skip to main |
skip to sidebar
"
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, The First Thanksgiving "(1915)
There's a side to Thanksgiving with which you might not be familiar: historically, this was a day in which Americans were encouraged to call upon God both in gratitude for His blessings, and "to ask mercy for our sins".+
We see seeds of this in Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation, the source of the modern holiday, in which he reminded Americans of "the gracious gifts of the most high God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy." It's clearer in prior Thanksgiving proclamations: for example, James Madison's 1814 proclamation of a day intended for "a devout thankfulness for all which ought to be mingled with their supplications to the Beneficent Parent of the Human Race that He would be graciously pleased to pardon all their offenses against Him."
In 1865, President Andrew Johnson proclaimed the third modern Thanksgiving by setting apart
A DAY OF NATIONAL THANKSGIVING TO THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE FOR THESE GREAT DELIVERANCES AND BLESSINGS. AND I DO FURTHER RECOMMEND THAT ON THAT OCCASION THE WHOLE PEOPLE MAKE CONFESSION OF OUR NATIONAL SINS AGAINST HIS INFINITE GOODNESS, and with one heart and one mind implore the divine guidance in the ways of national virtue and holiness.So let's talk about one of "our national sins," racism. Whether you're recounting to your kids the story of the first Thanksgiving, and have to explain what happened to the Wampanoag Indians; or explaining how President Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday while fighting to save a nation and liberate a race of people from chattel slavery (which then-Senator Obama referred to "this nation's original sin"); or simply taking a break from Thanksgiving festivities to watch the news, only to see a nation in flames over the shooting death of Michael Brown, racism is an unavoidable reality.
I'm not going to write an essay explaining that racism is evil. I'm confident that you know this already, even if you struggle with racism personally. And in describing racism as "evil," I use the term advisedly. We recognize - virtually all of us, anyways - that racism isn't just "mistaken", or "factually incorrect", but actually a "moral ill". It why the Washington Post's Alyssa Rosenberg can casually refer to the racist as "a wholly bad person." She doesn't need to explain or defend this association, because she can count on her readership sharing her sentiment.
Instead, what I want to explore is what we can learn from our moral intuition. If we're right that the racist (or, in any case, racism itself) is evil, what does this tell us about human rights, metaphysics, and God?
I. WHY RACISM IS EVIL: THE UNIVERSAL EQUALITY OF MAN
Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence,
with Benjamin Franklin's proposed changes.
If you were asked "why" racism is evil, I suspect your answer would involve something about the idea of the universal equality of man. America was famously founded on the proposition that all men are created equal. At the time those words were penned, one race of Americans were being used as slaves, one race was being exterminated, and women and non-landowners had very little political voice. We weren't, as a nation, actually "living "as if our Declaration of Independence was true, nor have we always done so in the years since. But we really do believe those five words, and they've served as a veritable engine of social justice.
This notion of fundamental human equality is also the basis for international human rights law. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." And it is precisely this "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family [that] is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world."
This is why we rightly view racism as an evil. It strikes at the very root of our belief in the universal equality of man. For example, consider the white supremacist who believes that members of his race are superior because they're more intelligent than other races. That's not primarily a question about the latest social sciences on how well different racial groups perform on IQ tests, or how legitimate IQ tests are, or anything else. Underlying all this, we're confronted with a question of the foundations of human dignity. Is the worth of human beings something that can be determined by skin color, or by any sort of test, or by any of the countless other markers by which we can separate ourselves from one another? Because if all men truly are created equal, it's because our inherent dignity is rooted in something deeper, in our common humanity.
This idea of basic human rights owed to us simply due to our humanity, taken seriously, repudiates all manner of injustices, from racism to sexism to abortion. But it also points to a bigger reality, the existence of God.
II. UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS, THE EQUALITY OF MAN, AND THE NEED FOR GOD
Jacques Maritain
So most of us share these foundational beliefs about human rights and dignity. But atheist materialism can't get you to universal human rights or the equality of man. As Ross Douthat asked Bill Maher, "Where are human rights? What is the idea of human rights, if not a metaphysical principle? Can you find universal human rights under a microscope?"
The Declaration of Independence recognized this. Remember that the Declaration didn't suddenly "make "all men equal. Rather, it simply recognized that we "already were "equal, prior to the law. That's why the Declaration describes these realities in theistic and natural law terms: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
These aren't rights that are invented by the state or by the crowds; these are rights that we have "inherently", rights which the state and the mob must recognize. If they came from the state, then they wouldn't be human rights at all, but "civil "rights. And what the state giveth, the state can taketh away. Obviously, corrupt states and corrupt men can "violate "human rights; the point here is that they can't "repeal" them. They're unalienable.
