humanity

HUMANITY MADE A MISTAKE

HERE IS THE STORY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnmCu3U09w

THE MOVIE TRAILER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=vahx4rAd0N0&NR=1

THE DAWN OF MAN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd3-1tcOthg&NR=1&feature=endscreen

 

 

Dee Finney's blog

start date July 20,, 2011

Today's date  January 22, 2012

 

page 112

 

TOPIC:  DO WE REALLY HAVE FREE WILL?

 

Some circumstances I heard about yesterday from two completely different sources tells me that answer to that question is emphatically      NO.

If you had heard what I heard, you would agree with me.  Unfortunately, some of the things I heard would curl your hair and I can't talk about it in public or I'd have to give up my sources.  So I'm going to prove it in another way.

 

WHAT IS FREE WILL?

Free will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long been debated in philosophy. Historically, the constraint of dominant concern has been the metaphysical constraint of determinism. Two prominent opposing positions within that debate are metaphysical libertarianism, the claim that determinism is false and thus that free will exists (or is at least possible); and hard determinism, the claim that determinism is true and thus that free will does not exist.

Both of these positions, which agree that causal determination is the relevant factor in the question of free will, are classed as incompatibilists. Those who deny that determinism is relevant are classified as compatibilists, and offer various alternative explanations of what constraints are relevant, such as physical constraints (e.g. chains or imprisonment), social constraints (e.g. threat of punishment or censure), or psychological constraints (e.g. compulsions or phobias).

The principle of free will has religious, ethical, and scientific implications. For example, in the religious realm, free will implies that individual will and choices can coexist with an omnipotent divinity. In ethics, it may hold implications for whether individuals can be held morally accountable for their actions. In science, neuroscientific findings regarding free will may suggest different ways of predicting human behavior.

Incompatibilism is the position that free will and determinism are logically incompatible, and that the major question regarding whether or not people have free will is thus whether or not their actions are determined. "Hard determinists", such as Martin Luther and d'Holbach, are those incompatibilists who accept determinism and reject free will. "Metaphysical libertarians", such as Thomas Reid, Peter van Inwagen, and Robert Kane, are those incompatibilists who accept free will and deny determinism, holding the view that some form of indeterminism is true.[1] Another view is that of hard incompatibilists, which state that free will is incompatible with both determinism and indeterminism. This view is defended by Derk Pereboom.[2]

Traditional arguments for incompatibilism are based on an "intuition pump": if a person is like other mechanical things that are determined in their behavior such as a wind-up toy, a billiard ball, a puppet, or a robot, then people must not have free will.[1][3] This argument has been rejected by compatibilists such as Daniel Dennett on the grounds that, even if humans have something in common with these things, it remains possible and plausible that we are different from such objects in important ways.[4]

Another argument for incompatibilism is that of the "causal chain." Incompatibilism is key to the idealist theory of free will. Most incompatibilists reject the idea that freedom of action consists simply in "voluntary" behavior. They insist, rather, that free will means that man must be the "ultimate" or "originating" cause of his actions. He must be a causa sui, in the traditional phrase. To be responsible for one's choices is to be the first cause of those choices, where first cause means that there is no antecedent cause of that cause. The argument, then, is that if man has free will, then man is the ultimate cause of his actions. If determinism is true, then all of man's choices are caused by events and facts outside his control. So, if everything man does is caused by events and facts outside his control, then he cannot be the ultimate cause of his actions. Therefore, he cannot have free will.[5][6][7] This argument has also been challenged by various compatibilist philosophers.[8][9]

A third argument for incompatibilism was formulated by Carl Ginet in the 1960s and has received much attention in the modern literature. The simplified argument runs along these lines: if determinism is true, then we have no control over the events of the past that determined our present state and no control over the laws of nature. Since we can have no control over these matters, we also can have no control over the consequences of them. Since our present choices and acts, under determinism, are the necessary consequences of the past and the laws of nature, then we have no control over them an

 

HERE ISI ANOTHER MAN'S TAKE ON GOOD VS EVIL.  LONG VIDEO BUT EYE OPENING  http://www.1111invitation2012.info/1111Invitation2012/Countdown_Journal/Entries/2011/2/16_Inceptional_Insights.html

 

 

 

NOTE FROM DEE:  THAT'S ENOUGH GOBBELDY GOOK NONSENSE.  LET'S GET DOWNN TO BRASS TACKS HERE!

THE BIBLE:

 

What the Bible says about Free Will

GENESIS II

16The LORD God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the gardeni17except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die.* j

NOTE:  WE NEVER HAD FREE WILL TO BEGIN WITH:

GOD GAVE THAT COMMANDMENT TO ADAM BEFORE EVE WAS CREATED.  DID ADAM EVER TELL EVE OF GOD'S COMMANDMENT? 

WHAT ABOUT LILLITH?  WASN'T LILLITH ADAM'S FIRST WIFE?  DID HE EVER TELL HER?

Lilith (Hebrew: לילית‎; lilit, or lilith) is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. sources are the Gilgamesh appendix and the Arslan Tash amulets, which are discussed below.[2]

The Jews regarded Lilith as evil. According to Jewish folklore, Lilith was forced by three angels to swear she would not harm mothers and children that wore amulets having the names of those three angels (Sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf).[3]

In Jewish folklore, from the 8th–10th centuries Alphabet of Ben Sira onwards, Lilith becomes Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same earth as Adam. This contrasts with Eve, who was created from one of Adam's ribs. The legend was greatly developed during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism.[4] In the 13th Century writings of Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, for example, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with

 

HERE ARE THE PAGES WE'VE DONE ON LILLITH IN THE PAST - UNFORTUNATELY MOSTLY NEGATIVE:

 

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGdWqJrR1Ptk4A_51XNyoA?p=site%3Agreatdreams.com%20%20lillith&fr2=sb-top&fr=slv8-att

 

In the ancient world it was not unusual for the goddess to be depicted in animal and human form. The ancient Hebraic goddess Lilith had the wings and claws of a bird, and owls and lions as her animal familiars. Recreated as a she-devil and demon, Lilith was stripped of her power by the monotheistic patriarchal religion of Yahweh.

 

LILLITH

THI S CARVING OF LILLITH IS IN THE BRITSH MUSEUM

NOTE THE OWLS BY HER SIDE

 

The Bible's dual accounts of the creation of the first woman, which led its author to the conclusion that Adam had a first wife before his marriage to Eve. Adam's original mate was the demonic Lilith who had been fashioned, just like her male counterpart, from the dust of the earth. Lilith insisted from the outset on equal treatment, a fact which caused constant friction between the couple. Eventually the frustrated Lilith used her magical powers to fly away from her spouse. At Adam's urging, God dispatched three angels to negotiate her return. When these angels made threats against Lilith's demonic descendants, she countered that she would prey eternally upon newborn human babies, who could be saved only by invoking the protection of the three angels. In the end Lilith stood her ground and never returned to her husband.

 

The story implies that when Eve was afterwards fashioned out of Adam's rib (symbolic of her subjection to him), this was to serve as an antidote to Lilith's short-lived attempt at egalitarianism. Here, declare the feminists matronizingly, we have a clear statement of the Rabbinic Attitude Towards Women!

There is only one slight problem with this theory: The story of Lilith is not actually found in any authentic Rabbinic tradition. Although it is repeatedly cited as a "Rabbinic legend" or a "midrash," it is not recorded in any ancient Jewish text!

The tale of Lilith originates in a medieval work called "the Alphabet of Ben-Sira," a work whose relationship to the conventional streams of Judaism is, to say the least, problematic.

The unknown author of this work has filled it with many elements that seem designed to upset the sensibilities of traditional Jews. In particular, the heroes of the Bible and Talmud are frequently portrayed in the most perverse colours. Thus, the book's protagonist, Ben-Sira, is said to have issued from an incestuous union between the prophet Jeremiah and his daughter. Joshua is described as a buffoon too fat to ride a horse. King David comes across as a heartless and spiteful figure who secretly delights in the death of his son Absalom, while putting on a disingenuous public display of grief. The book is consistently sounding the praises of hypocritical and insincere behaviour.


So shocking and abhorrent are some of the contents of "the Alphabet of Ben-Sira" that modern scholars have been at a loss to explain why anyone would have written such a book. Some see it as an impious digest of risqué folk-tales. Others have suggested that it was a polemical broadside aimed at Christians, Karaites, or some other opposing movement. I personally would not rule out the possibility that it was actually an anti-Jewish satire--though, to be sure, it did come to be accepted by the Jewish mystics of medieval Germany; and amulets to fend off the vengeful Lilith became an essential protection for newborn infants in many Jewish communities.

Eventually the tale of Lilith was included in a popular English-language compendium of Rabbinic legend, and some uncritical readers--unable or unwilling to check after the editor's sources--cited it as a representative Rabbinic statement on the topic. As tends to happen in such instances, subsequent authors kept copying from one another until the original error turned into an unchallenged historical fact.

Certainly there are volumes of real texts and traditions that could benefit from a searching and critical feminist analysis, and it is a shame to focus so much intellectual energy on a dubious and uncharacteristic legend of this sort.

IT IS DIFFICULT TO FIND A REAL PICTURE OF LILLITH THAT IS NOT PORNOGRAPHIC,  BUT HERE IS ONE FROM A SACRED SOURCE

 

LILLITH

 

 

archangel Samael.[5]

NOTE FROM DEE:  EVERY WOMAN DESERVES TO BE LIKE LILLITH BECAUSE NO WOMAN NEEDS TO BE SUBSERVIANT TO MEN WHO JUST WANT TO BE MEAN TO THEM.  WOMEN DESERVE TO BE AT LEAST EQUAL TO MEN.  THERE WOULD BE NO HUMAN RACE WITHOUT WOMEN WHO GO THROUGH PREGNANCY, AND PAINFUL DELIVERIES TO PROVIDE THIS WORLD WITH CHIILDREN.

