#who are the christadelphians

[tamamita]

Is it heresy if there are christian denominations that don't believe in the Trinity such as Unitarianism?

I mean the very first Christians were Unitarians who believed in the theological concept of adoptionism. Adoptionism involved the idea that because Jesus (a) was such an upstanding moral figure among the Israelites, God declared him to be the son of God in the metaphorical sense. Adoptonists never accepted Christ as a divine figure, seeing him as fully human. The idea of Christ's divinity was mostly an issue that came to appear later in Christian history. Docalism, Marcionism, Modalism, Monarchianism, Montanism, Arianism and various other doctrines introduced between the 1st-4th century became the foundation of Jesus as a divine being, albeit with various definitions and interpretations. The Church adopted the Trinitiarian (albeit still in development) view as its mainstream theology in the Council of Nicaea, Council of Constantinople, introducing the Nicene-Constantinpolitan creed and apostole's creed respectively. The creed also deemed every other Christian doctrine to be heretical, surpressing any other heterodoxy, especially Arianism. It wasn't until Augustine that the concept of the Trinity was fully introduced in the 5th century, finalized by the Athanasian Creed. However, it wasn't until we the court of Charlemagne that we were introduced to the Johannine Comma that included the Trinity in brackets of the first epistle of John to substantiate its inclusion, so this was effectively the first alteration of the Greek Bible in the West. Enter Augustine, the man who described the Trinity in relation to each other. We can go further, but the doctrine of the Trinity has never been established with one single definite meaning, since the personal relationship and the meaning between each essence keeps being debated and discussed among Christians, even till this day.

Christadelphians are one of the few Unitarian Christians today, but they don't adhere to adoptionism, they simply hold that Jesus (a) was the son of God, but not in the literal sense. However, they reject Jesus' divinity, seeing him as fully human, subordinate to the Father. The adoptionists were very much the first true Christians, but not in the eyes of the Church. As you can see, the Trinity was a later invention that took several centuries to form and was not ultimately defined by the Church Fathers. Indeed, this is evident by the fact that several Christian scholars had to redefine the Trinity throughout history.

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

thinking about the emblems, the Eucharist - I've forgotten the name y'all use for it this instant but I was just reading a Catholic thing so there's the Catholic name for it as well as Christadelphian -

It's based around food and drink, around nourishment. The emblems themselves aren't supposed to be nourishing (see the verse in... I want to say one of Paul's... maybe Corinthians, in which he berates them for some being drunk and some having nothing), but they're a symbol. I heard a talk once about the moral imperative of keeping yourself healthy, which was fascinating - upsetting because he referred dismissively to anorexia and self harm as things people in the world do, with no apparent understanding of the numbers of Christians in his audience who had a history of such things themselves - but useful. There's the verse about "the truth will set you free", the number of times sin is compared to slavery and righteousness is compared to freedom, too. Freedom from arbitrary rules, like the rules in an eating disorder.

The truth will set us free, truths like "you don't need to starve yourself", "you don't need to cut yourself". Easier said than done, but in an ideal world-

We're not in an ideal world of course but Still.

It's interesting to me that since I started self harming, the cup itself has become more important and thought-provoking to me. The phrase "his blood was shed that ours shall not be" is very important to me - I can't recall who came up with it but I don't think it's a New Testament verse or anything. Anyway, the idea that he took our sins on him and died for us is also very important - obviously, it's the core of the gospel.

Anyhow I don't really have a good way of ending this I was just rambling.

#personal #catkin rambles #christianity #chrumblr

[wisdomfish]

A look into Pascal’s Wager

Groundwork.

When it comes to Pascal’s Wager we are reminded that ‘the uncertainties and risks inherent in the human predicament force individuals to make up their minds about God’s existence.’ Also, we must be cognizant, before tackling Pascal’s proposition, of the context, intention, and apologetic use of the Wager itself:

First, the Wager was never intended to function as a rational proof for God’s existence, nor a substitute for Christian evidences.

Second, the Wager targets a specific audience, namely those who have suspended judgment on ultimate issues.

Third, the Wager emerges in a specific historical and epistemological context. Seventeenth-century France was “a society impregnated by deistic humanism and rationalist skepticism, and free thought.”

Fourth, the Wager seems to be intended primarily as a device to help awaken people who are indifferent to ultimate issues (God, death, meaning of life, morality, and immortality).

The Wager.

With the groundwork prepped let’s honestly dig into the Wager,

…‘Either God is or he is not.’ But to which view shall we be inclined? Reason cannot decide this question. Infinite chaos separates us. At the far end of this infinite distance a coin is being spun which will come down heads or tails. How will you wager? Reason cannot make you chose either. Reason cannot prove either wrong.

…you must wager!

There is no choice, you are already committed. Which will you choose then? Let us see: since a choice must be made, let us see which offers you the least interest.

What’s at stake?

In answering this question let’s consider the cost-benefit analysis of the respective answers.

I. The Cost-Benefit Analysis for the Christian is:

If a person believes in God and he actually exists, then according to Pascal the believer stands to gain everything. The payoff, so to speak, for a correct wager would involve infinite gain (eternal life with God in heaven). On the other hand, if a person chooses faith and God does not actually exist, then the believer losses nothing. In terms of cost-benefit analysis, the person who wages on God has everything to gain and nothing to lose

II. The Cost-Benefit Analysis for the non-Christian is:

If an individual does not believe in God and God does not exist, then the unbeliever gains nothing. On the other hand, if a person does not believe in God but God does actually exist, then the unbeliever stands to lose everything. The loss of wagering incorrectly would involve an infinite loss (hell's eternal exclusion from the life of God). In terms of a cost-benefit analysis, the person who wages against God has nothing to gain and everything to lose.

Clearly, these cost-benefit analyses make it plain to see that adopting Christianity (Christ Jesus as Lord) over atheism, eastern mysticism (Hinduism, Buddhism, Baháʼí etc.), other monotheistic religions (Islam, Judaism), the Cults (Christian Science, Christadelphians, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.), Polytheism, and New Ageism, etc., is a judiciously rational decision.

What tools are available to help you place your bet?

In Luke 10:27 we read, “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind…”

Pascal believed that the heart has an intuitive and immediate knowledge of first principles, including God. Rather than being the center of mere emotion, the heart instead conveys a sense of intuition (suggesting immediacy, spontaneity, and directness). Copleston defines Pascal’s understanding of the heart as “a kind of intellectual instinct, rooted in the inmost nature of the soul.”

It appears that for Pascal, the mind and the heart both play an important role in a person’s coming to faith. The heart provides the basic intuition in the process of forming basic beliefs, whereas the mind provides the complementary discursive meaning.

The Elegance [richness] of the Wager.

The beauty behind Pascal’s Wager is that he attempts to wake people up to the realities of the deity, birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, and Lordship of Christ Jesus. This is important for Pascal rightly states,

Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.

Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ; we only know life and death through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we cannot know the meaning of our life or our death, of God or of ourselves.

~ Adapted from, Samples, Kenneth Richard. ‘Without a Doubt: Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions.