Indeed, the whole point of saying something is a human rights violation is that the victim had rights that the state or the masses ought to have respected. It's why slavery was wrong even when the government and the majority of people condoned it. And it's also why, when corrupt southern states imposed Jim Crow laws, and lynch mobs threatened the basic rights of African-Americans, there was a higher law to which African-Americans could appeal, above the level of the mob or the state.
The Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain, one of the principal drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, recognized this, explaining that the "philosophical foundation of the Rights of man is Natural Law." For human rights to exist in any meaningful way, they must be rooted in natural law, in something coming from "before "and "above "the level of the nation-state or the masses.
III. THE UNSAVORY ALTERNATIVES
Segregated drinking fountain, mid-20th century America
Having said all of this, where does this leave the atheist? Not in a good place. In such a view, our fellow man is nothing more than a mere collection of material parts, none of which are inherently dignified. And he, like you and I, is ultimately nothing more than a cosmic accident. In such a world, how can he or we have any rights to begin with, except for the rights that the state or the masses decides to give us?
Human rights, as we've seen, can't be meaningfully grounded in the masses or in the state; after all, these rights are often needed precisely to protect us "from "the masses and the state. We need the existence of something like natural law, and law based on much more than instinct or the like. If natural law is just instinct, why ought we listen to it or obey it?
Likewise for the equality of all men. What exactly is the basis for this equality, if not our shared endowments from our Creator? Theists hold that our equality is "ontological", related to the sort of beings that we are. We're each made in the image of God, and we're each endowed with certain rights and dignity, which we share in common. But ontology is blatantly metaphysical, and this particular belief appeals quite directly to God. Without that theistic appeal, the whole thing seems to fall apart.
The most you can say without God would appear to be that all men are of equal "social utility". And of course, that's untrue, and obviously so. Some people are born with serious handicaps; others are born into extreme privilege. By any purely-material criteria, some people are born better or worse off than their peers. So, without any connection to the Creator, "all men are created equal" reduces to a meaningless bromide. It sounds nice, but deep down, we don't believe it.
Let's return once more to our port of departure, racism. If your view is that human dignity and human worth is rooted in our intelligence, our physical ability, our life expectancy, our freedom from pain (or conversely, our ability to feel pain), and the rest, the most that you can say is that you're only conditionally not a white supremacist. Tomorrow, some double-blind gold-standard study could come along showing that whites (or some other racial or ethnic group) outperformed their peers in these categories, and you'd be forced to that they have more dignity and worth than members of other racial and ethnic groups.
Such an absurd result reveals the poverty of atheistic materialism; it fails to account for our most basic moral intuitions, and it fails to explain how we can know that racism is a moral evil. Since we do know that racism is evil, we can know with equal certainty that our brother is more than a collection of purely-material parts. We should this day rejoice and be thankful to God for our shared human dignity, and we should take this chance to entreat His forgiveness for our individual and national sins, not least of which is racism.
"+I am deeply indebted to Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, O.P., for his delightful homily at the Pontifical North American College this morning for his discussion of this dimension of Thanksgiving."
At if at all possible bruise, it seems friendship a strange demonstration to say that the true Place of worship requests heresy. But history demonstrates the truth of this declaration. The loud ante-Nicene African theologian, Tertullian, wrote, "We require not to be taken aback at the heresies (which swarm) neither require their years to fearfulness us, for it was foretold that they necessity come to pass; nor the fact that they knock off balance the assign of some, for their truth cause is, by affording a trial to assign, to present it furthermore the fortune of separate passed." 1 This demonstration is specifically moving since one stops to get better that Tertullian himself level for Montanism is his vanguard go. St. Paul warned that heresies "necessary" crop up. He thought, "For expound necessary be furthermore heresies in the midst of you, that they which are passed may be made clear in the midst of you."2
By chance at this clock we necessity define "heresy". In the creative uses it believed at first the work of schismatic or divisive teachers "within" in the Place of worship. But by the tongue of Peter's moment memorandum, "heresy" had come to mean the "dreamlike knowledge" of these schismatic or divisive teachers. This is the meaning which has persisted to the act day. Peter calls their teaching,"damnable heresies." 3
But even in the Old Memorial, God warned Israel that dreamlike teachers would standstill and that the whole clock was to test Israel's assurance to God's contract. Moses wrote, "If expound standstill in the midst of you a seer, or a logician of thoughts, and giveth thee a sign or a bewilderment, and the sign or the bewilderment come to dated, wher he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go once upon a time other gods, which thou hast not freely available, and let us party them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that seer, or that logician of dreams: for the Member of the aristocracy your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Member of the aristocracy your God with all your personification and with all your spirit."4 This crucial that alluring leaders are not ever led by God. New things from exciting the population may disc good, but we necessary consider them by whether or not they are fixed with God's Self-reliance.