I'LL SPEAK MORE ABOUT THAT BELOW:

 

IN THE BIBLE IT SAYS THAT THE ELOHHIM CREATED MAN ADN WOMAN - HERE ISI WHAT WIKIPEDIA SAYS ABOUT ELOHIM

 

Elohim (אֱלהִים) is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives Elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives Elohim is usually plural, "gods" or "powers".[1][2] It is generally thought that Elohim is a formation from eloah, the latter being an expanded form of the Northwest Semitic noun il (אֱל, ʾēl [3]). It is usually translated as "God" in the Hebrew Bible, referring with singular verbs both to the one God of Israel, and also in a few examples to other singular pagan deities. With plural verbs the word is also used as a true plural with the meaning "gods".[3] The related nouns eloah (אלוה) and el (אֱל) are used as proper names or as generics, in which case they are interchangeable with Elohim.[3]

Mark S. Smith said that the notion of divinity underwent radical changes throughout the period of early Israelite identity. Smith said that the ambiguity of the term Elohim is the result of such changes, cast in terms of "vertical translatability" by Smith (2008); i.e. the re-interpretation of the gods of the earliest recalled period as the national god of the monolatrism as it emerged in the 7th to 6th century BCE in the Kingdom of Judah and during the Babylonian captivity, and further in terms of monotheism by the emergence of Rabbinical Judaism in the 2nd century CE.[4] A different version was produced by Morton Smith. Despite the -im ending common to many plural masculine nouns in Hebrew, the word when referring to the Name of God is grammatically singular, and takes a singular verb in the Hebrew Bible.

The word is identical to the usual plural of el meaning gods or magistrates, and is cognate to the 'l-h-m found in Ugaritic, where it is used for the pantheon of Canaanite Gods, the children of El and conventionally vocalized as "Elohim" even though this is a speculation as Ugaritic as a consonantal written language only recorded consonants. Most use of the term Elohim in the later Hebrew text imply a view that is at least monolatrist at the time of writing, and such usage (in the singular), as a proper title for the supreme deity, is generally not considered to be synonymous with the term Elohim, "gods" (plural, simple noun). Hebrew grammar allows for this nominally-plural form to mean "He is the Power (singular) over powers (plural)", or roughly, "God of gods". Rabbinic scholar Maimonides wrote that the various other usages are commonly understood to be homonyms.[5] The plural form ending in -im can also be understood as denoting abstraction, as in the Hebrew words chayyim ("life") or betulim ("virginity"). If understood this way, Elohim means "divinity" or "deity".

Elohim occurs frequently throughout the received text of the Torah. In some cases (e.g. Exodus 3:4, "... Elohim called unto him out of the midst of the bush ..."), it acts as a singular noun in Hebrew grammar, and is then generally understood to denote the single God of Israel. In other cases, Elohim acts as an ordinary plural of the word Eloah, and refers to the polytheistic notion of multiple gods (for example, Exodus 20:3, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.").

The choice of word or words for God varies in the Hebrew Bible. According to the documentary hypothesis these variations are evidence of different source texts: Elohim is used as the name of God in the Elohist and the Priestly source, while Yahweh is used in the Jahwist source. The difference in names results from the theological point being made in the Elohist and Priestly sources that God did not reveal his name, Yahweh, to any man before the time of Moses.

While the Jahwist presented an anthropomorphic God who could walk through the Garden of Eden looking for Adam and Eve, the Elohist frequently involves angels. For example, it is the Elohist version of the tale of Jacob's ladder in which there is a ladder of angels with God at the top, whereas in the Jahwist tale, it is just a dream in which God is simply above the location, without the ladder or angels. Likewise, the Elohist describes Jacob actually wrestling with God.

The classical documentary hypothesis as developed in the late 19th century assumed that the Elohist portions of the Torah were composed in the 9th century BCE (i.e. during the early period of the Kingdom of Judah). This is far from universally accepted today, as there is evidence of a later "Elohist redaction" (post-exilic) during the 5th century BCE which makes it difficult to determine whether a given passage is "Elohist" in origin, or only as a result of late redaction.

 

The word Elohim occurs more than 2500 times in the Hebrew Bible, with meanings ranging from "god" in a general sense (as in Exodus 12:12, where it describes "the gods of Egypt"), to a specific god (e.g., 1 Kings 11:33, where it describes Chemosh "the god of Moab", or the frequent references to Yahweh as the "Elohim" of Israel), to demons, seraphim, and other supernatural beings, to the spirits of the dead brought up at the behest of King Saul in 1 Samuel 28:13, and even to kings and prophets (e.g., Exodus 4:16).[3] The phrase bene Elohim, usually translated "sons of God", has an exact parallel in Ugaritic and Phoenician texts, referring to the council of the gods.[3]


Elohim occupy the seventh rank of ten in the famous medieval Rabbinic scholar Maimonides' Jewish angelic hierarchy. Maimonides said: "I must premise that every Hebrew knows that the term Elohim is a homonym, and denotes God, angels, judges, and the rulers of countries, ...[5]

 

NOTE FROM DEE:  I WAS ASTONISHED TO FIND THAT ANNA HAYES (ASHAYANA DEANE) HAD A DIFFERENT TAKE ON THE ELOHIM:  http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGdWlitx1PUQcAJoVXNyoA?p=site%3Agreatdreams.com%20%20ELOHIM%20ANNA%20HAYES&fr2=sb-top&fr=slv8-att

 

HER BRAIN WORKS DIFERENTLY THAN MINE.  THIS IS WHAT SHE SAYS

 

"Shadow Dancers, the Metatronic code and the Signs of the BeaST"

A Polarization-Refraction Lens called the "Eye of Metatron" was installed 150 billion years ago ...between Phantom and our Living Time Matrix. The Lens served to channel a portion of our Universal Veca life force currents ... into the quarantined portion of the Phantom system and created a quarantined path of ascension via Host Matrix for the returning races. The Host Matrix project was entrusted to an Elohim Collective called Metatron, of the Jehovani Entity Collective; the original family line from which the quarantined races had fallen. When the Eye of Metatron was installed, mutated hybrid rebel races of the Wesedak Matrix misused the Star Gate Templar system powers of their Universal Veca in an attempt to break into Phantom Matrix to gain control of the Lens. Their attempted raid failed...plunging their matrix into imploding Black Hole status.

The Metatron collective failed in numerous attempts of re-evolving the quarantined Phantom races, losing more of its consciousness fields to the Phantom Matrix; the Metatron Collective itself finally fell to Phantom. Through the Metatron's misuse of the Eye of Metatron Lens, the quarantine in Phantom Matrix was broken and Phantom Matrix digressed into progressive hybridization-mutation and escalating war between the Phantom Races....the Metatron Collective made deals with the warring Wesedak races from the Wesedak Black Hole system, and allowed the Wesedaks to use the Metatron Lens to create a wormhole...between the Wesedak and Phantom Matrices, called the "Path of Arimathaea".

 

The Wesedak-Metatron Alliance used the Lens to progressively create the "BeaST Machine" through which the anti-christiac METATRONIC CODE for artificially sustained "energy vampiring" life, a permanent, irreversible template mutation, was born, via forced Shields Bonding between the Universal Shields of Phantom Matrix, our Time Matrix and the Wesedak Black Hole. When the BeaST was used to create interface with our system, our Universal Veca "Shadow World" was born. The D-11.5 reversed-matrix, "Dark Avatar" collectives of the Wesedak Black Hole, who carry the permanent and irreparable mutation of the Metatronic Code, became our "Shadow Dancer" Attachments.

Techniques for Shadow Dancers

 

NOTE FROM DEE:  I LEAVE IT UP TO THE READER TO UNDERSTAND OR NOT WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON WITH THE ELOHIM.

 

 

 

 

HERE IS A PHOTO OF A SUMERIAN CREATION ARTIFACT

SUMERIAN CREATION

Sumerian religion refers to the mythology, pantheon, rites and cosmology of the Sumerian civilization. The Sumerian religion influenced Mesopotamian mythology as a whole, surviving in the mythologies and religions of the Hurrians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and other culture groups.

.

According to Sumerian mythology, the gods originally created humans as servants for themselves but freed them when they became too much to handle.[5]

The primordial union of An and Ki produced Enlil, who became leader of the Sumerian pantheon. After the other gods banished Enlil from Dilmun (the “home of the gods”) for raping Ninlil, Ninlil had a child: Nanna, god of the moon. Nanna and Ningal gave birth to Inanna and to Utu, god of the sun.[6]

The Sumerians originally practiced a polytheistic religion, with anthropomorphic deities representing cosmic and terrestrial forces in their world. During the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE, Sumerian deities became more anthrocentric and were "...nature gods transformed into city gods." Gods like Enki and Inanna were viewed as having been assigned their rank, power and knowledge from An, the heaven deity, or Enlil, head of the Sumerian pantheon.