#pascal's wager #christianity #my body my choice #france

[majorbaby]

I understand that church can be "violent, oppressive and patriarchal" but I think that's due to the institution rather than the actual religion and if anything I'd say father mulcahey is a very rare representation of the goodness of Christianity because he's accepting and respects when the others are agnostic/atheist or different religions. also the issue you had with the blind faith thing that's just a feature of all religion that they require faith so I don't see how thats a problem. (and just FYI this is coming from a queer atheist who grew up with christadelphians so has seen how bad and malicious Christianity can be)

firstly, i have no problem with people who enjoy this character or have the view of him that you do. I do not believe in "good catholic priests" much the same way that i do not believe in "good cops" - i dont have a problem with individuals practicing a religion, that's not the issue i have with mulcahy. if you’re reading this and you disagree already, then you may as well stop here. 

It was all over for me when he cheekily handed out bibles to a korean family in "the chosen people" as they were being displaced from their ancestral land in season 2. 

And, not that i think you must be of a certain background to hold the opinions i hold, but my family has been catholic for about 6 generations, after they were forcibly converted by catholic missionaries in asia. So yeah, overall I would say that I have a very personal and visceral, negative reaction to him - a catholic priest, in asia. And that’s to say nothing of the existential threat that catholic and christian institutions represent to me as a person of various intersecting identities living in a country that only claims it has separation of church and state. 

Beyond my personal feelings about him (and i freely admit i feel the way i feel because of my personal experiences with catholicism) - if you’re gonna do a show about the horrors of war and the perils of imperialism, nationalism and whatever else america was doing in korea it undercuts that message to have a representative of the church, specifically the catholic church, portrayed the way he is most of the time. The church was very much in league with the mission statement of the military.   Hawkeye doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to military brass because he is fundamentally opposed to the basis of their vocation, and I get grumpy when they try to walk that back in the Potter-era. You might say that I see all priests as ‘clergy brass’ - and no, that doesn’t prevent them from being individually good people, or performing good acts but I don’t see that as ‘positive representative for catholic priests’ and i resent any kind of ‘not all catholic priests’ messaging. All of ‘em, actually, it comes with the territory. Mulcahy is no more an example of the goodness of Christians than Charles is an example of the goodness of Republicans or even Hawkeye an example of the goodness of surgeons. You are a good person because you are a good person, not because of your job and oftentimes in spite of your job.  As for ‘accepting and respecting people who are a-religious’ i think this is basic human decency and i’m not patting anyone on the back for that in spite of whatever oppressive institution they may represent.  the full quote from mulcahy is ‘without blind faith i would be out of business’ indeed. i’m not going to go into all the fine details of how the catholic church collects its membership dues, but it’s sitting on a net worth in the billions. also i take issue with any org that requires ‘blind faith’ of its participants, but particularly one that has a great deal of power and influence over the personal freedoms of people.  i appreciate that your ask was respectful, but i’m not likely to budge on this so you may just wanna block and unfollow me if you haven’t already because i’m pretty candid about that character. 

#mulcahy meta #replies #long post

[legend-collection]

Devil

​A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force.

It is difficult to specify a particular definition of any complexity that will cover all of the traditions, beyond that it is a manifestation of evil. It is meaningful to consider the devil through the lens of each of the cultures and religions that have the devil as part of their mythos.

In Christianity, evil is incarnate in the devil or Satan, a fallen angel who is the primary opponent of God. Some Christians also considered the Roman and Greek deities as devils.

Christianity describes Satan as a fallen angel who terrorizes the world through evil, is the antithesis of truth, and shall be condemned, together with the fallen angels who follow him, to eternal fire at the Last Judgment.

In mainstream Christianity, the devil is usually referred to as Satan. This is because Christian beliefs in Satan are inspired directly by the dominant view of Second Temple Judaism (recorded in the Enochian books), as expressed/practiced by Jesus, and with some minor variations. Some modern Christians consider the devil to be an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host (the demons), rebelled against God and has consequently been condemned to the Lake of Fire. He is described as hating all humanity (or more accurately creation), opposing God, spreading lies and wreaking havoc on their souls. Horns of a goat and a ram, goat's fur and ears, nose and canines of a pig; a typical depiction of the devil in Christian art. The goat, ram and pig are consistently associated with the devil. Detail of a 16th-century painting by Jacob de Backer in the National Museum in Warsaw.

Satan is traditionally identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; thus, Satan has often been depicted as a serpent.

In the Bible, the devil is identified with "the dragon" and "the old serpent" seen in the Book of Revelation, as has "the prince of this world" in the Gospel of John; and "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" in the Epistle to the Ephesians; and "the god of this world" in 2 Corinthians 4:4. He is also identified as the dragon in the Book of Revelation and the tempter of the Gospels.

The devil is sometimes called Lucifer, particularly when describing him as an angel before his fall, although the use of Lucifer (Latin lúcifer, "bringer of light"), the "son of the dawn", in Isaiah 14:12 is a reference to a Babylonian king.

Beelzebub is originally the name of a Philistine god (more specifically a certain type of Baal, from Ba‘al Zebûb, lit. "Lord of Flies") but is also used in the New Testament as a synonym for the devil. A corrupted version, "Belzeboub", appears in The Divine Comedy (Inferno XXXIV).

In other, non-mainstream, Christian beliefs (e.g. the beliefs of the Christadelphians) the word "satan" in the Bible is not regarded as referring to a supernatural, personal being but to any 'adversary' and figuratively refers to human sin and temptation.

In the Book of Wisdom, the devil is represented as the one who brought death into the world. The Second Book of Enoch contains references to a Watcher called Satanael, describing him as the prince of the Grigori who was cast out of heaven and an evil spirit who knew the difference between what was "righteous" and "sinful".

In the Book of Jubilees, Satan rules over a host of angels. Mastema, who induced God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac, is identical with Satan in both name and nature. The Book of Enoch contains references to Sathariel, thought also to be Sataniel and Satan'el. The similar spellings mirror that of his angelic brethren Michael, Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel, previous to his expulsion from Heaven.

A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge.

Gnostic and Gnostic-influenced religions postulate the idea that the material world is inherently evil. The One true God is remote, beyond the material universe, therefore this universe must be governed by an inferior imposter deity. This deity was identified with the deity of the Old Testament by some sects, such as the Sethians and the Marcions. Tertullian accuses Marcion of Sinope, that he

[held that] the Old Testament was a scandal to the faithful … and … accounted for it by postulating [that Jehovah was] a secondary deity, a demiurgus, who was god, in a sense, but not the supreme God; he was just, rigidly just, he had his good qualities, but he was not the good god, who was Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

John Arendzen (1909) in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) mentions that Eusebius accused Apelles, the 2nd-century AD Gnostic, of considering the Inspirer of Old Testament prophecies to be not a god, but an evil angel. These writings commonly refer to the Creator of the material world as "a demiurgus" to distinguish him from the One true God. Some texts, such as the Apocryphon of John and On the Origin of the World, not only demonized the Creator God but also called him by the name of the devil in some Jewish writings, Samael.