In the history of the Place of worship, heresies take in forced us to concoct above lucidly what we mean to say by the expressions we use. In the if at all possible four centuries of the Place of worship, the heresies of Marcion, Arius, Paul of Samosata, Nestorius, Eutyches, Sabellius and Pelagius drew forth from the unfortunate Fathers the loud Creeds of Nicaea, Constantinople and the definition of Chalcedon. Dressed in the Pastime era, the Remostrants driven the synod of Dort. This is possibly one of the uttermost services of heresy for the true Church: it forces us to look upon lucidly. We are indispensable by the exigencies of the situations to complaint the whole notification of God not in an "in doubt disc." 5
This method has ever been an effective be concerned with for dreamlike teaching. But commencing the Clarification, men in unexceptional take in become increasingly relativistic in their view of truth. Unfortunately, this has trickled down appearing in the church as well. After that, commencing the raid of Non-judgmental attitude in the after 1890's the Place of worship has lost her hazard to movingly put down heresy.
No plainer sculpt of this fact exists than the Pentecostal improve and the Charismatic Leaning in exclusive. The Pentecostal improve began definite 100 go ago in a unrevealed church on Asuza Mode in downtown Los Angeles. Abundant of the key leaders of the "recovery," including its key director, William Seymour, were adherents of the "apostolic assign" theology, 6 which is engaging Sabellianism. Apostolics are freely available by such names as "Oneness," and "Jesus Merely," in the function of of their discourage of the Trinity in three Group. They adhere to the Sabellian thinking that the three are really One Event manifesting Himself in three deep modes.
The Pentecostal improve lived under the criticize of emblematic Christianity until the after 1960's since Dennis Bennett (1917-1991), an Episcopal priest in Van Nuys, California was "baptized in the Transcendent Manifestation," and began to speak in "tongues." From expound, the Charismatic Leaning has gradient friendship wildfire about the planet. But absolutely water cannot hill higher than its furnish. And absolutely God cannot condone misdemeanor. But this is what the Pentecostals and Charismatics would take in us control. If this improve is genuine, after that God is in fact endorsing Sabellianism, post-biblical revelations, Buddhistic mind-over-matter "assign," and even image-worship (the Charismatic improve has gradient to the Roman Catholic Place of worship and its commonly idolatrous sister, the Greek Pennant Place of worship). 7
All accounts of heresy and its equal polemic commencing the days of Irenaeus to the act, take in aspect us six principal distinctiveness of heresy, all of which can be seen in the dark from a thousand miles remark in the Charismatic Leaning. They are: Flavor, Mystical experiences as a furnish of post-biblical protest, mystical interpretations of Scripture, rest for Scripture, unverifiable claims, and bullying of populate with tough views.
Marks of Heresy Within the Charismatic Leaning
Flavor
New things are the part and wrap up of heresy. In theological matters knick-knack is separate name for heresy. Consistent a end reading of the Reformers will reveal how heftily they hypothetical that they were standing in the course of ominous Christianity. The pure hand out of certification by Luther, Calvin and Zwingli to Augustine and the other Fathers is uphold of this declaration. They knew that knick-knack is separate name for heresy. Every one separated Charismatic rector is decomposing of using barricade like: "Are you full-grown for everything new?" They love to copy their audiences with bits of new revelations from God that only they take in. This is Gnosticism.
Mystical experiences as a furnish of post-biblical protest
A admired quality of heresy, and specifically the Charismatic improve, is its claim to unverifiable spiritual experiences which, in turn, party as sources for extra-biblical protest. Charismatics pay lip-service to the sovereign state and inerrancy of Scripture, but it is no secret that they rely far off above on "words of eyesight," or words in assumed "tongues." And if a "word of eyesight" ever runs poker chip to the revealed word of God, the "new" ever takes the place of the old. Tommy Tenney sold millions of copies of his "God Chasers", wherein he refers to Scripture as old dead beat love correspondence. 8 He tells of a mystical nibble where the church's plexiglass platform fracture in two, throwing the conversationalist to the area. He after that appeals to "this" as uphold of all the crime kit he says about the book. Tenney inteprets Hebrew 1:3 (conservation all kit by the word of his power) by saying that God not only holds all kit together, but that He "is" the sum of all things! 9 Consistent the ill-equipped eye can see that this is heresy! It is not Christianity; it is pantheism - the precise pantheism taught by Hindus for centuries. It would be easy to have a bearing the physical constraints of the "fracture platform" story, but that is through the clock. Consistent if it were true, it is still NOT a track record of thinking.