This cosmological shift may have been caused by the growing influence of the neighboring Akkadian religion, or as a result of increased warfare between the Sumerian city-states; the assignment of certain powers to deities may have mirrored the appointment of the Lugals, who were given power and authority by the city-state and its priesthood.[7]

[edit] The Pantheon/the Annunaki

The majority of Sumerian deities belonged to a classification called the Anunna (“[offspring] of An”), whereas seven deities, including Enlil and Inanna, belonged to a group of “underworld judges" known as the Anunnaki (“[offspring] of An” + Ki).[citation needed] During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerian pantheon was said to include sixty times sixty (3600) deities.[8]

The main Sumerian deities are as follows:

Akkadians

The Sumerians experienced an ongoing linguistic and cultural exchange with the Semitic Akkadian peoples in northern Mesopotamia for generations prior to the conquest of their territories by Sargon of Akkad in 2340 BCE. Sumerian mythology and religious practices were rapidly integrated into Akkadian culture,[14] presumably blending with the original Akkadian belief systems which have been all but lost to history. Sumerian deities developed Akkadian counterparts, and some remained virtually the same until later Babylonian and Assyrian rule. The Sumerian god An, for example, developed the Akkadian counterpart Anu; the Sumerian god Enki became Ea; and the Sumerian gods Ninurta and Enlil remained very much the same in the Akkadian pantheon.[citation needed]

Babylonians

The Amorite Babylonians gained dominance over southern Mesopotamia by the mid-17th Century BCE. During the Old Babylonian Period, the Sumerian and Akkadian languages were still used for religious purposes; the majority of Sumerian mythological literature known to historians today comes from the Old Babylonian Period,[1] either in the form of transcribed Sumerian texts (most notably the Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh) or in the form of Sumerian and Akkadian influences within Babylonian mythological literature (most notably the Enûma Eliš). The Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon was altered, most notably with the introduction of a new supreme deity, Marduk. The Sumerian goddess Inanna also developed the counterpart Ishtar during the Old Babylonian Period.

[edit] Hurrians and Hittites

The Hurrians adopted the Akkadian god Anu into their pantheon sometime no later than 1200 BCE. Other Akkadian deities adapted into the Hurrian pantheon include Ayas, the Hurrian counterpart to Ea; Shaushka, the Hurrian counterpart to Ishtar; and Ninlil,[15] whose mythos had been drastically expanded by the Babylonians.[citation needed]

NOTE from Dee:  MUCH OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS ARE STORIES TAKEN FROM THOSE TIMES AND REPEATED BY THE HEBREWS/JEWS AT A LATER TIME.  THE STORY OF THE FLOOD IS A STRAIGHT TAKE OFF OF THE GILGAMESH STORY:

  1. The Gilgamesh flood myth is a deluge story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Many scholars believe that the flood myth was added to Tablet XI in the "standard version" of the ...
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh_flood_myth - Cached
    More results from en.wikipedia.org »
  2. Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet XI - Academy for Ancient Texts ...

    The Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet XI The Story of the Flood. Gilgamesh spoke to Utanapishtim, ... The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood.
    www.ancienttexts.org/library/Mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab... - Cached
  3. ... of what makes a good king, and of the true nature of how to live a good life. Utnapishtim, the hero of the flood myth, tells his story to Gilgamesh, ...
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh

WE WON'T EVEN GET INTO THE SERPENT/SNAKE QUESTION BECAUSE THAT'S WAY TOO LATE IN THE GAME.  GOD NEVER GAVE ADAM FREE WILL TO START WITH - HE GAVE HIM A CHOICE TO LIVE OR DIE AND THAT IS NOT FREE WILL.  HE NEVER TOLD EVE ABOUT THIS CHOICE UNTIL AFTER THE SERPENT/SNAKE GAVE EVE THE APPLE OR WHATEVER IT REALLY WAS GROWING ON THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.  FROM THEN ON, AFTER ADAM TOOK A BITE OF THE APPLE WE, AS HUMANITY WERE DOOMED.

SO, KNOWING THAT ADAM AND EVE ARE ALSO A MYTHOLOGY BASED ON THE SUMERIAN CIVILIZATION, WE ARE NOWW LEFT WITH WHAT THE BIBLE TELLS US HAPPENED AND WE HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY TIMES THE TEXTS HAVE BEEN REWIRTTEN AND CHANGED OVER THE EONS.  THOSE WHO ARE BOUND TO BELIEVE EVERY WORD IN THE BIBLE HAVE ONLY THEMSELVES TO RELY ON ACCORDING T OTHE PREACHERS THEY BELIEVE IN

 

Probably the most common definition of free will is the “ability to make choices without any prior prejudice, inclination, or disposition,”[1] and specifically that these “free will” choices are not ultimately predestined by God.

According to the Bible, however, the choices of man are not only ultimately determined by God, but morally determined by one’s nature. Man is indeed a free moral agent and freely makes choices, but in his natural state he necessarily acts in accordance with his fallen nature. Man willingly makes choices that flow from the heart, and sin is also always attributed to the desires of the heart (James 1:13–15). When a person turns to Christ, he does so not because of his own “free will”, but because God has supernaturally enabled and moved him to do so through regeneration. God never coerces man’s will, rather God gives the ability to believe through the work of the Holy Spirit.

This is a doctrinal distinction between the theologies of Calvinism and Arminianism: In Arminianism, God saves those who believe of their own free will. In Calvinism, God saves those who willingly believe as a result of sovereign enablement by the regenerating work of the Spirit.

Rather than man’s will being free, Jesus tells us that, “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin,” (John 8:34). The heart, until born again, is “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). God saw in man that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44).

Man is most free in heaven, where he is morally unable to sin. True freedom isn’t freedom to sin, but freedom from sin.

 

"They were both naked," the text says, remember, "and were not ashamed." You see, while sin and disobedience had not yet come on the scene, they were clad in that glory from above which caused them no shame. But after the breaking of the law, then entered the scene both shame and awareness of their nakedness.
St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis, 15.14

But they, like Adam, transgressed the covenant; there they betrayed Me.
Hosea 6:7

 

God determines who is going to heaven ...

"And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." -- Acts 13:48

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate.... Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." -- Romans 8:29-30

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." -- 2 Timothy 1:9

"He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." -- Ephesians 1:4-5

"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation." -- 2 Thessalonians 2:13

and who is going to hell.

"God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned." -- 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation." -- Jude 4
There's nothing you can do about it.

"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. .... For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." -- Romans 9:11-22

GOD SAID: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__khgIzMyaM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUgtEQex0Iw

GENESIS:

1 First God made heaven & earth2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light

5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. 6 And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7 And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9 And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth." And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 20 And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens." 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 24 And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." 29 And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

GENESIS II

3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground-- 7 then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." 18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." 19 So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; 22 and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

GENESIS 3

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." 11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate." 14 The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." 16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." 17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return." 20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. 22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" -- 23 therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

NOTE FROM EE:   THERE ARE THE FIRST 3 BOOKS OF THE BIBLE AND I SEE NOWHERE WHERE GOD SPOKE TO EVE UNTIL AFTER THEY ATE OF THE APPLE.  I ALSO DON'T SEE WHERE ADAM TOLD EVE ABOUT WHAT GOD HAD SAID TO HIM?

 

AND HISTORY RELIGIONS BLAME EVE FOR EVERYTHING?  GIVE ME A BREAK.

CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS SAY THE SERPENT/SNAKE IS SATAN, BUT THE BIBLE DOESN'T SAY THAT.  A SNAKE IS REPTILIAN - DO WE REALLY WANT T OGO THERE?   WE ALL HAVE REPTILIANS BRAIN STEMS AND WE ALL LOOK REPTILIAN IN THE WOMB BEFORE WE BECOME HUMAN SHAPED AND SOME PEOPLE STILL HAVE VESTIGES OF TAILS WHEN THEY ARE BORN.

here are all the previous pages i've done on reptilians and

how prevalent they are inn our world, even today:

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGdbUNnRxPcmsABcGl87UF?p=site%3Agreatdreams.com%20%20reptilians&fr=slv8-att&fr2=sfp

 

THIS DOESN'T EVEN TOUCH ON THE REPTILIAN CONSPIRACES OF THE POLITICIANS AND ROYALTY WHO ARE SAID TO BE REPTILIANS - AT LEAST THEIR LIVES RUN BY REPTILIAN SPIRITS/ENTITIES.

PEOPLE ARE TOO QUICK TO BLAME SATAN FOR EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG- WHEN THEY SHOULD BE LOOKING AT THEIR OWN EGOES BECAUSE THATS WHAT SATAN IS -  IN KABALLAH - THE NEGATIVE EGO IS CALLED  SA-TAAN.

NOT HARD TO MISS FOR ANYONE WHO REALLY STUDIES RELIGION.

CHRISTIANS AND OTHER RELIGIONS WHO TALK ABOUT SATAN SHOULD DO A LITTLE RESEARCH AND DISCOVER THE TRUTH.

 

MORE ABOUT LILLITH VS THE MALE DOMINANT RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD AND MALE ATTITUDES LORDING IT OVER WOMEN.LIKE THEY OWN THE WORLD.  ITS CALLED Patriarchy, a system of social organization characterized by male dominance.

 

Patriarchy is a social system in which the male gender role as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination. Many patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male lineage.

Historically, patriarchy has manifested itself in the social, legal, political, and economic organization of a range of different cultures. Patriarchy also has a strong influence on modern civilization, although many cultures have moved towards a more egalitarian social system over the past century.[1]

Patriarchy literally means "rule of fathers",[2][3] from πατριάρχης (patriarkhēs), "father" or "chief of a race, patriarch".[4][5] Historically, the term patriarchy was used to refer to autocratic rule by the male head of a family. However, in modern times, it more generally refers to social systems in which power is primarily held by adult men.[6][7][8][9]

Anthropological and historical evidence indicates that most prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies were generally relatively egalitarian, and that patriarchal social structures did not develop until many years after the end of the Pleistocene era, following social and technological innovations such as agriculture and domestication.[10][11] However, according to Robert M. Strozier, historical research has not yet found a specific "initiating event" of the origin of patriarchy.[12] Some scholars point to about six thousand years ago (4000 BCE), when the concept of fatherhood took root, as the beginning of the spread of patriarchy.[13][14]

Domination by men of women is found in the Ancient Near East as far back as 3100 BCE, as are restrictions on a woman's reproductive capacity and exclusion from "the process of representing or the construction of history".[12] With the appearance of the Hebrews, there is also "the exclusion of woman from the God-humanity covenant".[12][15] However, see Jesus and women.