In the 12th century in Europe the Cathars, who were rooted in Gnosticism, dealt with the problem of evil, and developed ideas of dualism and demonology. The Cathars were seen as a serious potential challenge to the Catholic church of the time. The Cathars split into two camps. The first is absolute dualism, which held that evil was completely separate from the good God, and that God and the devil each had power. The second camp is mitigated dualism, which considers Lucifer to be a son of God, and a brother to Christ. To explain this they used the parable of the prodigal son, with Christ as the good son, and Lucifer as the son that strayed into evilness. The Catholic Church responded to dualism in AD 1215 in the Fourth Lateran Council, saying that God created everything from nothing, and the devil was good when he was created, but he made himself bad by his own free will. In the Gospel of the Secret Supper, Lucifer, just as in prior Gnostic systems, appears as a demiurge, who created the material world.

The earliest Hindu texts do not offer further explanations for evil, regarding evil as something natural. However, later texts offer various explanations for evil. According to an explanation given by the Brahmins, both demons and gods spoke truth and untruth, but the demons relinquished the truth and the gods relinquished the untruth. But both spirits are regarded as different aspects of one supreme god. Even some fierce deities like Kali are not thought of as devils but just as darker aspects of this god and may even manifest benevolence.

In Islam, the principle of evil is expressed by two terms referring to the same entity: Shaitan (meaning astray, distant or devil) and Iblis. Iblis is the proper name of the devil representing the characteristics of evil. Iblis is mentioned in the Quranic narrative about the creation of humanity. When God created Adam, he ordered the angels to prostrate themselves before him. All did, but Iblis refused and claimed to be superior to Adam out of pride. [Quran 7:12] Therefore, pride but also envy became a sign of "unbelief" in Islam. Thereafter Iblis was condemned to Hell, but God granted him a request to lead humanity astray, knowing the righteous will resist Iblis' attempts to misguide them. In Islam, both good and evil are ultimately created by God. But since God's will is good, the evil in the world must be part of God's plan. Actually, God allowed the devil to seduce humanity. Evil and suffering are regarded as a test or a chance to proof confidence in God. Some philosophers and mystics emphasized Iblis himself as a role model of confidence in God, because God ordered the angels to prostrate themselves, Iblis was forced to choose between God's command and God's will (not to praise someone else than God). He successfully passed the test, yet his disobedience caused his punishment and therefore suffering. However, he stays patient and is rewarded in the end.

Muslims hold that the pre-Islamic jinn, tutelary deities, became subject under Islam to the judgment of God, and that those who did not submit to the law of God are devils.

Although Iblis is often compared to the devil in Christian theology, Islam rejects the idea that Satan is an opponent of God and the implied struggle between God and the devil. Iblis might either be regarded as the most monotheistic or the greatest sinner, but remains only a creature of God. Iblis did not become an unbeliever due to his disobedience, but because of attributing injustice to God; that is, by asserting that the command to prostrate himself before Adam was inappropriate. There is no sign of angelic revolt in the Quran and no mention of Iblis trying to take God's throne and Iblis's sin could be forgiven at anytime by God. According to the Quran, Iblis's disobedience was due to his disdain for humanity, a narrative already occurring in early apocrypha.

As in Christianity, Iblis was once a pious creature of God but later cast out of Heaven due to his pride. However, to maintain God's absolute sovereignty, Islam matches the line taken by Irenaeus instead of the later Christian consensus that the devil did not rebel against God but against humanity. Further, although Iblis is generally regarded as a real bodily entity, he plays a less significant role as the personification of evil than in Christianity. Iblis is merely a tempter, notable for inciting humans into sin by whispering into humans minds (waswās), akin to the Jewish idea of the devil as yetzer hara.

On the other hand, Shaitan refers unilaterally to forces of evil, including the devil Iblis, then he causes mischief. Shaitan is also linked to humans psychological nature, appearing in dreams, causing anger or interrupting the mental preparation for prayer. Furthermore, the term Shaitan also refers to beings, who follow the evil suggestions of Iblis. Furthermore, the principle of Shaitan is in many ways a symbol of spiritual impurity, representing humans' own deficits, in contrast to a "true Muslim", who is free from anger, lust and other devilish desires.

In Sufism and mysticism In contrast to Occidental philosophy, the Sufi idea of seeing "Many as One", and considering the creation in its essence as the Absolute, leads to the idea of the dissolution of any dualism between the ego substance and the "external" substantial objects. The rebellion against God, mentioned in the Quran, takes place on the level of the psyche, that must be trained and disciplined for its union with the spirit that is pure. Since psyche drives the body, flesh is not the obstacle to humans but rather an unawareness that allows the impulsive forces to cause rebellion against God on the level of the psyche. Yet it is not a dualism between body, psyche and spirit, since the spirit embraces both psyche and corporeal aspects of humanity. Since the world is held to be the mirror in which God's attributes are reflected, participation in worldly affairs is not necessarily seen as opposed to God. The devil activates the selfish desires of the psyche, leading the human astray from the Divine. Thus it is the I that is regarded as evil, and both Iblis and Pharao are present as symbols for uttering "I" in ones own behavior. Therefore it is recommended to use the term I as little as possible. It is only God who has the right to say "I", since it is only God who is self-subsistent. Uttering "I" is therefore a way to compare oneself to God, regarded as shirk.

In Salafism Salafi strands of Islam commonly emphasize a dualistic worldview between the believers and the unbelievers, with the devil as the enemy of God's path. Even though the devil will be finally defeated by God, he is a serious and dangerous opponent of humans. While in classical hadiths, the demons (Shayateen) and the jinn are responsible for impurity and possibly endanger people, in Salafi thought, it is the devil himself, who lurks on the believers, always striving to lead them astray from God. The devil is regarded as an omnipresent entity, permanently inciting humans into sin, but can be pushed away by remembering the name God. The devil is regarded as an external entity, threatening the everyday life of the believer, even in social aspects of life. Thus for example, it is the devil who is responsible for Western emancipation.

Judaism Yahweh, the god in pre-exilic Judaism, created both good and evil, as stated in Isaiah 45:7: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." The devil does not exist in Jewish scriptures. However, the influence of Zoroastrianism during the Achaemenid Empire introduced evil as a separate principle into the Jewish belief system, which gradually externalized the opposition until the Hebrew term satan developed into a specific type of supernatural entity, changing the monistic view of Judaism into a dualistic one. Later, Rabbinic Judaism rejected the Enochian books (written during the Second Temple period under Persian influence), which depicted the devil as an independent force of evil besides God. After the apocalyptic period, references to Satan in the Tanakh are thought to be allegorical.

Mandaeism In Mandaean mythology, Ruha fell apart from the World of Light and became the queen of the World of Darkness, also referred to as Sheol. She is considered evil and a liar, sorcerer and seductress. : 541 She gives birth to Ur, also referred to as Leviathan. He is portrayed as a large, ferocious dragon or snake and is considered the king of the World of Darkness. Together they rule the underworld and create the seven planets and twelve zodiac constellations. Also found in the underworld is Krun who is the greatest of the five Mandaean Lords of the underworld. He dwells in the lowest depths of creation and his epithet is the 'mountain of flesh'. : 251  Prominent infernal beings found in the World of Darkness include lilith, nalai (vampire), niuli (hobgoblin), latabi (devil), gadalta (ghost), satani (Satan) and various other demons and evil spirits.