Kathie Walters has a book entitled "The Untrue Manifestation of Prudence". It is the coagulate Charismatic disinclination to fall to pieces their theology, absolutely mythology, to the bar of Scripture. Walters, who by her own calculate approximately, knows how to board in the shadowy realm of the Transcendent Manifestation, recounts how her four day old result was diligent up to fantasy. The 4 year-old saw and talked to Jesus. She came back down saved and utterance in tongues. The to the point girl can present you a slogan of what she saw and heard.
Of course, the acorn (or necessity I say 'nut') doesn't fall far from the tree. Walters has had "several full of life angelic visitations." 10 Lead she has had two very special visitations with the Member of the aristocracy. On the if at all possible one, she was "diligent up appearing in fantasy every day from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m." On separate disobey, she was diligent to fantasy every day for three and a partial weeks. She promises us that she can sort it all and she is tongue a book about it. The book, she says, will probably fearfulness profuse of her evangelical friends. Of course, none of us can contest with this, so she is very the law. But what never seems to blow any of these the population is, that in Scripture expound is not a separated slogan of fantasy or hell by any of the the population who died and came back to life. Tertullian refuted this trouble approximately 2000 go ago. He wrote, "Now, little Paul was carried remark even to the third fantasy, and was at a complete loss up to fantasy, and heard final revelations expound, yet these cannot maybe ring out to take in accredited him for (teaching) separate thinking, seeing that their very typeface was such as to variety them catching to no material separate." 11 If Paul was not legalized to inform what he saw and heard in fantasy, what makes these the population control they are formal to do so? Walters explicitly tells us in her book that she has had visions which she believes are projecting "for the add up to Place of worship." 12 If that is not a fitting to affect on the level of the Biblical Prophets, not an iota is!
The product of all these extra-biblical experiences is the professors are thereby undisturbed to alteration. Get down when thought, "A man with an nibble is never at the leniency of a man with an holder." Contracted, this saying has a legitimate use; it is terribly true in connection with adherents of dissenting experiences. Being the population friendship Kathie Walters, Benny Hinn or Spoken Roberts claims to take in had angelic visitations or person meetings with the Incarnate Christ, how are indistinctive Christians friendship us assumed to compete?
1Tertullian - The Prescription Unwilling Heretics, Stage 1. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 32 1Corinthians 11:193 2 Peter 2:14 Deuteronomy 13:1 - 4 5 1 Corinthians 14:86 Seymour went to Charles F. Parham's Bible school. Parham was the founder of the Apostolic Care Movement7 Special quality of Pentecostalism, and its result the Charismatic Leaning, is the prominence of women in positions of sovereign state. Moreover camps speak ardently of interpreting Scripture justly, but they choice to exegetical gymnastics since they interpret Paul's bar opposed to women preaching. Abundant of the leaders of the Azusa Mode recovery were women. Seymour was actually replaced by a living thing, Jennie Evans Moore, as more chief priest of his church since he died. Mooreheld this endure until 1936. If we alias to the endure that women necessity not converse, we necessary understand that theological misdemeanor is scourge in their teaching, in the function of they are wicked to Scripture in the if at all possible place. A concise drum up support of Place of worship Relate confirms this. In record of the dissenting aerobics from the doctrines of Paul of Samosata, to Arianism, to Montanism, women take in been forward facts. Undoubtedly this is not without feel.8 Tommy Tenney, God Chasers9 ibid.10 Kathie Walters, The Untrue Manifestation of Judgment11 Tertullian - The Prescription Unwilling Heretics, Stage 24. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 312 Kathie Walters, The dreamlike Manifestation of Prudence
SPIRITUAL MEANING:
The sceptre is representative of royal power and sovereignty. Spiritually it signifies the transmission of divine power from above rather than below.
PSYCHOLOGICAL / EMOTIONAL PERSPECTIVE:
The sceptre can represent the magic wand and in dreams can indicate our right and ability to use such magic. If we are holding the sceptre we have the ability to transmit the life force. If someone else is using the sceptre and is bestowing honour or power on us, then we can accept that we have succeeded in a particular project.
EVERYDAY MATERIAL ASPECTS:
When it appears in dreams a sceptre indicates that we have given someone authority over us. We have abdicated responsibility to the point where the inner self has to take over.
GENDER / SPECIFIC MEANINGS:
The sceptre has the same symbolism as most rods and staves:that of a phallic object. In a woman's dream it suggests the power for action. In a man's dream it signifies the power to take authority.
"Also consult the entries for Magic/Magician, Staffand Wand. "
MABON also known as WINTER FINDING in Asatru/Heathenry is upon us today. It's the "second Harvest" and if you were a farmer a time to access how well the crop was this year and celebrate if it was good. It's also a day of balance as today marks when our days have shortened to where the length of daylight and night are equal.