The works of Aristotle viewed women as morally, intellectually, and physically inferior to men; saw women as the property of men; claimed that women's role in society was to reproduce and serve men in the household; and saw male domination of women as natural and virtuous.[16][17][18]

Egypt left no philosophical record, but Herodotus left a record of his shock at the contrast between the roles of Egyptian women and the women of Athens. He observed that Egyptian women attended market and were employed in trade. In ancient Egypt a middle-class woman might sit on a local tribunal, engage in real estate transactions, and inherit or bequeath property. Women also secured loans, and witnessed legal documents. Greek influence spread, however, with the conquests of Alexander the Great, who was educated by Aristotle.[19]

From the time of Martin Luther, Protestantism regularly used the commandment in Exodus 20:12 to justify the duties owed to all superiors. ‘Honor thy father,’ became a euphemism for the duty to obey the king. But it was primarily as a secular doctrine that Aristotle’s appeal took on political meaning. Although many 16th and 17th Century theorists agreed with Aristotle’s views concerning the place of women in society, none of them tried to prove political obligation on the basis of the patriarchal family until sometime after 1680. The patriarchal political theory is associated primarily with Sir Robert Filmer. Sometime before 1653, Filmer completed a work entitled Patriarcha. However, it was not published until after his death. In it, he defended the divine right of kings as having title inherited from Adam, the first man of the human race, according to Judeo-Christian tradition.[20][unreliable source?]

In the 19th Century, various women began to question to commonly accepted patriarchal interpretation of Christian scripture. One of the foremost of these was Sarah Grimké, who voiced skepticism about the ability of men to translate and interpret passages relating to the roles of the sexes without bias. She proposed alternative translations and interpretations of passages relating to women, and she applied historical and cultural criticism to a number of verses, arguing that their admonitions applied to specific historical situations, and were not to be viewed as universal commands.[21] Elizabeth Cady Stanton used Grimké’s criticism of biblical sources to establish a basis for feminist thought. She published The Woman's Bible, which proposed a feminist reading of the Old and New Testament. This tendency was enlarged by feminist theory, which denounced the patriarchal Judeo-Christian tradition.[22]

NOTE FROM DEE: I URGE EVERYONE TO TAKE A LOOK AT MY PAGE ABOUT BLACK VS WHITE WOMEN AND THE SUCCESSES THEY HAVE MADE IN PROMOTING THE MESSAGE THAT WOMEN CAN DO MORE THAN RAISE CHILDREN AT HOME AND NOTHING ELSE.

THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT WOMEN SHOULDN'T BE MOTHERS FIRST - IT JUST MEANS THAT THEY CAN DO MORE THAN THAT, ESPECIALLY LET THEIR DAUGHTERS KNOW THEY ARE EQUAL TO THERI BROTHERS - NOT BENEATH THEM IN STATURE AND LOVING. MOTHERS HAVE AN E VEN BIGGER ROLLE IIN LIFE THAN MEN DO - AND I BELIEVE THEY CAN DO IT ALL.  MOTHERS ARE THE NUMBER ONE TEACHERS OF THE WORLD.

BLACK AND WHITE:  http://www.greatdreams.com/blkwht.htm

Most forms of feminism characterize patriarchy as an unjust social system that is oppressive to women. As feminist and political theorist Carole Pateman writes, "The patriarchal construction of the difference between masculinity and femininity is the political difference between freedom and subjection."[23] In feminist theory the concept of patriarchy often includes all the social mechanisms that reproduce and exert male dominance over women. Feminist theory typically characterizes patriarchy as a social construction, which can be overcome by revealing and critically analyzing its manifestations.[24]

Most sociologists reject predominantly biological explanations of patriarchy and contend that social and cultural conditioning is primarily responsible for establishing male and female gender roles.[25][26] According to standard sociological theory, patriarchy is the result of sociological constructions that are passed down from generation to generation.[25] These constructions are most pronounced in societies with traditional cultures and less economic development.[27] Even in modern developed societies, however, gender messages conveyed by family, mass media, and other institutions largely favor males having a dominant status.[26]

Some sociobiologists, such as Steven Goldberg, argue that social behavior is primarily determined by genetics, and thus that patriarchy arises more as a result of inherent biology than social conditioning. Goldberg also contends that patriarchy is a universal feature of human culture. In 1973, Goldberg wrote, "The ethnographic studies of every society that has ever been observed explicitly state that these feelings were present, there is literally no variation at all."[28] Goldberg has critics among anthropologists. Concerning Goldberg's claims about the "feelings of both men and women" Eleanor Leacock countered in 1974 that the data on women's attitudes are "sparse and contradictory", and that the data on male attitudes about male-female relations are "ambiguous". Also, the effects of colonialism on the cultures represented in the studies were not considered.[29]

There is considerable variation in the role that gender plays in human societies. Although there are no known examples of strictly matriarchal cultures,[30] there are a number of societies that have been shown to be matrilinear or matrilocal and gynocentric, especially among indigenous tribal groups.[31] Some hunter-gatherer groups have been characterized as largely egalitarian.[32]

One evolutionary psychology explanation for the origin of patriarchy starts with the view that females almost always invest more energy into producing offspring than males, and therefore in most species females are a limiting resource over which males will compete. This is sometimes referred to as Bateman's principle. One important female preference will be for males who control more resources which can help her and her children. This in turn has caused a selection pressure on men to be competitive and succeed in gaining resources and power in competition with other men. There has not been a similarly strong selection pressure on females.[33]

 

 

GERE IS A RECENT ARTICLE OF MALE BIAS IN RELIGION OVER WOMEN:

 

III. Violence Based on Religious Bias

Violence based on religious bias was widely reported in 2007—2008, with attacks on people of diverse confessions, on homes and property, and on places of worship, including Catholic, Protestant, and Mormon churches, mosques and prayer rooms of Islamic community centers, and synagogues.

In many cases, religious bias combined with racism and xenophobia. Jews victimized by antisemitism were targeted for both their religion and their identity as a people. Muslims were sometimes victimized because of both their religion and their ethnicity—with some anti-Muslim attacks targeting non-Muslims due to misperceptions. Churches with majority black congregations were attacked because of racist antipathy toward the attendees. Catholic churches were sometimes attacked for providing support to Hispanic immigrants.

In the report on 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation registered 1,462 “religious bias” incidents, a 19 percent rise from 2005. These incidents constituted 1,597 offenses, and resulted in 1,750 victims—a 25 percent rise over the 1,404 victims in 2005. Religious bias data is broken down further into “anti-Christian,” “anti-Jewish,” and “anti-Muslim” and categories, with the FBI recording increases in antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents.

A. Antisemitic Violence

Antisemitic crimes in 2007 and 2008 included assaults on individuals and attacks on synagogues, schools, and Jewish community centers, and on the homes and automobiles of Jewish families. There were a number of particularly serious assaults on community leaders.

The FBI’s 2006 hate crime data identified 967 incidents of “anti-Jewish” bias (up from 845 in 2005), and 1,027 offenses (up from 900). There were 1,144 reported victims, in contrast to 977 in 2005). Of the 324 crimes against persons (31 percent of the total offenses), there were 22 cases of aggravated assault, 58 of simple intimidation, and 244 of intimidation. There were 703 crimes against property, of which 672 were classed as destruction/damage/vandalism,” and 8 arson.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported a decline in antisemitic incidents for the third consecutive year in 2007. The ADL registered 1,460 incidents for the year, a decline of 6 percent from the 1,554 in 2006, and down from a peak of 1,821 in 2004. There were 699 incidents of vandalism (which included cemetery desecration, graffiti, and other forms of property damage), and 761 of harassment (which in the ADL typology includes “physical or verbal assaults directed at individuals or institutions”). The ADL’s annual report also cited high levels of antisemitic harassment and vandalism at U.S. schools and universities.

 

Serious Assaults, Threats, and Harassment

In a disturbing number of cases, Jews were victims of antisemitic violence and intimidation at their homes, in the streets, and at community centers. Attacks on people who were “visibly Jewish,” in particular Jews wearing distinctive or religiously prescribed dress, were reported in many parts of the country.

  • On February 15, 2007, Nobel Peace Prize winner Eli Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and human rights activist, was physically assaulted at his hotel in San Francisco, California. In July 2008, court found 24-year-old Ethan Hunt, a reportedly self-proclaimed holocaust denier, guilty of a felony charge of false imprisonment as a hate crime and of misdemeanor counts of battery and elder abuse. Hunt was sentenced to two years imprisonment.
  • In Los Angeles, California, on August 23, 2007, two Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva students were reportedly harangued with antisemitic remarks and shot with a pellet gun. One student was hit in the neck, and the other in a shoulder, but neither suffered a serious injury. No arrests were made, but public authorities denounced the attack as a hate crime. Los Angeles Councilman Jack Weiss called the attack “an absolute outrage” and made a promise to find the attackers. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had likewise condemned the crime.
  • On October 9, 2007, Orthodox Rabbi Mordechai Moskowitz was beaten with an aluminum baseball bat in Lakewood, New Jersey. The 53-year-old victim was hospitalized with head injuries in critical condition; the alleged perpetrator, a man with a history of mental illness, was detained.
  • On December 11, 2007, four college students returning home from a Hannukah celebration were verbally abused, spat upon, and physically assaulted on a New York City subway train. Twenty-year-old Hassan Askari, a Muslim of Bangladeshi origin, intervened to protect them. Askari was then himself attacked. Police responded and arrested eight men and two women, aged 19 to 20, who were arraigned on charges of assault, menacing, harassment, and inciting a riot. Police were investigating whether the incident should be considered a hate crime.