Manichaeism In Manichaeism, God and the devil are two unrelated principles. God created good and inhabits the realm of light, while the devil (also called the prince of darkness ) created evil and inhabits the kingdom of darkness. The contemporary world came into existence, when the kingdom of darkness assaulted the kingdom of light and mingled with the spiritual world. At the end, the devil and his followers will be sealed forever and the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness will continue to co-exist eternally, never to commingle again.

Hegemonius (4th century AD) accuses that the Persian prophet Mani, founder of the Manichaean sect in the 3rd century AD, identified Jehovah as "the devil god which created the world" and said that "he who spoke with Moses, the Jews, and the priests … is the [Prince] of Darkness, … not the god of truth."

Tengrism Among the Tengristic myths of central Asia, Erlik refers to a devil-like figure as the ruler of Hell, who is also the first human. According to one narrative, Erlik and God swam together over the primordial waters. When God was about to create the Earth, he send Erlik to dive into the waters and collect some mud. Erlik hid some inside his mouth to later create his own world. But when God commanded the Earth to expand, Erlik got troubled by the mud in his mouth. God aided Erlik to spit it out. The mud carried by Erlik gave place to the unpleasant areas of the world. Because of his sin, he was assigned to evil. In another variant, the creator-god is identified with Ulgen. Again, Erlik appears to be the first human. He desired to create a human just as Ulgen did, thereupon Ulgen reacted by punishing Erlik, casting him into the Underworld where he becomes its ruler.

According to Tengrism, there is no death, meaning that, when life comes to an end, it is merely a transition into the invisible world. As the ruler of Hell, Erlik enslaves the souls, who are damned to Hell. Further, he lurks on the souls of those humans living on Earth by causing death, disease and illnesses. At the time of birth, Erlik sends a Kormos to seize the soul of the newborn, following him for the rest of his life in an attempt to seize his soul by hampering, misguiding and injuring him. When Erlik succeeds in destroying a human's body, the Kormos sent by Erlik will try take him down into the Underworld. However a good soul will be brought to Paradise by a Yayutshi sent by Ulgen. Some shamans also made sacrifices to Erlik, for gaining a higher rank in the Underworld, if they should be damned to Hell.

Yazidism According to Yazidism there is no entity that represents evil in opposition to God; such dualism is rejected by Yazidis, and evil is regarded as nonexistent. Yazidis adhere to strict monism and are prohibited from uttering the word "devil" and from speaking of anything related to Hell.

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism probably introduced the first idea of the devil; a principle of evil independently existing apart from God. In Zoroastrianism, good and evil derive from two ultimately opposed forces. The force of good is called Ahura Mazda and the "destructive spirit" in Avestan-language called Angra Mainyu. The Middle Persian equivalent is Ahriman. They are in eternal struggle and neither is all-powerful, especially Angra Mainyu is limited to space and time: in the end of time, he will be finally defeated. While Ahura Mazda creates what is good, Angra Mainyu is responsible for every evil and suffering in the world, such as toads and scorpions.

Devil in Moral Philosophy Spinoza A not published manuscript of Spinoza's Ethics contained a chapter (Chapter XXI) on the devil, where Spinoza examined whether the devil may exist or not. He defines the devil as an entity which is contrary to God. "  However, if the devil is the opposite of God, the devil would consist of Nothingness, which does not exist. Causes of anger, hate, envy, and all things the devil is blamed for, could be expained without the proposal of a devil."   Spinoza doesn't explain evil individuals as moral agents making evil choices, but as being affected by emotions comparable to a weakness or an illness. In Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, Immanuel Kant uses the devil as the personification of maximum moral reprehensibility. Deviating from the common Christian idea, Kant does not locate the morally reprehensible in sensual urges. Since evil has to be intelligible, only when the sensual is consciously placed above the moral obligation something can be regarded as morally evil. Thus, to be evil, the devil must be able to comprehend moral but consciously reject it, and, as a spiritual being (Geistwesen), having no relation to any form of sensual pleasure. It is necessarily required for the devil to be a spiritual being, because if the devil were also a sensual, it would be possible that the devil does evil to satisfy lower sensual desires, and doesn't act from the mind alone. The devil acts against morals, not to satisfy a sensual lust, but solely for the sake of evil. As such, the devil is unselfish, for he does not benefit from his evil deeds. However, Kant denies that a human being could ever be completely devilish. Kant admits that there are devilish vices (ingratitude, envy and malicious joy), i.e. vices that do not bring any personal advantage, but a person can never be completely a devil. In his Lecture on Moral Philosophy (1774/75) Kant gives an example of a tulip seller who was in possession of a rare tulip, but when he learned that another seller had the same tulip, he bought it from him and then destroyed it instead to keeping it for himself. If he had acted according to his sensual in according to his urges, the seller would have kept the tulip for himself to make profit, but not have destroyed it. Nevertheless, the destruction of the tulip cannot be completely absolved from sensual impulses, since a sensual joy or relief still accompanies the destruction of the tulip and therefore cannot be thought of solely as a violation of morality.

#devil #global

[nijjhar]