For those seeking more detailed information plenty of people have written about it so I don't want to repeat it. Here are some great sources:
* Paganwicca.about.com (Mabon)
* Citadel of Dragons (Mabon)
* Asatru.org (Winter Finding)
It's a day of subtle change as I see it. It isn't like Yule where things come anew completely but I'm still hoping for a bit of change here in our household. To celebrate we'll be having a mini feast here, some roasted chicken with stuffing, veggies, fresh bread and maybe a pumpkin pie.
For all the crafters out there I want to share "A GREAT LITTLE PATTERN FOR A "CROCHET PUMPKIN from a great designer, PLANET JUNE.
I hope you all have a wonderful day, and share what your plans are for the day!
-VelodyTechnorati Tags: Winter,Mabon,Asatru,Heathenry,Harvest,farmer,Paganwicca,bread,Velody,pumpkin This post was originally posted to TREEGOLD AND BEEGOLD
By Valerie Tarico
In this post about the mythic origins of Easter, Valerie Tarico, author of "The Dark Side, "interviews Dr. Tony Nugent, scholar of world religions and mythology. Dr. Nugent is a symbologist, an expert in ancient symbols. He has taught at Seattle University for the past fifteen years in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and is a Presbyterian minister.
Tarico: Easter is coming. Some people are saying that the crucifixion and resurrection narratives simply retell the cycle of seasons, the death and return of the Sun. Others say that these stories are literal histories. But you say the reality is more complicated than either of these. You argue that the Easter stories - the death and resurrection of Jesus have very specific mythic origins.
Nugent: I view the story of Christ in the Gospels of the New Testament as a powerful and spiritually wise sacred story. While the story is told as if it happened, it is a theologically and mythically constructed history. The conclusion of the story, the account of Christ's crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to heaven, has many layers. But at its core I would say it is an historicized version of a very ancient myth from Mesopotamia, the Cradle of Civilization, the land we today call Iraq.
Tarico: What does that mean?
Nugent: Some stories speak to people in a deep spiritual way. These sacred stories are what are called "myths" in the field of religious studies. Despite our common usage, a myth traditionally is not just a false tale. Rather, it is a story that, at least at one point in time, had a very powerful spiritual resonance. The story of death and resurrection I refer to is one such story. In the Sumerian tradition, in which much of the Bible is rooted, the story is called, "From the Great Above to the Great Below." It is also called "The Descent of Inanna." The Sumerian goddess Inanna is the personification of the planet Venus and a major deity in the Sumerian pantheon. There is also a Babylonian version of the myth, which is called "The Descent of Ishtar."
Tarico: Let's hear the story!
Nugent: A long, long time ago, before humans were even created, Inanna, the "Queen of Heaven," took a journey to the Underworld, a realm under the control of her sister Ereshkigal. She says she's doing this to attend a funeral, but her real motivation is unclear. Before heading out Inanna gives instructions to her assistant about rescuing her if she runs into trouble, which she does. As she descends down through seven gates to get to the underworld city where Ereshkigal's palace is located.
Tarico: I can't help but notice that the number seven is a sacred, just like it will be later in the Bible.
Nugent: Yes, the sacred numbers in the Bible such as 7, 3, and 12 all have their roots in these ancient Sumerian and Akkadian cultures. Anyways, Inanna instructed by the gatekeepers to take off one article of clothing at each gate in order to pass through. She thus arrives naked at her destination, where she is arrested, put on trial by the judges of the Underworld, convicted of an undisclosed crime, sentenced to death, tortured, and hung on a wooden stake. The result of her death is that the earth becomes sterile. Plants start drying up, and animals cease having sexual relations. Unless something is done all life on earth will end. After Inanna has been hanging on the stake for 3 days her assistant realizes her mistress is in trouble and goes to the other gods for help. First to Enlil, then to Nanna, and neither of them will help. Then she goes to Enki (the precursor of Yahweh), who creates from his fingernails two creatures who take the plant and water of life down to the Underworld, sprinkle them on Inanna, and bring her back to life and to the upper world.
Tarico: So Inanna is the prototype for Jesus in the Easter story?
Nugent: Not quite. She is part of the prototype. After Inanna gets out of the underworld we are introduced to her husband Dimuzi. When mythic stories get passed from one culture to the next, sometimes one character can split into two or two characters come together. In this case, the Jesus of the resurrection story blends parts of Inanna and Dimuzi.
Tarico: Ok, let's hear about Dimuzi.