Attacks on Places of Worship and Cemeteries

 

As in past years, synagogues were a frequent target of attacks in 2007-2008, with vandalism and hateful graffiti targeting specific congregations and threatening the broader Jewish community. Cemeteries were also a major target of antisemitic vandalism.

In the year 2007, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found the swastika present “in hundreds of attacks against buildings, synagogues, cemeteries and private homes.” In one case profiled by the ADL, in Brooklyn, New York City, a single vandal was alleged in September 2007 to having spray-painted swastikas and antisemitic slogans “in at least 23 different locations in Brooklyn Heights, including on two synagogues, an apartment building, several homes and cars.” The alleged perpetrator, Ivaylo Ivanov, was arrested in January 2008 and charged with hate crimes in connection with the incidents.

  • In San Francisco, California, a swastika was found painted on the synagogue of Congregation Emanu-El on April 2, 2007.
  • In August 2007, a synagogue in Boca Raton, Florida, was defaced with a swastika.”
  • On May 13, 2007 vandals in Chicago, Illinois, damaged tombstones at the Rosemont Park Jewish Cemetery and marked a swastika on a tomb at the entrance to the cemetery.
  • On September 5, 2007, more than two dozen grave markers were toppled at Jewish cemeteries in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  • In July 2007, vandals attacked a synagogue on three occasions over several weeks, breaking 17 windows, in the Bronx, New York City.
  • In April 2007, in Eugene, Oregon, intruders entered an Orthodox synagogue and damaged prayer books and two Torah scrolls. Four men were subsequently arrested and indicted for burglary; police said there was insufficient evidence to charge them with a hate crime.
  • In November 2007, grave markers in a Jewish cemetery were defaced with swastikas and profanity in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.
  • In June 2007 in Victoria, Texas, antisemitic graffiti, including swastikas, Nazi, and profane messages, was spray-painted on the front the historic Temple B’Nai Israel.

Violence at Schools and Universities

 

The Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit for 2007 identified 197 antisemitic acts that were reported at K-12 schools nationwide; “these incidents took the form of swastikas and hate graffiti painted or written on desks, walls and other school property, name-calling, slurs, mockery, bullying and assaults, with some directed at teachers, as well as at Jewish students.”

Antisemitism was also present on college and university campuses. The ADL reported 81 antisemitic incidents on college or university campuses in 2007, down from 88 in 2006. Incidents ranged from graffiti on the dormitory room doors of Jewish students and on Jewish fraternity houses to swastikas scratched into automobiles.

  • On January 3, 2008, and again on January 6, vandals targeted the Wheaton Woods Elementary School and surrounding areas in Montgomery County, Maryland, by spray-painting racist and antisemitic epithets around school property. Police said they were investigating the acts of vandalism as hate crimes.
  • In June, 2007, vandals in Worcester, Massachusetts, smashed eight windows at the New Jewish Academy and painted a nearby public school with antisemitic graffiti. The Jewish school had been spray-painted repeatedly with antisemitic graffiti over the previous two weeks.
  • In Minnesota, antisemitic graffiti and threatening drawings appeared on the campus of the St. Cloud State University in December, 2007. Swastikas were carved into doors of a multicultural center, and drawings of burning crosses and Ku Klux Klan hoods were found in the Student Center. Police were investigating the incidents.

B. Violence Against Muslims

Hate crime attacks on Muslims and Muslim institutions, including mosques and community centers, continued to be reported in 2007 and 2008. The prejudices underlying anti-Muslim violence are often a combination of racism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance. But the true numbers of incidents involving anti-Muslim religious bias are difficult to assess, not least because national and local monitoring systems that register bias attacks on individual Muslims tend to classify such attacks as founded primarily on racist or ethnicity/national origin bias. Most official monitoring systems make no practical provision for logging an incident as involving both racist and antireligious bias, and accordingly register each case as one or the other. Classification of crimes as anti-Muslim bias cases is generally reserved for that minority of cases involving Muslims who were targeted for wearing traditional dress or while attending a mosque, who were subjected to expressly anti-Muslim epithets, and others in which a religious bias was both explicit and unambiguous.

In a number of serious crimes committed in 2007 and the first half of 2008, the expressly antireligious/anti-Muslim dimension of attacks was shown in the selection of targets, notably in attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses, and in the epithets used by the attackers.

The FBI’s 2006 data on hate crimes included a category of “anti-Islamic” crimes, registering 156 incidents (up 22 percent from the 128 in 2005) and 191 offenses, with 208 victims (up 38 percent from 151 in 2005).

The FBI monitoring system does not identify specific Middle Eastern, South Asian, or East Asian minorities in statistical breakdowns of victims of attacks motivated by anti-Muslim bias. Consequently, official statistics do not reflect either the true extent of anti-Muslim bias in hate crimes, or the levels of victimization of particular population groups that are predominantly Muslim.

Assaults on non-Muslims, notably members of the Sikh community, are commonly accompanied by anti-Muslim and anti-Arab epithets, and can accordingly be logged as anti-Islamic/anti-Muslim attacks. In other cases, attacks on Muslims of South Asian origin may be classified as anti-immigrant incidents. As bias attacks on Arabs, South Asians, Sikhs, and other important demographic groups in the United States are not expressly reflected in disaggregated statistics in the hate crime statistics, such incidents are often categorized as “other ethnic/national origin” bias crimes.

Two nongovernmental organizations in the United States undertake regular monitoring and advocacy on behalf of victims of racial and religious violence and harassment from the Arab-American and Muslim communities.

In a 2008 report, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) looked at hate crimes and discrimination targeting Arab-Americans from 2003 to 2007, following up on a previous report on the “backlash” violence that came in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The ADC found that although hate crimes had diminished from the extraordinary levels reported immediately after the terror attacks, but “serious incidents are occurring at . . . a greater frequency than during the late 1990’s and 2000.” According to the ADC, high levels of violence and intimidation are found to occur in the context of growing anti-Arab and anti-Muslim discourse in American “popular and political culture.”

 

Personal Assaults

  • On September 11, 2007, tires were slashed on two vehicles belonging to the family of Samira Hussein, a school family services worker in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Hussein, who runs cultural sensitivity training programs for new public school teachers, is well-known as a speaker on the stereotyping of Arab and Muslim Americans. Ongoing attacks on the family reportedly date back to the 1990’s.
  • On June 20, 2008, a group of men mocked and taunted a local Muslim businessman and his son at a gas station in Cleveland, Ohio, after hearing the victims say a prayer in Arabic. One of the assailants shot Fazliddin Yakubov three times in the abdomen; the incident was captured by a surveillance camera. Local police sought the assistance of the FBI, which was investigating the attack as a hate crime, and an arrest was made on July 3. Police subsequently reported that a man had been charged for the attack.

Attacks on Places of Worship

 

In a number of cases in 2007 and 2008, Islamic centers and mosques were the target of violent hate crimes:

  • In October 2007, in Bakersfield, California, windows were broken, cars smashed, and two worshippers received minor injuries when two drunken men entered the Islamic Center of San Joaquin Valley and disrupted a Ramadan prayer service. The FBI was assisting local authorities in an investigation of the attack as a hate crime.
  • On August 12, 2007, arsonists in Antioch, California, set fire to the Islamic Center of the East Bay, largely destroying the center’s mosque. It was reported that the front windows of the mosque had been destroyed three times during the year and that the incidents had come in the context of repeated threatening phone calls.
  • On April 12, 2007, the Islamic Education Center of Tampa, Florida, was set alight, destroying much of the interior. The ten-year-old mosque and community center had previously been vandalized, and FBI investigators were assisting local police and fire safety officers in the investigation.
  • On the night of February 9, 2008, a group of men attacked the Islamic Center Mosque in Columbia, Tennessee, spray-painting three swastikas and the slogans “White Power” and “We run the world” on the walls, and then setting the building alight. The attackers threw a brick through a window and hurled two Molotov cocktails into the interior; the fire had completely destroyed the structure. Three men were detained in relation to the attack the same night, according to federal officials. In March 2008, Federal prosecutors brought charges under federal civil rights statutes and legislation specific to attacks on places of worship. On March 26, a federal grand jury indicted three men with “conspiracy to violate civil rights, destroying a house of worship, possession of a destructive device, use of fire to destroy a building and use of fire to commit a felony.” Federal officials said the accused had planned for a week to burn down the Islamic Center.

Attacks on Muslim-owned Business Establishments

 

Muslim-owned businesses were also attacked:

 

  • On March 26, 2008, in Lenexa, Kansas, two men attacked a Muslim-owned Conoco gas station and a nearby convenience store with Molotov cocktails. In the initial attack, a man went into the gas station store and asked the clerk “if he was a Muslim.” The man proceeded to verbally harass the clerk and to throw a brick and a Molotov cocktail through the window. Police said the bomb “fizzled” before landing inside the store and that no fire damage resulted. A second attack on a nearby convenience store occurred as police investigated the incident. A suspect was detained and charged with “attempted aggravated arson and felony criminal damage” in relation to both incidents.
  • In January 2008, three men entered the Blaine Dairy, a convenience store in Blaine, Minnesota, and threw a flaming Molotov cocktail at the Egyptian-born owner. The owner ducked behind shelves and suffered minor burns to his left hand, cuts, and bruises, fleeing through smoke and flames only after he was sure the attackers had left. The building was heavily damaged. In March, the FBI said it was investigating whether the attack was a hate crime, making no further comment.

C. Violence against Christians

The FBI’s 2006 data on hate crimes against Christian denominations were broken into anti-Catholic bias (76 incidents, 81 offenses, and 86 victims) and anti-Protestant bias (59 incidents, 52 offenses, and 65 victims), together accounting for 8.6 percent of victims.