The Rabbis had become so greedy that they even started to fleece their o... The Rabbis had become so greedy that they even started to fleece their own members of the Synagogue. https://youtu.be/f06gUnVkF7s Holy Gospel of our Supernatural Father of our “souls” Elohim, Allah, Parbrahm, etc., delivered by the first Anointed Christ, which in Punjabi we call Satguru Jesus of the highest living God Elohim that dwells within His most beautiful living Temple of God created by the greatest artist demiurge potter, the lord of the Nature Yahweh, Brahma, Khudah, etc. and it is called Harmandir or “Emmanuel” if you are not “greedy” according to Saint Mark 6,30-34. The Apostles gathered with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He told them, "Come away by yourselves on a solitary basis to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. Church of England Vicar objected to my T-shirt that it may cause problems. COE is a Church of Satan headed by Mammon and not God. https://youtu.be/wp_8D3tlu90 Please click on my Playlists at http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/playlist.htm  Church of England Vicar objected to my T-shirt which may cause problems. Today, 05 December 2010, I visited four Churches. First I went to the United Reformed Church that is just near the Bus stop and I thought let me go in as it was getting late to service. It was normal and a few looked at my T-shirt and logos but with curiosity. Only one man engaged me in the discussion. Then, I thought let me go to the Greek Orthodox Service nearby at Bartholomew Church, corner of Palmer Park and diagonally opposite to URC that I just attended. Serving Priest was from London but he normally is busy with the formalities. However, he gave me his London address and invited me to visit the Church and ask questions. That would be good. After the service, they invite people to join them in their service of Tea and Coffee with food cooked by different members at home. They also served hard drinks as it was cold. I had some cough and it was good for me to have a few. So, in the afternoon or rather evening, I went to Christadelphian Fellowship on Oxford Road with my T-shirt and they also looked with curiosity. They did not like the last two lines that Gnostics are living Christs of living God. This became clear when I attended the next Church of England, Greyfriars Church and over there the head priest, Rev Jonathan Wilmot, Vicar told me to cover my T-shirt as he did not like the way I was dressed. So, I had a rain cover that I put it on covering the back side leaving the front side open. So, he is the first priest to object and I can well imagine that these priests especially of the Church of England are hirelings of Mammon who hate the Light more than the others. In fact, most people who do not understand the Gospel in spirit would not love to see a man like me in their Churches. No wonder someone after reading the last two lines the Gnostics are living Christs of Living God pointed out that only One Christ Jesus. At this I explained to them Christ Thomas and not St.Thomas as propagated by the Anti Christs was known as Christ Thomas in South India and so was His Labourers called Christs and not Christians. Portuguese Pope went there telling people only one Christ Jesus and no other Christ and killed those who were the Labourers of Thomas and burnt their Books. This was told to me by a priest in Wellington, South India. So, please do not be deterred by the people who have no idea of Gospel but blindly follow others leading to so many divisions of the Church of God, ONE FOLD, and One Shepherd, Christ Jesus like the blind defining an elephant. Most of the religious places are infested with Mammon worshipping Antichrists who have no love for Light but love Darkness to carry on fleecing the congregations. For the unlisted videos:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Unlisted.htm My ebook by Kindle. ASIN: B01AVLC9WO Private Bitter Gospel Truth videos:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JAntisem.htm www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Rest.htm Any helper to finish my Books:- ONE GOD ONE FAITH:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bookfin.pdf and in Punjabi KAKHH OHLAE LAKHH:-  www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/pdbook.pdf Very informative Channel:- Punjab Siyan. John's baptism:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/johnsig.pdf Trinity:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/trinity.pdf

#youtube

[condensed-theorem-shop]

ssc survey responses: analysis no one asked for

(see here for actual analysis by other people)

age

"2" -- i choose to believe this is someone who reads the blog aloud to their toddler as bedtime stories and faithfully walked them through the survey

"42.23*10^16" -- hi, you've found the right community, please share your secret

"43 i guess" -- are you okay buddy

country

"Netherlands," "The Netherlands," "netherlands," "the Netherlands," "Netherlands" [yes, again], "the netherlands," "The Netherlands" [yes, also again] -- c'mon y'all get it together

"Irelanx" -- is this one of those new gender-neutral terms

"two" -- seriously buddy do you need me to call someone

"Liberland. But I'm planning to start one." -- i like your style

state

there are nine SSC readers who live in massachusetts but can't spell it

religious denomination

"stoic existentialist" -- is that just the beliefset "there are things, and they suck"

"Origin" -- i assume this is when your religion consists of playing the sims and declaring yourself their god

"ADF" -- this one i googled and now i don't know if they're a christian or a druid

"Cult of the Bear" -- tell me more. is it a specific bear. can i join

"Luthren" -- it took me way too long to realize this was a misspelling of 'lutheran'

"Christadelphian" -- this is awesome and i want to be your friend

"HIGH CHURCH ANGLICAN" -- also yours. i like your enthusiasm

"Anti Radio Button Input" -- are you accepting converts

"Christian Scientist" -- i definitely want to get to know any christian scientist who reads ssc, this sounds like a fascinating person

"Zen Satanist" -- ......what

"atheist but support fundamentalist christianity as the ideal social order" -- another person i want to meet

"Jimi Henrix" -- yeah okay fair

religious background

"Luthern" -- presumably they converted to 'luthren' later in life

"vitriolic atheism" -- i have definitely met people with this family religious background, yep

"see above" -- this is not a maximally helpful answer my friend

"Catholic/Latvian Pagan Animism" -- i suppose this probably means different parts of the family but in a just world it would be the same people

"Weird new age cult" -- another background i am familiar with

"Swedish secularity" -- is this its own thing in some way i am super curious now

sat scores out of 1600

"1670", "1650", "1601" -- have you heard of a self-refuting proposition

"800+550" -- so i'm guessing the 550 was on the math section

sat scores out of 2400

"8185347837," "5202968627", "5104071848" -- why

"2540", "2700" -- you don't even have the excuse of not noticing which "out of" you were answering

"32" -- if true, actually pretty impressive

crt1

[a million answers pointing out real-world complexities] -- you are all very clever stay out of my ivory tower of pure math

"Jesus Christ I study English lit" -- i want to hug you now, anonymous person, you are very cute

"Ages i dunno" -- relatable

"Not 100" -- you're not wrong

crt2

"need another beer to care" -- also relatable

"apple" -- is this the two-year-old from the first question

"I hate math problems so much I'm going to ruin this data field out of spite." -- you are entertaining enough that i forgive you for hating math problems

crt3

for all the ridiculous answers not a single person put something of the format "0.10 cents" (double-dipping on the decimal and the cents) and for that i will forgive everything

#ssc

[codgenesis]

Yep anti dinos is a thing

I know of Christadelphians who think dinosaurs are a hoax (growing up a father of a friend of mine had this view).  It has been very fringe within our community.  More common are those who claim dinosaurs went on the ark and lived till recent time (groan!).  Videos proclaiming this nonsense are currently being promoted online by various Christadelphian channels.  (more…)

View On WordPress

[superjesus777]

The Bible trinity

The word "trinity" is not found in the Bible. Nevertheless, it is a word used to describe one fact the Bible teaches about God: Our God is a Trinity. This means there are three persons in one God and not three Gods. The persons are known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they have all always existed as three distinct persons. The person of the Father is not the same person as the Son. The person of the Son is not the same person as the Holy Spirit. The person of the Holy Spirit is not the same person as the Father. If you take away any one, there is no God. God has always been a Trinity from all eternity: "From everlasting to everlasting, You are God," (Psalm 90:2). God is not one person who took three forms, i.e., the Father who became the Son, who then became the Holy Spirit. This belief is known today as the "Jesus Only Movement" (also known as Oneness Pentecostalism). It is taught by the United Apostolic and United Pentecostal churches and is an incorrect teaching. Nor is God only one person as the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Way International, and the Christadelphians teach. (These groups are classified as non-Christian cults). For proof that there is more than one person in the Godhead, see the Plurality Study. The Bible says that there is only one God. Yet, it says that Jesus is God (John 1:1, 14). It says that the Father is God (Phil. 1:2), and it says that the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). Since the Son speaks to the Father, they are distinct persons. Since the Holy Spirit speaks also (Acts 13:2), He is a distinct person. There is one God who exists in three persons.

