course, read.

I've been neglecting the books I brought in favour of John Spong's áutobiography 'Here I Stand'. If you haven't heard of him, he's America's most famous liberal bishop in the Episcopalian (Anglican) church.

It's interesting. I haven't read much of his other works, but now I guess I''ll have to, to put flesh on the ideas he proposes, and see if there's any backbone to them.

Spong is wonderfully open to ideas of social justice while seeming to be oblivious to the inherent classism of the Anglican style of doing things. He seems, to this quasi anarchist, to be overly comfortable with hierarchy and power. It's not surprising he's so political when his church is so full of rich folks trying to be good.

He writes quite openly of the rudeness of others, notably the 'fundamentalists' both within and without his church. Yet he makes rude comments about them. Perhaps that's the result of years of being insulted for his beliefs. Nevertheless, one wishes for more graciousness from one who supposedly preaches grace. He also has an unsettling certainty he is right that smacks of a liberal fundamentalism in its own right.

Still, Judeo-churchianity - as any human group - has always had flawed leaders from Moses through Paul, Augustine, Luther, Martin Luther King et al.

He has lots of worthwhile insights into leadership, and i liked his ideas of church leadership thinking through issues in public rather than trying to pretend they have all the answers from day one.

One thing I identified with:

In my typical left-brained way I retreated to my library. I must master my inner debates intellectually before I can master them emotionally.

This indicates to me that on Enneagram terms, he's a typical 5. A healthy 5 moves to the leadership of the 8, which also makes sense of Spong's life.

Again, one wonders what differentiates him from the Glen Benton's of this world when one reads his "twelve theses", in an appendix - Spong does insist they be read in the context of the book they come from, which I shall do in due time.

Nevertheless, the first two being (in my words):

1. There is no theistic God
2. Jesus, as expression of said God, never existed.

It's hard, in the light of those two, and the rest of his theses to see how, in any sense, he can be called "christian". He insists he loves the "church", which I can only guess means a kind of social club for people who want to do social justice and be nice to others. Why not ditch the ecclesiology and just join Rotary then?




If I don't get back to the 'puter beforehand, Merry New Year, all.

Saint Paul's Tomb Found

The present St Paul Outside-the-Walls was built in 1823 on the remains of earlier churches. The first was erected by the Emperor Constantine

The tomb of St Paul the Apostle has been found under one of Rome's largest churches and the stone coffin will shortly be raised to the surface to allow pilgrims to see it.

The remains of St Paul, one of the Christian Church's most important leaders and the supposed author of much of the New Testament, have been hidden under an altar at St Paul Outside-the-Walls for almost 200 years.

The present St Paul Outside-the-Walls was built in 1823 on the remains
of earlier churches. The first was erected by the Emperor Constantine

"I have no doubt that this is the tomb of St Paul, as revered by Christians in the fourth century," said Giorgio Filippi, the Vatican archaeologist who made the discovery.

Dr Filippi will present the results of his scientific tests on the remains of the saint on Monday at the Vatican. St Paul's sarcophagus was found after five years of extensive excavations at the church, which is second only in size to St Peter's in Rome. Dr Filippi began looking for the tomb at the request of Archbishop Francesco Gioia, within whose jurisdiction the church falls. ...

St Paul Outside-the-Walls has been rebuilt several times since it was erected by the Emperor Constantine, most recently in 1823 following a fire.

The archaeologists had to descend into a series of tunnels and chambers that dated to the fourth century. There they found a marble plaque inscribed with "Paul the Apostle, Martyr". St Paul's remains lay underneath a stone slab ...

The sarcophagus is thought to date from AD390, when the Emperor Theodosius "saved" the remains and moved them to the site, near the Appian Way. St Paul, was born in Tarsus, a city that used to stand in the Mersin province of Turkey, shortly after Jesus.

Originally named Saul, and Jewish, he converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus. He was arrested in Jerusalem for being Christian and subsequently exercised his right as a Roman citizen to a trial in Rome.

According to the Bible, St Paul was imprisoned in Rome.

The traditional legend states that he was beheaded in the city around AD64. The head is not thought to be with the rest of the remains.