Nugent: The Underworld has a number of names, including "the Great Earth" and "the Great City", and it is also called the "Land of No Return." If, by chance, as a result of an extraordinary resurrection from the dead, someone does escape from there the rule is that a substitute must be provided. So when Inanna comes up she searches for a substitute. She doesn't want to send anyone who has been missing her and mourning her down there, but when she finds her husband Dumuzi on his throne and totally unconcerned about her being gone, she decides that he will be her substitute. He protests vigorously and is helped to escape by his brother-in-law Utu, the Sun-god. But then a compromise is agreed upon, whereby Dumuzi will be required to spend 6 months of every year in the Underworld, and for the other 6 months his devoted sister will substitute for him. Life and fertility thus return to the earth. And that's how the story ends.
Tarico: Six months up and six down. Now I am reminded of Persephone.
Nugent: Yes, and many other dying and rising gods that represent the cycle of the seasons. In Christianity one way the story changes is that it is detached from this agricultural cycle. The dying happens just once.
Tarico: But this story of Inanna/Ishtar is the oldest, the prototype?
Nugent: It is one of the earliest epic myths recorded. We know this story because it has been found inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets dug up from the sands of Iraq by archaeologists, and because linguists have deciphered the Sumerian language and provided translations in English. This was a popular myth, and so we have multiple copies of it, or of portions of it. The earliest tablets inscribed with this story date to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, and it is thought to have been originally formulated about 2100 BC, i.e., 4200 years ago.
Tarico: Lay it out for us. How do you see this being a prototype for the story of Christ's death and resurrection?
Nugent: Let's start with the first part of the myth. Inanna and Jesus both travel to a big city, where they are arrested by soldiers, put on trial, convicted, sentenced to death, stripped of their clothes, tortured, hung up on a stake, and die. And then, after 3 days, they are resurrected from the dead. Now there are, to be sure, a number of significant differences between the stories. For one thing, one story is about a goddess and the other is about a man who is thought to be a god. But this is a specific pattern, a mythic template. When you are dealing with the question of whether these things actually happened, you have to deal with the fact that there is a mythic template here. It doesn't mean that there wasn't a real person, Jesus, who was crucified, but rather that that event is structured and embellished in accordance with a pattern that was very ancient and widespread.
Tarico: So what about the 2nd part of the myth?
Nugent: The 2nd part of the Inanna myth really focuses on her husband Dumuzi. Dumuzi is the prototype of the non-aggressive, non-heroic male; he cries easily; he is the opposite of the warrior-god in the ancient pantheon. The summer month which corresponds to our month of July is named after him in both the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars, and during this month each year his followers, mostly women, mourn his death. From this myth we are talking about, and from a few other references, we also know that he is resurrected. But unlike Jesus, who dies and is resurrected once, he is imagined to die and be resurrected over and over, each year. There are other major differences. However, there really are a lot of similarities between the personalities and the stories of Jesus and Dumuzi. They both are tortured and die violent deaths after being betrayed by a close friend, who accepts a bribe from his enemies. They both have a father who is a god and a mother who is human. Dumuzi's father, the god Enki, also has many similarities to Yahweh, the father of Jesus.
Tarico: Other than this gospel story, are there any other signs of Inanna's influence on Christianity or on Easter?
Nugent: There are a few points I would mention. Inanna becomes known outside of Mesopotamia by her Babylonian name, "Ishtar". She is a personification of Venus as an evening star, and there is also a male aspect of the deity who is usually the morning star. At the end of the Book of Revelation when Christ speaks to John he says, "I am the bright morning star." In ancient Canaan Ishtar is known as Astarte, and her counterparts in the Greek and Roman pantheons are known as Aphrodite and Venus. In the 4th Century, when Christians got around to identifying the exact site in Jerusalem where the empty tomb of Jesus had been located, they selected the spot where a temple of Aphrodite (Astarte/Ishtar/Inanna) stood. So they tore it down and built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest church in the Christian world.
Also, our holiday of Easter was traditionally called 'Pascha', and still is in many languages, named after the Jewish festival of 'Pesach' or Passover. In the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon world we have, however, come to name the holiday 'Easter'. This name is almost surely a reflex of the goddess Ishtar. In the pagan spiritual traditions of Germany and England in the medieval period Ishtar, who came to be called the goddess Easter, and who as a deity of resurrection and rebirth became strongly associated with the season of springtime and ultimately gave her name to Christianity's main holy day.
TARICO: NO RUDENESS INTENDED, BUT HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN? REV. MARK DRISCOLL, AT MARS HILL MEGACHURCH IN SEATTLE TOLD HIS CONGREGATION: "IF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST DIDN'T LITERALLY HAPPEN, THERE IS NO REASON FOR US TO BE HERE." Nugent: Well, many Christian theologians see the crucifixion and resurrection as a spiritual story about hope beyond despair, redemption and new life, but they are not the ones who get the media attention. I consider myself to be a Christian in a spiritual sense, not in a doctrinal sense. This means my Christianity is defined by values, spiritual practices, and faith rather than belief in a specific set of doctrinal agreements. Before the 4th Century orthodoxy was established Christianity was characterized by heterodoxy -- many different forms of belief.