Hate crimes targeting Christian denominations, generally involving vandalism and threatening graffiti, targeted Protestant, Catholic, and other churches. Vandals desecrated and destroyed religious statues in Catholic churches, while causing severe damage to the interiors of churches of several denominations. There were also numerous incidents of arson targeting places of worship, often accompanied by antireligious and racist graffiti. In a number of cases, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) suffered personal assaults motivated by bias against their religious beliefs and practice. Attacks on churches were also reported in which racism and anti-immigrant bias and xenophobia combined, including attacks on traditionally black churches and churches attended by Americans and immigrants of Hispanic origin.

 

Physical Assaults and Murder

 

A number of attacks were reported on individuals. Members of minority religions were also subjected to physical assaults.

  • In Phoenix, Arizona in May, 2008, two teenagers attacked two Mormon youths with a pellet gun while shouting anti-Mormon epithets. Two teens, aged 15 and 16, were charged “with suspicion of aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and underage drinking.”
  • On July 27, 2008, in Knoxville, Tennessee, a man armed with a semi-automatic shotgun entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and opened fire on members of the congregation. The gunmen killed one person and seriously injured five others, one of whom subsequently died in the hospital. Two others received minor injuries. The attack was being investigated as a hate crime, with the assistance of the FBI: police said a letter from the attacker, who was detained at the scene, showed that the attack targeted the church’s “liberal views.”

Church Vandalism, Arson, and Desecration

 

The Church Arson Prevention Act makes it a federal crime to commit attacks on religious property or to obstruct persons in the exercise of their religious beliefs. The law extends to racially motivated church burnings and bombings as well as acts of desecration motivated by religious animus.

Attacks on churches involving vandalism and destruction of property occurred across the United States. In some of the most serious incidents in 2007 and 2008, churches were vandalized and then severely damaged or destroyed by fire.

  • In January 2008, two young men reportedly attacked four local churches in and around Phoenix City, Alabama. Over the course of four dats, the vandals set alight the Greater Peace and Goodwill Church in Crawford, the Concord Baptist Church in Salem, Greater Bethelpore Baptist Church Smiths Station, and the Woodland Baptist Church in Phoenix City. A federal, state, and local multiagency task force announced the arrests of two 21-year-olds. In June 2008 Geoffrey Tyler Parquette pleaded guilty to “arson, burglary and criminal mischief” and was awaiting sentencing; a second defendant awaited trial for arson.
  • In early 2008, two churches were damaged with firebomb attacks in the San Fernando Valley area of California. On March 6, a Molotov cocktail caused limited damage to the Arleta Assembly of God Church. On April 20, a Molotov cocktail reportedly caused damage to the roof of the Church of the Nazarene in Panorama City.
  • On September 30, 2007, vandals in Miami, Florida, broke into a church with a large congregation of Haitian immigrants, sprayed racial slurs on the building, and set it alight. Police said they were investigating the arson as a hate crime.
  • In Portland, Oregon, in May 2007, vandals painted obscenities and ethnic slurs on cars, street signs, and the front door of a Mennonite church. Four young men were arrested and charged with “first-degree criminal mischief.”
  • In Fulton Township, Pennsylvania, on January 29, 2008, vandals desecrated the Wakefield Bible Church, painting satanic and antireligious slogans and symbols on the walls, tearing up bibles, defacing religious paintings, and setting fire to a hymnal. A state policeman said “the vandalism falls into the categories of hate crimes and desecration of venerated objects, increasing the seriousness of the crime.” A 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl were subsequently charged with institutional vandalism, ethnic intimidation and burglary.
  • In August 2008, unknown vandals defaced the entrance to the historic First Baptist Church of Chesterbrook, Virginia, with a racial epithet directed at its African-American congregation. Fairfax police reported the action and said it was investigating this and similar graffiti, possibly by the same person, on a nearby elementary school.
  • In West Jordan, Utah, three arson attempts were reported on two churches in May and June 2008, targeting the St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church and a Latter-day Saints church.
  • FROM:  http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/our-work/fighting-discrimination/2008-hate-crime-survey/usa/iii-violence-based-on-religious-bias/

NOTE FROM DEE:  THERE YOU HAVE MALE DOMIATED RELIGION AND WHAT IT DOES.

 

WE ALSO SEE VERY CLEARLY WHAT ROLES WOMEN ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO WITHIN RELIGIOUS GROUPS:

 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve. He put Adam in the garden and gave him the authority to name all the animals. Afterwards, God made Eve as a helper to Adam.1 This is an important concept because Paul refers to the order of creation in his epistle to Timothy when he discusses the relationship between men and women in the church context. Let's take a look.

"But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression," (1 Tim. 2:12-14 -- all quotes from the Bible are from the NASB).

This passage has several interesting areas of discussion, but for our purpose we will focus on authority. At the very least, there is an authority structure set up by God. The woman is not to have authority over the man in the church context. But this does not extend to the political/economic world. In the Old Testament Deborah was a judge in Israel over men. Also, in the New Testament, Phoebe played an important role in the church at Cenchrea (Romans 16). There is no doubt that women supported Paul in many areas and were great helpers in the church (Acts 2:17; 18:24; 21:8). But what Paul is speaking of in 1 Tim. 2 is the relationship between men and women in the church structure, not in a social or political context.

When we look further at Paul's teachings we see that the bishop/overseer is to be the husband of one wife (1 Tim. 3:2) who manages his household well and has a good reputation (1 Tim. 3:4-5, 7). Deacons must be "men of dignity" (1 Tim. 3:8). Paul then speaks of women in verse 11 and their obligation to receive instruction. Then in verse 12, Paul says "Let deacons be husbands of one wife..." Again, in Titus 1:5-7, Paul says, "For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man be above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward..." Notice that Paul interchanges the word 'elder' and 'overseer'.

In each case, the one who is an elder, deacon, bishop, or overseer is instructed to be male (See article There were deaconesses, so there can be female elders and pastors). He is the husband of one wife, responsible, able to "exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict" (Titus 1:9). We see no command for the overseers to be women. On the contrary, women are told to be "dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things" (1 Tim. 3:11). Why is it that it is the men who are singled out as the overseers? It is because of the created order of God that Paul references (Gen. 1-2; 1 Tim. 2:12-14). This is not merely a social custom that fell away with ancient Israel.

Additionally, in the Old Testament in over 700 mentions of priests, every single one was a male. There is not one instance of a female priest. This is significant because priests were ordained by God to hold a very important office of ministering the sacrifices. This was not the job of women. Therefore, from what I see in Genesis 1-2, 1 Timothy 2, and Titus 1, the normal and proper person to hold the office of elder/pastor is to be a man.

What About Galatians 3:28?

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus," (Gal. 3:28).

This verse is often used to support the idea that women can hold the offices of elder and pastor because there is neither male nor female in Christ. The argument states that if we are all equal, then women can be pastors.

Unfortunately, those who use this verse this way have failed to read the context. Verse 23 talks about being under the Law "before faith came" and how we are brought closer to Jesus and have become sons of God by faith. We are no longer under law, but grace and we are "Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise," (v. 29).2 The point of this passage is that we are all saved by God's grace according to the promise of God and that it doesn't matter who you are, Jew, Greek, slave, free, male, or female. All are saved the same way, by grace. In that, there is neither male nor female.


This verse is not talking about church structure. It is talking about salvation "in Christ." It cannot be used to support women as pastors because that isn't what it is talking about. Instead, to find out about church structure and leadership, you need to go to those passages that talk about it: 1 Timothy 2 and Titus 1.

Being a Pastor or Elder is to be in Authority

God is a God of order and balance. He has established order within the family (Gen. 3:16; 1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18-21 ) and the church (1 Tim. 2:11-14; 1 Cor. 11:8-9). Even within the Trinity there is an order, a hierarchy. The Father sent the Son (John 6:38) and both the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26). Jesus said, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me," (John 6:38). It is clear that God is a God of order and structure.

In creation, God made Adam first and then Eve to be his helper. This is the order of creation. It is this order that Paul mentions in 1 Tim. 2:11-14 when speaking of authority. Being a pastor or an elder is to be in the place of authority. Therefore, within the church, for a woman to be a pastor or elder, she would be in authority of men in the church which contradicts what Paul says in 1 Tim. 2:11-14.


But Doesn't This Teaching Belittle Women?

No, male leadership does not belittle women. Jesus was given his authority by God the Father (Matt. 28:18). He was sent by God (John 6:38). He said the Father was greater than He (John 14:28). Did this belittle Jesus? Of course not. Women are of great value in the church and need to be used more and more according to the gifts given them.

Does the wife's submission to the husband mean that she is less than the husband, less important, or belittled? Again, not at all. Not having a place of leadership in the church does not mean a woman is less of a person, less important to God, or inferior. All are equal before God whether it be Jew, Gentile, free, slave, male, or female. But in the church, God has set up an order the same way he set one up in the family. The chain of command is Jesus, the man, the wife, and the children.

What About Women Who Say They are Called By God to Be Pastors?

There are women pastors in the world who love their congregations and have stated that they are called by God to be pastors. Of course, I cannot agree with this considering the previous analysis of the biblical position. Instead, I believe they have usurped the position of men and gone against the norm of scriptural revelation. Additionally, those who state that they are called by God because of the great job they are doing and the gifting they have received are basing their theology upon experience and not scripture.

The issue is simple: are they submitting to the word of God or are they making the word of God submit to their desires?


In 1 Tim. 2:9-13 Paul tells us that women should be modestly dressed. He uses the example of the then present day adornment as an example of what not to do. This is a culturally based assessment by Paul. Notice that Paul emphasizes good works and godliness as a qualifier (as does Peter, see 1 Pet. 3:2). This is not a doctrinal statement tied to anything other than being a godly woman in appearance as well as attitude.