[bireyes-moved]

my bus home goes past a christadelphian hall and there’s a stop outside so i tend to see them a lot. and i was raised heavily protestant not christadelphian and i left my church when i was.. maybe 15? when i was figuring out i was gay and trans

at the time i played it off as having too much school/home life stress and i’ve never been back since, and it’s something i have pretty big mixed feelings about. my pastor(s) were both wonderful and like, it is how i was raised since i was little, i can always remember religion bein there but it’s hard to reconcile that with teachings on sexuality and gender and also my mother who’s v christian (dad not so much).

idk

i miss the community aspect of it. i miss havin that support group and in a way i’m still wanting to find a place of faith but at this point i doubt it’d be christianity. i could go on longer on what its like growing up religious+lgbt but it’s emotionally draining to even think about

#tbd #str8 followers don't touch

[news4trafford]

Old Trafford which is just a couple of miles from the City Centre back in the 80’s was a great place to work rest and play.

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Despite having no colour TV or any mobiles and all the gadgets we have now or any internet! people got on with it, kids were happy just to be in Hullard or Seymour Park either playing football or just chilling out.

The area has always been served well with takeaways even back in the 80’s Hong Kong chippy on Henrietta Street owned by a very popular guy called Lee serving some of the best fish and chips around, the business has changed hands but still operates under that banner and from the same place.

Kids back then in Old Trafford had a couple of venues to go to, a club behind the Christadelphian Church was opened up for young teenagers to hang out, the church back then also gave kids a day trip out often to the beach at Blackpool.

Old Trafford always had a mix of cultures, and everyone got along, although times were hard, despite the availability of jobs back then, the firms did not pay out very much something that hasn’t changed much!

The way people behaved and did things back in the times is something to always hold on to if you lived in Old Trafford, shopkeepers were like a member of the family, even the ice cream man let people come with a big plate and he filled it with ice cream.

Schooling was fairly good back then, with most kids just going really for the free school meals at Seymour Park Primary School, the standards were just sky high, the attention to detail, the presentation and wow! the food was just Hilton standard according to our research.

When all the kids grew up, they mostly went to Greatstone Secondary School or Gorse Park School which was a bus ride away, although many just walked.

Greatstone Secondary School had a lower and a higher school, with newbies going to the school on Burleigh Road now home to Gorse Hill Primary, and the other school was not far down the road which was only a stone’s throw away from Manchester United FC.

Other kids would have gone to Stretford Grammar which is very close to Greatstone Secondary School this is now the home of Stretford High School, rarely kids would have gone much further out to Lostock School.

Old Trafford had a proper railway back then they had two, one of which went down the side of Kings Road School out towards Chorlton this was only ever used for goods, and is now a Metrolink line.

Behind Kings, Road School was a cake factory, and kids were often seen getting free cakes at the gates such was the generosity of the staff! these were kind times.

With Timmy Mallett shouting yeahhhhh and doing some very funny things on the radio, playing the best pop music around and the decade that made pop stars like what footballers are these days, the chart countdown listened to by millions of people on a Sunday night, with Spitting image in its infancy making just about everyone laugh even those that did not understand politics, the ’80s was the best decade of all.

The best decade to be living in Old Trafford, where despite the money problems, the lack of things to do, people got on with it and still had a smile.

That decade also gave us the Longford Park pageant this was something everyone looked forward to, it was more popular than Match of the day!…..well sort of! people lining the streets for a glimpse of excited kids and adults on floats often playing some great music, the smiles and happiness was what made this pageant the best around, and one in that decade that those that remember or participated in will never forget.

Old Trafford also had a jam factory and operated for a long time, Duerr’s Jam on Prestage Street often made people hungry! sometimes the smell of sweet jam could be smelt all over the area.

In 2020 Old Trafford has had to endure some bad times, it though has too many people that care about it, and many people who lived in the 80’s will not let it rot, too many good memories that these people will hold forever cannot mean the area is to sink, it cannot and it will not.

What was Old Trafford like in the early 80’s? we take you back in time Old Trafford which is just a couple of miles from the City Centre back in the 80's was a great place to work rest and play.

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

For @hollers-and-holmes , a repost of something I posted on 6/8/22 about my birth. It was in response to a post asking for "something God has done for you."

Here goes.

******

I'm the youngest of eight. When my mum was pregnant with me, all seemed good and rejoicing and happy.

Until the twelve week mark.

It hit twelve weeks - more than ten weeks before a baby is even theoretically viable, so still a lot to go - and it hit Mum like a truck.

I won't go into the gory details, but suffice it to say there were at least five times she believed she had suffered a miscarriage. She was weak. She was missing church (and my Mum is the sort of person to turn up at church five days after having a baby (one of my sisters was born on a Tuesday), so this was a big deal). My grandparents and my big sister (she's seventeen years older than me) had to step in to help a lot. Big sister ended up doing a lot of the shopping and running of the house. She was in the middle of year eleven (the year before final year of high school) at the time.

Mum smocks dresses. Little baby dresses that look beautiful on children. And she could do hardly anything, she was practically on bed rest for weeks, so she was smocking a tiny dress for me, a little blue dress. We still have it.

Mum was convinced that the child was a girl, because girls are statistically more likely to survive in the womb under difficulties. And she was smocking this dress, and the whole time she smocked she wondered: would this child survive? Who was she smocking the dress for?

Every time they went to appointments Mum and Dad halfway expected to be told that their child was gone.

Then, one day, at 26 weeks, Mum was in severe pain. She's described it as labour pains, only never stopping. It went on for the entire day.

At some point, they went to hospital.

The hospital practically took one look at Mum and said they were not equipped for that. So they sent Mum across to the one hospital that had capacity which was equipped for it. They told Dad to follow in his car, but not try and follow. They were going to break red lights all over the place.

They went at top speed; nobody still knew whether the child my mother was carrying would survive to be born.

26 weeks, you remember. Three months early.

They got her there, and her condition seemed to stabilise, so the doctors left it. A doctor checked her, she seemed all right enough. Obviously they don't want to take out the baby if they can avoid doing so.

(At home, the children were settled by our grandparents. I think my oldest sister knew what was going on, but the others didn't really.)

The doctor walked back into the room I think a quarter of an hour after checking on her and finding her all right.

Suffice it to say that my mother was rushed for an emergency C-section moments later.

Dad rang up the family, and the older ones, at least, were roused, to know that they had a baby sister, earlier than anyone would have expected, but - so far - alive. Maybe they thought fleetingly of a backwards April Fool's - that was my due date - or maybe they didn't. I don't know.

On the wall of our house, our grandparents' houses, and some of my siblings and other extended family's houses, there's a framed piece. It has a picture of me, taken at sometime over a year old - still thin, with that bonier premature-baby face, but with bright eyes and sitting up alone, cheeks flushed from nighttime oxygen. And next to the picture is a carefully collated table of information.

Born three months early.

Held by mother first, at 15 days old.

Held by father first, at 42 days old.

There's more information on that table, more milestones I reached slower than you would expect. And the church near the hospital - God blessed us with a Christadelphian church perhaps five minutes away from the hospital at which I was born and, for several months, lived in the NICU - grew to know and love our family, so that whenever they returned, they knew that I was in hospital again, and the family was visiting.

When I was around four, our doctor was talking to my mother about me - a happy, healthy, ordinary child.

"You know, Ruth," he said to her. "You know she's a miracle, don't you? Medically, she's a miracle."