If the resurrection of Christ didn't literally happen, or if there is no life beyond this one, that has no bearing for me on whether life now is worth living. Nor is Christianity for me the only true religion. I think Judaism, Islam, and other faith traditions are just as true and holy as Christianity. From my vantage, where values and practices are the heart of Christianity, what is strange to me is how people like our president who think it's ok to practice torture can sincerely call themselves Christians. Like the bumper sticker says, "Who would Jesus waterboard?" If Christ's torture and crucifixion mean anything, I think they mean that we should put an end to such practices in human affairs. Right-wing evangelical Christianity is really the opposite of what Christ was about. The intolerant and arrogant form of Christianity is in a real sense, to me, the religion of the Antichrist.
For the Summer Solstice this year Kal and I went out for a long weekend to CORNWALL. On the way there and back we managed to visit GLASTONBURY. I used to think of Glastonbury as the ideal place for spending the solstice, but in recent years the attraction had worn off. However, on Kal's suggestion we added the town to our list, and I booked us a stay in a hotel in nearby TAUNTONto give us the maximum amount of time in Glastonbury given that our true destination was still hundreds of miles further down to the south and west of the country. Glastonbury Abbey in full flower FROM 'ARTHURIAN' TO 'ZOE' As is usual Kal and I split up to do our separate searches of the site. My goal was to see whether there were any remnant energies in the abbey grounds that I could characterise as being related to Merlin, Arthur, Galahad or Gawain - my Arthurian Cross - a concept that I was seemingly getting very engrossed in, almost obsessed with. Having dowsed that such energies were available in the abbey I set about locating them. I didn't choose any order - I asked the dowsing rods to take me to one of the energy spot and then I would dowse for which energy form it was on arrival. THE ARTHUR ENERGY The Arthur energy was to be found emerging from an underground area which had been covered by an iron grille. The site was located in the southern wall of the Lady Chapel. This is close by to where a grave is labelled as being that of Arthur and Guinivere, but there is some controversy about that. I stood on top of the grille and felt the character of the energy. Arthur's energy was POWERFUL, CLEAR and PURPOSEFUL. THE GAWAIN ENERGY I was then led into the central area of the nave, just in front of where the central tower used to be. In this space there were diamond shapes in the grass indicating where columns must have once stood. I was taken to the last column marker on the northern side and here I was told that the Gawain energy could be felt. So, I tuned in to feel what this particular energy was like. The Gawain energy was EMOTIONAL and GENTLE. THE GALAHAD ENERGY I didn't have to go far to find the next one. Directly opposite, on the other side of the nave, I found the paired diagonal marker and this was the place where the Galahad energy was to be found. Galahad's energy had the following characteristics - it was STILL, FIRM, and WILFUL. THE MERLIN ENERGY I was then taken off to the southern transept - only twenty feet away from Gawain and Galahad centres. On a patch of beautifully manicured turf the dowsing rods began to turn in a large inward spiral. At the culmination point I put the dowsing rods down and began to tune into the energies to see how the Merlin energy felt. The Merlin energy felt like this - IN THE HEART, THE TRUTH As I stood in the Merlin energy something began to form around me. The Merlin energy was showing me something of its quality - it had the ability to make a formation from all the other energies:- * The Arthur energy was like an axis around which the other energies revolved - head to foot * The Gawain and Galahad energies formed circles around my upper and lower energy centres * The Merlin energy was the core - a toroidal shape through which all the other energies flowed I was still glowing from the incredible energy forms that were flowing around and though me, buzzing from the new knowledge of their integration, as I wandered back towards Kal. Kal was in conversation with a lady who was sat on a bench beneath one of the beautiful chestnut trees close to the abbey's entrance. As I waited for a gap in conversation to make my approach I noted with interest that one of the trees had been dedicated to GFREY ASHE - the noted Arthurian scholar. He was famous for his theories that King Arthur was a real historical figure from the 5th Century. Kal called me over and introduced me to his new friend ZOE. Zoe had some information for me, he said, and then Zoe said simply, "Remember me to Merlin when you visit his cave"." Kal must have mentioned that we planned to visit TINTAGEL. Seems like she had been there already. I said that I would, and we left the abbey's grounds to head for the Tor, intent on more spiritual meanderings.