In verse 11, Paul says that a woman should quietly receive instruction. Please note that "The word, heµsychia, translated “quietness” in 1 Timothy 2:11 and silent in verse 12, does not mean complete silence or no talking. It is clearly used elsewhere (Acts 22:2; 2 Thes. 3:12) to mean “settled down, undisturbed, not unruly. A different word (sigaoµ) means “to be silent, to say nothing” (cf. Luke 18:39; 1 Cor. 14:34).”3 Paul is advocating orderliness in this verse.

Then in verse 12-13, Paul says, "But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. 13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve." Notice that Paul directly relates the authority issue with the created order. He does not do this with the woman's dress code. Therefore, the dress code is cultural and the authority issue as doctrinal since the latter is tied to the creation order and the dress code and authority issue are not.


EXERPTED FRIRN http://carm.org/should-women-be-pastors-and-elders

NOTE FROM DEE:  I DELIBERATELY LEFT OUT THE WRITER'S CONCLUSIONS WHICH ARE DIFFERENT THAN MINE BECAUSE I WANT TO COMP;ARE PAUL'S TEACHINGS WITH THE GOSPEL OFO THOOMAS WHICH WAS LEFT OUT OF THE BIBLE BECAUSE IT FAVORS WOMEN:

The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. The Gospel of Thomas was found among a collection of fifty-two writings that included, in addition to an excerpt from Plato's Republic, gospels claiming to have been written by Jesus' disciple Philip. Scholars have speculated that the works were buried in response to a letter from Bishop Athanasius who for the first time declared a strict canon of Christian scripture.[1]

The Coptic language text, the second of seven contained in what modern-day scholars have designated as Codex II, is composed of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus.[2] Almost half of these sayings resemble those found in the Canonical Gospels, while it is speculated that the other sayings were added from Gnostic tradition[3]. Its place of origin may have been Syria, where Thomasine traditions were strong.[4]

The introduction states: "These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down."[5] Didymus (Greek) and Thomas (Aramaic) both mean "twin". Some critical scholars suspect that this reference to the Apostle Thomas is false, and that therefore the true author is unknown.[6]

It is possible that the document originated within a school of early Christians, possibly proto-Gnostics.[7] Some critics further claim, that even the description of Thomas as a "Gnostic" gospel is based upon little other than the fact that it was found along with Gnostic texts at Nag Hammadi.[8] The name of Thomas was also attached to the

 

Book of Thomas the Contender, which was also in Nag Hammadi Codex II, and the Acts of Thomas. It is important to note, however, that while the Gospel of Thomas does not directly point to Jesus' divinity, it also does not directly contradict it, and therefore neither supports nor contradicts Gnostic beliefs. When asked his identity in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus usually deflects, ambiguously asking the disciples why they do not see what is right in front of them. This is similar to passages in the canonical gospels like John 12:16 and Luke 18:34. The text itself, however, continuously reflects Gnostic teachings by continuously referring to Jesus' sayings as "secret" and "mysterious", which were common Gnostic catchphrases.

The Gospel of Thomas is very different in tone and structure from other New Testament apocrypha and the four Canonical Gospels. Unlike the canonical Gospels, it is not a narrative account of the life of Jesus; instead, it consists of logia (sayings) attributed to Jesus, sometimes stand-alone, sometimes embedded in short dialogues or parables. The text contains a possible allusion to the death of Jesus in logion 65 [9] (Parable of the Wicked Tenants, paralleled in the Synoptic Gospels), but doesn't mention crucifixion, resurrection, or final judgement; nor does it mention a messianic understanding of Jesus.[10][11] Since its discovery, many scholars see it as a proof for the existence of the so-called Q source, which might have been very similar in its form as a collection of sayings of Jesus without any accounts of his deeds or his life and death, a so-called "sayings gospel".[12]

Eusebius included it among a group of books that he believed to be not only spurious, but "the fictions of heretics".[13]

AWWl  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Thomas  FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE:

 

GOSPEL OF THHOMA

The "Scholars' Translation" of the Gospel of Thomas

by Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer

These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded.

1 And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

2 Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"

3 Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and it is outside you.

When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."

4 Jesus said, "The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live.

For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one."

5 Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised."]

6 His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?"

Jesus said, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."

7 Jesus said, "Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human."

8 And he said, The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!

9 Jesus said, Look, the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered (them). Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock, and they didn't take root in the soil and didn't produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it produced a good crop: it yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure.

10 Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I'm guarding it until it blazes."

11 Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away.

The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. During the days when you ate what is dead, you made it come alive. When you are in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?"

12 The disciples said to Jesus, "We know that you are going to leave us. Who will be our leader?"

Jesus said to them, "No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being."

13 Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to something and tell me what I am like."

Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a just messenger."

Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher."

Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say what you are like."

Jesus said, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring that I have tended."

And he took him, and withdrew, and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas came back to his friends they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?"

Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the sayings he spoke to me, you will pick up rocks and stone me, and fire will come from the rocks and devour you."

14 Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves, and if you pray, you will be condemned, and if you give to charity, you will harm your spirits.

When you go into any region and walk about in the countryside, when people take you in, eat what they serve you and heal the sick among them.

After all, what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it's what comes out of your mouth that will defile you."

15 Jesus said, "When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces and worship. That one is your Father."

16 Jesus said, "Perhaps people think that I have come to cause peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war.

For there will be five in a house: there'll be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father, and they will stand alone.

17 Jesus said, "I will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart."

18 The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us, how will our end come?"

Jesus said, "Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is.

Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death."

19 Jesus said, "Congratulations to the one who came into being before coming into being.

If you become my disciples and pay attention to my sayings, these stones will serve you.

For there are five trees in Paradise for you; they do not change, summer or winter, and their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death."

20 The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what Heaven's kingdom is like."

He said to them, It's like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.

21 Mary said to Jesus, "What are your disciples like?"

He said, They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs. when the owners of the field come, they will say, "Give us back our field." They take off their clothes in front of them in order to give it back to them, and they return their field to them.

For this reason I say, if the owners of a house know that a thief is coming, they will be on guard before the thief arrives and will not let the thief break into their house (their domain) and steal their possessions.

As for you, then, be on guard against the world. Prepare yourselves with great strength, so the robbers can't find a way to get to you, for the trouble you expect will come.

Let there be among you a person who understands.

When the crop ripened, he came quickly carrying a sickle and harvested it. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!

22 Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, "These nursing babies are like those who enter the kingdom."

They said to him, "Then shall we enter the kingdom as babies?"

Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]."

23 Jesus said, "I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand, and they will stand as a single one."

24 His disciples said, "Show us the place where you are, for we must seek it."

He said to them, "Anyone here with two ears had better listen! There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark."

25 Jesus said, "Love your friends like your own soul, protect them like the pupil of your eye."

26 Jesus said, "You see the sliver in your friend's eye, but you don't see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your friend's eye."

27 "If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath you will not see the Father."

28 Jesus said, "I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty.

But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways."

29 Jesus said, "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, that is a marvel, but if spirit came into being because of the body, that is a marvel of marvels.

Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has come to dwell in this poverty."

30 Jesus said, "Where there are three deities, they are divine. Where there are two or one, I am with that one."

31 Jesus said, "No prophet is welcome on his home turf; doctors don't cure those who know them."

32 Jesus said, "A city built on a high hill and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden."

33 Jesus said, "What you will hear in your ear, in the other ear proclaim from your rooftops.

After all, no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, nor does one put it in a hidden place. Rather, one puts it on a lampstand so that all who come and go will see its light."

34 Jesus said, "If a blind person leads a bind person, both of them will fall into a hole."

35 Jesus said, "One can't enter a strong person's house and take it by force without tying his hands. Then one can loot his house."

36 Jesus said, "Do not fret, from morning to evening and from evening to morning, [about your food--what you're going to eat, or about your clothing--] what you are going to wear. [You're much better than the lilies, which neither card nor spin.

As for you, when you have no garment, what will you put on? Who might add to your stature? That very one will give you your garment.]"

37 His disciples said, "When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?"

Jesus said, "When you strip without being ashamed, and you take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample then, then [you] will see the son of the living one and you will not be afraid."

38 Jesus said, "Often you have desired to hear these sayings that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them. There will be days when you will seek me and you will not find me."

39 Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered nor have they allowed those who want to enter to do so.

As for you, be as sly as snakes and as simple as doves."

40 Jesus said, "A grapevine has been planted apart from the Father. Since it is not strong, it will be pulled up by its root and will perish."

41 Jesus said, "Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have."

42 Jesus said, "Be passersby."

43 His disciples said to him, "Who are you to say these things to us?"

"You don't understand who I am from what I say to you.

Rather, you have become like the Judeans, for they love the tree but hate its fruit, or they love the fruit but hate the tree."

44 Jesus said, "Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven, either on earth or in heaven."

45 Jesus said, "Grapes are not harvested from thorn trees, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they yield no fruit.

Good persons produce good from what they've stored up; bad persons produce evil from the wickedness they've stored up in their hearts, and say evil things. For from the overflow of the heart they produce evil."

46 Jesus said, "From Adam to John the Baptist, among those born of women, no one is so much greater than John the Baptist that his eyes should not be averted.

But I have said that whoever among you becomes a child will recognize the kingdom and will become greater than John."

47 Jesus said, "A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows.

And a slave cannot serve two masters, otherwise that slave will honor the one and offend the other.

"Nobody drinks aged wine and immediately wants to drink young wine. Young wine is not poured into old wineskins, or they might break, and aged wine is not poured into a new wineskin, or it might spoil.

An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, since it would create a tear."

48 Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move from here!' and it will move."

49 Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who are alone and chosen, for you will find the kingdom. For you have come from it, and you will return there again."