#catkin premature #catkin rambles #catkin: an autobiography. coming to stores near you #[not really lol but that is apparently my tag for anything such now ] #personal

[wisdomfish]

Early Trinitarian Quotes before the Council of Nicea

There are cult groups (Jehovah’s Witnesses, The Way International, Christadelphians, etc.) who deny the Trinity and state that the doctrine was not mentioned until the 4th Century, around the Council of Nicea (325). The following quotes show that the doctrine of the Trinity was indeed alive and well before the Council of Nicea:

Polycarp (70-155/160).  Bishop of Smyrna.  Disciple of John the Apostle.

“O Lord God almighty . . . I bless you and glorify you through the eternal and heavenly high priest Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be glory to you, with Him and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever” (n. 14, ed. Funk; PG 5.1040).

Justin Martyr (100?-165?).  He was a Christian apologist and martyr.

“For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water” (First Apol., LXI).

Ignatius of Antioch (died 98/117).  Bishop of Antioch.  He wrote much in defense of Christianity.

“In Christ Jesus our Lord, by whom and with whom be glory and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit for ever” (n. 7; PG 5.988). “We have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin.  For ‘the Word was made flesh.’ Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passable body; being immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts.” (Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., The ante-Nicene Fathers, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975 rpt., Vol. 1, p. 52, Ephesians 7.)

Irenaeus (115-190).  As a boy he listened to Polycarp, the disciple of John.  He became Bishop of Lyons.

“The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: . . . one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father ‘to gather all things in one,’ and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, ‘every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess; to him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all . . . ‘” (Against Heresies X.l)

Tertullian (160-215).  African apologist and theologian.  He wrote much in defense of Christianity.

“We define that there are two, the Father and the Son, and three with the Holy Spirit, and this number is made by the pattern of salvation . . . [which] brings about unity in trinity, interrelating the three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  They are three, not in dignity, but in degree, not in substance but in form, not in power but in kind.  They are of one substance and power, because there is one God from whom these degrees, forms and kinds devolve in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” (Adv. Prax. 23; PL 2.156-7).

Origen (185-254).  Alexandrian theologian.  Defended Christianity and wrote much about Christianity.

“If anyone would say that the Word of God or the Wisdom of God had a beginning, let him beware lest he direct his impiety rather against the unbegotten Father, since he denies that he was always Father, and that he has always begotten the Word, and that he always had wisdom in all previous times or ages or whatever can be imagined in priority . . . There can be no more ancient title of almighty God than that of Father, and it is through the Son that he is Father” (De Princ. 1.2.; PG 11.132).

“For if [the Holy Spirit were not eternally as He is, and had received knowledge at some time and then became the Holy Spirit] this were the case, the Holy Spirit would never be reckoned in the unity of the Trinity, i.e., along with the unchangeable Father and His Son, unless He had always been the Holy Spirit.” (Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975 rpt., Vol. 4, p. 253, de Principiis, 1.111.4)

“Moreover, nothing in the Trinity can be called greater or less, since the fountain of divinity alone contains all things by His word and reason, and by the Spirit of His mouth sanctifies all things which are worthy of sanctification . . . ” (Roberts and Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4, p. 255, de Principii., I. iii. 7).

Conclusion

If, as the anti-Trinitarians maintain, the Trinity is not a biblical doctrine and was never taught until the council of Nicea in 325, then why do these quotes exist?  The answer is simple: the Trinity is a biblical doctrine, and it was taught before the council of Nicea in 325 A.D.

~ Matt Slick

#trinity #doctrine #christianity #council of nicea #jehovah's witnesses #christadelphians #the way international

[butyouvealwaysbeenthecaretaker]

Incidentally, if you're a mutual or someone who appears in my comments semi-regularly, you're absolutely invited to send me religious tracts. I'm so proud of my collection.

I've got a great pamphlet from the uni Islam society attempting to explain that, while Muslims aren't terrorists, they mostly do agree politically with terrorists; a christian education booklet with tick - box questions to answer ("how happy are you with your sexual relationship? Happy. Unhappy. Disatisfied. How do you feel about your state government? Supportive. Rebellious. Un-cooperative.); two copies of a fantastic apocalyptic booklet with infograms of the end of the world; the standard hare krisna booklets you see everywhere though I lost the one with the vegan recipes alas.

ive got some pamphlets from the National Secular Society, a couple from faith healers and magicians, and some from people promising Christian magic of one kind or another; a copy of the Quran, Gideon Bible, Jehovahs Witness bible and book of Mormon. I don't collect Witness stuff mostly, because there's too much. The exception is this one pamphlet my mother in law has about the structure of the organisation, which I'm dying for; and a big red "the end times are near" hardback which she semi-regularly updates with tipex and a biro in response to requirement from the top. I've also got some great pamphlets debunking Mormonism that I was handed by activists on leaving their tourist center. Handful of Chick Tracts. Some shiny Jesus stickers.

I'm always on the look out for people ive not heard of (the Christadelphians. Jews for Jesus. The Supreme Master who runs the culty vegan restaurants.). My only scientology pamphlet went missing in a house move: it was a list of psychological questions. Of all these groups, the UKGC are the only lot I really have it in for, and I will chew them out in the street if they try and talk to me, because their fake newspapers are so exploitative. My anti-Catholic edition of the "British Christian Crusader: Papal Visit Special Edition" is a special kind of mental, alleging a plot to destroy the queen, a new world order, sinister things in the EU, and the end of the world

Anyway. I have such pride in my collection, such pride. So if you do come across anything and want to put it in an envelope for me, please do. My policy is to never spend money, as I don't want to support these organisations, but rather to get this shit off my streets and public transport. I can't say what, exactly, the fascination is, but preventing others from reading it is one factor.

(vague data: most of my collection is generic evangelical repent and you will be saved Christianity. I have no Jewish pamphlets at all (I guess Jews for Jesus count? I don't have any pamphlets which feel like an invitation to join mainstream Judaism), nor any which are Sikh, Buddhist, Pagan/New Age. Most of the "professional" seeming pamphlets are either Christian or Muslim. There's a real sense of one guy in his basement with a photocopier for the rest.)

#tractblogging

[meekspaceng]

Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany:

Legislative developmentsEdit

Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, and from that point forward, persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses intensified. Witnesses, being politically neutral, refused to swear loyalty to the Nazi regime. Initially, Witness indifference to the Nazi state manifested itself in the refusal to raise their arms in the Nazi salute, join the German Labor Front, participate in Nazi welfare collections, perform air raid duties, or participate in Nazi rallies and parades.[3] Nazi Party SA stormtroopers raided the homes of Witnesses who failed to vote in a November 1933 plebiscite over German withdrawal from the League of Nations and marched them to the polling booths. Some were beaten or forced to walk holding placards declaring their "betrayal" of the fatherland; in one town, a billboard was displayed in the marketplace listing Bible Student "traitors" who had not voted, and mobs also gathered outside Witnesses' homes to throw stones or chant. Similar action was taken at subsequent elections in the one-party state.[10]

Chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler.