Credit: ceremonial-magic.blogspot.com
Salamun alaykum,
IT'S ROUND THE CORNER: AFTER 9 DAYS :
As I was doing my regular shopping at the neighboring Super store I noticed that a special area with dim lighting had been set up where various items such as clothes, skeletons, lanterns, black cats, bats, brooms, witch costumes, all in dark orange or black colors had been stocked. This alerted me that HALLOWEEN DAY ON 31ST OCTOBER was near.
DO WE CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN ?
In response to this question let us understand the history of this celebration.
Among ancient Pagans of the British Isles, such as the Gaelics, a celebration to mark the beginning of winter was held on 31ST OCTOBER. On this day it was believed that supernatural forces gathered together, barriers between human and supernatural world were broken. They believed that Spirits, souls of the dead visit the earth and roam around. On the eve of this day a festival for the sun god- Samhain and lord of the dead was held. The sun was thanked for the harvest and given moral support for the upcoming "battle" with winter. In ancient times, the pagans made sacrifices of animals and crops in order to please the gods.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME : When Christianity came to the British Isles, the church tried to take attention away from the pagan ritual of celebrating festival for the sun god by placing a Christian holiday- the FEAST OF ALL SAINTS- on the same day. The term HALLOWEEN is Scottish shortening of 'Allhallow-even' meaning "Eve of All Saints" or the night before All Saints Day.
CHANGE OF DATE: Initially the Feast of all Saints was observed by the church on May13th.Later Pope Gregory III and IV supplanted the sun god festival with Christian holy day of All Saints day by moving the ALL HALLOWS EVENING from May 13th to November1st where mass is held on the preceding evening on October 31st.
HALLOWEEN CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS: The custom or traditions included to don costumes of devils, witches, skeletons, set up lanterns to drive off the evil spirits and demons. Images of bats, black cats, witches were displayed. These animals were believed to communicate with the spirits of the dead. People dressed in costumes would call on their neighbors for treats. (Trick or Treat) Often they would play tricks on their neighbors. Blame for the resulting chaos was placed on the "spirits". Other traditions included communication with the spirits of dead, divination/foretelling.
Thus it can be seen that all Halloween traditions are based on ANCIENT PAGAN CULTURE OR NON MUSLIM TRADITIONS.
As Muslims, our celebrations should be ones that HONOR AND UPHOLD OUR FAITH AND BELIEFS. How can we worship only Allah, the Creator, if we participate in activities that are based in pagan rituals and the spirit world?
Our children see their friends dressed up for Halloween and get tempted to join in. Many people participate in these celebrations without even understanding the history and the pagan connections, just because their friends are doing it. We must be careful to PRESERVE OUR OWN TRADITIONS and not allow ourselves especially our children to be corrupted by this seemingly "innocent" fun.
Let us save the celebrations, the fun and games for OUR FESTIVALS on the Islamic calendar. Holidays for muslims are not excuses to indulge in reckless, meaningless activities. In Islam our holidays, such as Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adhha, while allowing fun, games, rejoicing, celebrations etc, they RETAIN their religious importance.
Let us make an INFORMED decision for the BEST upbringing of our children as awladus salih and muminin.
Wa ma tawfiqi illa billah
With salaams and duas
Fazle Abbas Datoo
residentalim@almahdi.org.uk
Resident Alim
Wessex Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat
"Wessex Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat. Al Mahdi, Wickham Road, Fareham, Hampshire. PO17 5BU. Reg. Charity Number: 1010076. Tel: 01329 832537. Fax: 02392-529766
E-mail: info@almahdi.org.uk: Jamaat Web Site: www.almahdi.org.uk: Project Web Site: www.almahdi.org.uk/almahdiproject
Member of the Council of European Jamaats
Member of Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board
"WJMembers mailing list WJMembers@almahdi.org.uk http://lists.almahdi.org.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wjmembers
"WJMembers mailing list WJMembers@almahdi.org.uk http://lists.almahdi.org.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wjmembers
"WJMembers mailing list WJMembers@almahdi.org.uk http://lists.almahdi.org.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/" , ."Reply to sender Reply to group Reply via web post Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (1) Recent Activity:
* New Members 2
Visit Your Group
Trying To Build Society based on Peace and Justice
The one who love Imam e zaman(a.t.f.s) must be prepared to struggle and
labour his self, his pen and his wealth in the way of Imam e
zaman(a.t.f.s)
I remember the words of Imam (a.s), that we are responsible for the
duty, and not for the result. A warm smile washes away the tension of
confusion, as I thank Allah for the presence of my friend, whom Allah
may protect, and guide
IMAM E ZAMANA (a.f.t.s) Bless you And All Your Family those help others
and learn islam.
Syed Mohamad Masoom Abidi Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest * Unsubscribe * Terms of Use.
" . ,"