Instead, it is supposed to be located inside a silver bust at the St John Lateran church on the Celian hill. St Peter's head is also thought to be there.

from the Daily Telegraph, December 8 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/08/wstpaul08.xml

Wow. It's eerie for me to realise there may be actual physical remains of people who knew Y'shua. I remember feeling somewhat awed when visiting the Basilica San Marco in Venice (where the remains of Mark are). I had no idea Peter and Paul had been beheaded either. I have heard the tradition that Peter asked to be crucified upside down, because he didn't consider himself worthy to die in the same way as his master. The first inverted cross, perhaps.


listening to Metallica | Nothing Else Matters (in my head, 'cos i pulled out my battered old guitar and tried to play it)

Why Satanists Should Burn Churches

Now I am decided. I must go to Deicide to exorcise my demons. All my blogs for the past few days have been about Stantanism. I must resist!

(Stantanism being the worship of a mythical being called 'Stan'. Not to be confused with Santanism, which is a materialistic religion corrupted from churchianity, involving hedonistic orgies of buying stuff in preparation for the return at the winter solstice of an evil and ancient demigod in a red suit.)

Anyway, on to the issue at hand: Satanists SHOULD burn churches. If they won't, christians should.

A few Satanists have already tried it on, mainly in Scandanavia. Although it's likely that most of these burnings were simply bored teenagers trying to keep warm. It's freakin' cold up there.

I think church burning is a good thing. Apart from buildings with architectural/historical beauty which i kinda like, most of these buildings either have little utility or are easily replaceable. Note that burning churches with people still inside them is extremely bad form.

Churchianity has nothing to fear. If their g0d is real, they will survive and flourish. A buildingless faith will purge and improve churchianity. After all, it started as a buildingless faith, hovering around the temple of the 'old' faith and largely meeting in peoples' houses or catacombs full of dead bones (very satanic), until after a few hundred years churchianity became so successful that it took over state temples formerly dedicated to Roman gods. And speaking of which, "mergers and acquisitions" is another approach Satanists could take.

You see, i think this church burning thing is a form of jealousy. Satanists are a group of small, and kinda disenchanted cults infighting with each other. Just like any other religion. They're jealous 'cos they don't get to have cool buildings dedicated to the propagation of their worldview. Apart from the so-called "Hollywood Satanists" who follow Anton La Vey (R.I.UP.). Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson) is a Holywood Satanist. I think the H.S sect probably has enough money to have a building, or maybe a bookshop, or a cute little roadside shrine on Sunset Boulevard. But I digress. Again.

Taking over another religion's worship places is a well established g0d-thing to do, dating back thousands of years. Take, for example, the muslims. When violently conquering Byzantium (formerly Constantinople, now Istanbul in Turkey) they took over the Hagia Sofia basilica and turned it into a supermosque. Or the fanatical atheists running the USSR who turned many Russian Orthodox churches into museums or bingo halls. The hostile takeover has a proud and ancient precedent when it comes to competing religious business.

I mean, how cool would it be if in Scandanavia you could find a beautiful old church that's been painted entirely black and had all the crosses inverted? Hell, I'D go there to worship, and that's saying something.




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[removed] In a massive cultural blunder - or was it? - a Japanese Santanist cult once produced plastic effigies of St Nick (aka 'old Nick') crucified - what more evidence do we need? After investigation, I discovered this is probably an urban myth, although strangely, Santa has been crucified on at least one occasion in the USA. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/crucified_santa


listening to Def Leppard | Animal !? Aargh! Felyne likes DL. Hmph. Changed the station to something playing Pink | It's Just You And Your Hand (All this in an attempt to get death metal out of my head. )

Popes and Horses

Pope John Paul II is dead. Karol seemed like a decent enough chap. The way he visited and forgave the assassin who nearly killed him was a model of peacemaking. Respect. I’m hoping the new pope introduces a few changes, like letting priests marry, and removing the ban on contraception. I’m not holding my breath though.

I’m planning to go see Equus soon. The play by Peter Shaffer (of Amadeus fame) had a profound influence on me when I studied it in high school. The teenage Alan Strang has blinded six horses in a stable. Why? What drove him to it? Psychiatrist Martin Dysart searches for the answer and in the process questions the need for desire and worship in his own life. [Dysart] “Can you think of anything worse one can do to anybody than take away their worship?”


listening to Rhian Sheehan | Hiding Place (Module Remix)