Nazi authorities denounced Jehovah's Witnesses for their ties to the United States and derided the apparent revolutionary millennialism of their preaching that a battle of Armageddonwould precede the rule of Christ on earth. They linked Jehovah's Witnesses to "international Jewry" by pointing to Witness reliance on certain Old Testament texts. The Nazis had grievances with many of the smaller Protestant groups on these issues, but only Jehovah's Witnesses and the Christadelphian Church refused to bear arms or swear loyalty to the state.[3]

Activities of the Bible Students Association were banned in the states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Bavaria on 10 April 1933 and 13 April 1933, respectively. When Witnesses responded with a nationwide house-to-house booklet distribution campaign, many were arrested, and within a week bans were extended to the states of Saxony and Hessen. Publications were also confiscated in some states. On 24 April, police seized the Bible Student headquarters at Magdeburg, withdrawing five days later after US diplomatic efforts. From mid-May, other states issued decrees outlawing the Bible Students, and by the middle of June they were banned in almost every state. In one state's decree, the rationale for the ban was said to be that Bible Students were "imposing" Watch Tower Society journals on householders, "which contain malicious attacks on the major Christian churches and their institutions".[11][12]

Prussia, Germany's biggest state, imposed a ban on 24 June, explaining that the Bible Students were attracting and harboring subversive former members of the Communist and Marxist parties. Its decree added that the Bible Students:

"...are obviously involved in agitation against political and religious institutions in word and written form. By declaring both institutions as agencies of Satan, they undermine the very foundation of life in the people's community. In their numerous publications ... they deliberately and maliciously misrepresent Bible accounts for the purpose of ridiculing State and church institutions. One of the characteristics of their struggle is a fanatical manipulation of their followers ... It is therefore obvious that the above-mentioned association tends to be in complete opposition to the present state and its cultural and moral structures.[11]

Wilmersdorfer Erklaerung 1933-06-25 (page 1)

On 25 June 1933, about 7000 Witnesses assembled at the Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen in Berlin, where a 3800-word "Declaration of Facts" was issued. The document, written by Watch Tower Society president J.F. Rutherford, asserted the group's political neutrality, appealed for the right to publicly preach, and claimed it was the victim of a misinformation campaign by other churches.[13] Some 2.1 million copies of the declaration, reproduced as a four-page pamphlet, were distributed publicly throughout Germany, with a copy also sent to Hitler, accompanied by a seven-page cover letter assuring the Chancellor that the IBSA "was not in opposition to the national government of the German Reich", but that, to the contrary, "the entirely religious, nonpolitical objectives and efforts of the Bible Students" were "completely in agreement with the corresponding goals of the national government".[14] German historian Detlef Garbe described the declaration as part of the group's efforts to adapt at a time of increasing persecution, while Canadian historian Professor James Penton, a former Jehovah's Witness and critic of the denomination, claimed the declaration was a compromising document that proves "that Watch Tower leaders were attempting to pander to the Nazis"[15]—an allegation the Watch Tower Society rejected in a 1998 magazine article.[16]

The distribution of the declaration prompted a new wave of persecution against German Witnesses.[17] On 28 June, thirty stormtroopers occupied the branch office for a second time, closing the factory, sealing the printing presses, and hoisting a swastika over the building. In late August, authorities used 25 trucks to transport about 70 tonnes of Watch Tower literature and Bibles to the city's outskirts and publicly burned them. Preaching activities and meetings in private homes continued, though the threat of Gestapo raids caused many believers to withdraw association and activity in some places ceased. When authorities discovered banned literature was being smuggled into Germany from abroad, Bavarian police ordered the confiscation of mail of all known Bible Students and expressed irritation that their activity was increasing rather than ceasing.[18]

Watch Tower Society president Joseph Rutherford.

By early 1934, Rutherford had concluded that an improvement in conditions within Germany was unlikely. On 9 February 1934, the Watch Tower Society president sent a strongly worded letter to Hitler, asking the chancellor to allow the Witnesses to assemble and worship without hindrance, warning that if he failed to do so by 24 March, the organization would publicise their "unjust treatment" throughout the world. He threatened that Jehovah God would also punish Hitler and destroy him at Armageddon. The society's German branch president Paul Balzereit directed members that they should continue to distribute The Watchtower, but that meetings be kept to about three to five people in size and public preaching be discontinued. But in September 1934, at an international convention of 3,500 Witnesses in Basel, Switzerland, under the theme "Fear Them Not", Rutherford reversed the instruction. He urged the 1,000 German Witnesses present to resume completely their preaching activity, starting with a collective witnessing effort on 7 October. The convention also passed a resolution of protest, a copy of which was sent to Hitler with the warning: "Refrain from further persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses; otherwise God will destroy you and your national party."[19]

On 8 October, an international campaign was launched to flood the Reich chancellory with telegrams and letters of protest. Five hundred protest telegrams were sent to the chancellory that day. and during the next two days, large numbers arrived from around the world, most of them from the United States, Britain, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Foreign post offices were told to stop transmitting the telegrams because the recipient refused to accept them, and on 10 October, the Berlin main telegraph office arranged with several overseas telegraph offices to destroy all telegrams that had not yet been transmitted. More than 1,000 letters—almost all of them with the same wording and signed "Jehovah's Witnesses"—were also received at the presidential office, and in November, those letters were transferred to the Secret State Police "for further investigation".[20]

In late 1934, all state bans against the Witnesses were replaced with a prohibition at the Reich level. State governments were instructed in July 1935 to confiscate all Watch Tower Society publications, including Bibles, and in December, nine Watch Tower leaders were sentenced to up to 2½ years in jail for defying bans. Yet throughout 1933 and 1934 some courts continued to acquit Witnesses after legal and constitutional challenges.[21]

Nazi renunciation document

When Germany reintroduced universal military service in 1935, Jehovah's Witnesses generally refused to enroll. Although they were not pacifists, they refused to bear arms for any political power. The Nazis prosecuted Jehovah's Witnesses for failing to report for conscription and arrested those who did missionary work for undermining the morale of the nation. John Conway, a British historian, stated that they were "against any form of collaboration with the Nazis and against service in the army."[22]

Children of Jehovah's Witnesses also suffered under the Nazi regime. In classrooms, teachers ridiculed children who refused to give the Heil Hitler salute or sing patriotic songs. Principals found reasons to expel them from school. Following the lead of adults, classmates shunned or beat the children of Witnesses. On occasion, authorities sought to remove children from their Witness parents and send them to other schools, orphanages, or private homes to be brought up as "good Germans".[3]

Jehovah's Witnesses could, however, escape persecution and personal harm by renouncing their religious beliefs. From 1935, Gestapo officers offered members a document to sign indicating renunciation of their faith, submission to state authority, and support of the German military. By signing the document, individuals vowed to refrain from any association with members of the IBSA for the purposes of studying the Bible, The Watchtower or other Bible Student publications, refrain from participating in any Bible Student activities and also to report to authorities any observations that members were continuing the organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses.[2] Garbe says a "relatively high number" of people signed the statement before the war, but "extremely low numbers" of Bible Student prisoners did so in concentration camps in later years.[23]

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