50 Jesus said,

"If they say to you, 'Where have you come from?' say to them, 'We have come from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself, established [itself], and appeared in their image.'

If they say to you, 'Is it you?' say, 'We are its children, and we are the chosen of the living Father.'

If they ask you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' say to them, 'It is motion and rest.'"

51 His disciples said to him, "When will the rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?"

He said to them, "What you are looking forward to has come, but you don't know it."

52 His disciples said to him, "Twenty-four prophets have spoken in Israel, and they all spoke of you."

He said to them, "You have disregarded the living one who is in your presence, and have spoken of the dead."

53 His disciples said to him, "is circumcision useful or not?"

He said to them, "If it were useful, their father would produce children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect."

54 Jesus said, "Congratulations to the poor, for to you belongs Heaven's kingdom."

55 Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate father and mother cannot be my disciple, and whoever does not hate brothers and sisters, and carry the cross as I do, will not be worthy of me."

56 Jesus said, "Whoever has come to know the world has discovered a carcass, and whoever has discovered a carcass, of that person the world is not worthy."

57 Jesus said, The Father's kingdom is like a person who has [good] seed. His enemy came during the night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The person did not let the workers pull up the weeds, but said to them, "No, otherwise you might go to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them." For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be conspicuous, and will be pulled up and burned.

58 Jesus said, "Congratulations to the person who has toiled and has found life."

59 Jesus said, "Look to the living one as long as you live, otherwise you might die and then try to see the living one, and you will be unable to see."

60 He saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb and going to Judea. He said to his disciples, "that person ... around the lamb." They said to him, "So that he may kill it and eat it." He said to them, "He will not eat it while it is alive, but only after he has killed it and it has become a carcass."

They said, "Otherwise he can't do it."

He said to them, "So also with you, seek for yourselves a place for rest, or you might become a carcass and be eaten."

61 Jesus said, "Two will recline on a couch; one will die, one will live."

Salome said, "Who are you mister? You have climbed onto my couch and eaten from my table as if you are from someone."

Jesus said to her, "I am the one who comes from what is whole. I was granted from the things of my Father."

"I am your disciple."

"For this reason I say, if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness."

62 Jesus said, "I disclose my mysteries to those [who are worthy] of [my] mysteries.

Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."

63 Jesus said, There was a rich person who had a great deal of money. He said, "I shall invest my money so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouses with produce, that I may lack nothing." These were the things he was thinking in his heart, but that very night he died. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!

64 Jesus said, A person was receiving guests. When he had prepared the dinner, he sent his slave to invite the guests. The slave went to the first and said to that one, "My master invites you." That one said, "Some merchants owe me money; they are coming to me tonight. I have to go and give them instructions. Please excuse me from dinner." The slave went to another and said to that one, "My master has invited you." That one said to the slave, "I have bought a house, and I have been called away for a day. I shall have no time." The slave went to another and said to that one, "My master invites you." That one said to the slave, "My friend is to be married, and I am to arrange the banquet. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me from dinner." The slave went to another and said to that one, "My master invites you." That one said to the slave, "I have bought an estate, and I am going to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me." The slave returned and said to his master, "Those whom you invited to dinner have asked to be excused." The master said to his slave, "Go out on the streets and bring back whomever you find to have dinner."

Buyers and merchants [will] not enter the places of my Father.

65 He said, A [...] person owned a vineyard and rented it to some farmers, so they could work it and he could collect its crop from them. He sent his slave so the farmers would give him the vineyard's crop. They grabbed him, beat him, and almost killed him, and the slave returned and told his master. His master said, "Perhaps he didn't know them." He sent another slave, and the farmers beat that one as well. Then the master sent his son and said, "Perhaps they'll show my son some respect." Because the farmers knew that he was the heir to the vineyard, they grabbed him and killed him. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!

66 Jesus said, "Show me the stone that the builders rejected: that is the keystone."

67 Jesus said, "Those who know all, but are lacking in themselves, are utterly lacking."

68 Jesus said, "Congratulations to you when you are hated and persecuted;

and no place will be found, wherever you have been persecuted."

69 Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who have been persecuted in their hearts: they are the ones who have truly come to know the Father.

Congratulations to those who go hungry, so the stomach of the one in want may be filled."

70 Jesus said, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. If you do not have that within you, what you do not have within you [will] kill you."

71 Jesus said, "I will destroy [this] house, and no one will be able to build it [...]."

72 A [person said] to him, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's possessions with me."

He said to the person, "Mister, who made me a divider?"

He turned to his disciples and said to them, "I'm not a divider, am I?"

73 Jesus said, "The crop is huge but the workers are few, so beg the harvest boss to dispatch workers to the fields."

74 He said, "Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the well."

75 Jesus said, "There are many standing at the door, but those who are alone will enter the bridal suite."

76 Jesus said, The Father's kingdom is like a merchant who had a supply of merchandise and found a peal. That merchant was prudent; he sold the merchandise and bought the single pearl for himself.

So also with you, seek his treasure that is unfailing, that is enduring, where no moth comes to eat and no worm destroys."

77 Jesus said, "I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained.

Split a piece of wood; I am there.

Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."

78 Jesus said, "Why have you come out to the countryside? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a person dressed in soft clothes, [like your] rulers and your powerful ones? They are dressed in soft clothes, and they cannot understand truth."

79 A woman in the crowd said to him, "Lucky are the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you."

He said to [her], "Lucky are those who have heard the word of the Father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Lucky are the womb that has not conceived and the breasts that have not given milk.'"

80 Jesus said, "Whoever has come to know the world has discovered the body, and whoever has discovered the body, of that one the world is not worthy."

81 Jesus said, "Let one who has become wealthy reign, and let one who has power renounce ."

82 Jesus said, "Whoever is near me is near the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom."

83 Jesus said, "Images are visible to people, but the light within them is hidden in the image of the Father's light. He will be disclosed, but his image is hidden by his light."

84 Jesus said, "When you see your likeness, you are happy. But when you see your images that came into being before you and that neither die nor become visible, how much you will have to bear!"

85 Jesus said, "Adam came from great power and great wealth, but he was not worthy of you. For had he been worthy, [he would] not [have tasted] death."

86 Jesus said, "[Foxes have] their dens and birds have their nests, but human beings have no place to lay down and rest."

87 Jesus said, "How miserable is the body that depends on a body, and how miserable is the soul that depends on these two."

88 Jesus said, "The messengers and the prophets will come to you and give you what belongs to you. You, in turn, give them what you have, and say to yourselves, 'When will they come and take what belongs to them?'"

89 Jesus said, "Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Don't you understand that the one who made the inside is also the one who made the outside?"

90 Jesus said, "Come to me, for my yoke is comfortable and my lordship is gentle, and you will find rest for yourselves."

91 They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you."

He said to them, "You examine the face of heaven and earth, but you have not come to know the one who is in your presence, and you do not know how to examine the present moment.

92 Jesus said, "Seek and you will find.

In the past, however, I did not tell you the things about which you asked me then. Now I am willing to tell them, but you are not seeking them."

93 "Don't give what is holy to dogs, for they might throw them upon the manure pile. Don't throw pearls [to] pigs, or they might ... it [...]."

94 Jesus [said], "One who seeks will find, and for [one who knocks] it will be opened."

95 [Jesus said], "If you have money, don't lend it at interest. Rather, give [it] to someone from whom you won't get it back."

96 Jesus [said], The Father's kingdom is like [a] woman. She took a little leaven, [hid] it in dough, and made it into large loaves of bread. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!

97 Jesus said, The [Father's] kingdom is like a woman who was carrying a [jar] full of meal. While she was walking along [a] distant road, the handle of the jar broke and the meal spilled behind her [along] the road. She didn't know it; she hadn't noticed a problem. When she reached her house, she put the jar down and discovered that it was empty.

98 Jesus said, The Father's kingdom is like a person who wanted to kill someone powerful. While still at home he drew his sword and thrust it into the wall to find out whether his hand would go in. Then he killed the powerful one.

99 The disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing outside."

He said to them, "Those here who do what my Father wants are my brothers and my mother. They are the ones who will enter my Father's kingdom."

100 They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, "The Roman emperor's people demand taxes from us."

He said to them, "Give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine."

101 "Whoever does not hate [father] and mother as I do cannot be my [disciple], and whoever does [not] love [father and] mother as I do cannot be my [disciple]. For my mother [...], but my true [mother] gave me life."

102 Jesus said, "Damn the Pharisees! They are like a dog sleeping in the cattle manger: the dog neither eats nor [lets] the cattle eat."

103 Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who know where the rebels are going to attack. [They] can get going, collect their imperial resources, and be prepared before the rebels arrive."

104 They said to Jesus, "Come, let us pray today, and let us fast."

Jesus said, "What sin have I committed, or how have I been undone? Rather, when the groom leaves the bridal suite, then let people fast and pray."

105 Jesus said, "Whoever knows the father and the mother will be called the child of a whore."

106 Jesus said, "When you make the two into one, you will become children of Adam, and when you say, 'Mountain, move from here!' it will move."

107 Jesus said, The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety- nine and looked for the one until he found it. After he had toiled, he said to the sheep, 'I love you more than the ninety- nine.'

108 Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him."

109 Jesus said, The (Father's) kingdom is like a person who had a treasure hidden in his field but did not know it. And [when] he died he left it to his [son]. The son [did] not know about it either. He took over the field and sold it. The buyer went plowing, [discovered] the treasure, and began to lend money at interest to whomever he wished.

110 Jesus said, "Let one who has found the world, and has become wealthy, renounce the world."

111 Jesus said, "The heavens and the earth will roll up in your presence, and whoever is living from the living one will not see death."

Does not Jesus say, "Those who have found themselves, of them the world is not worthy"?

112 Jesus said, "Damn the flesh that depends on the soul. Damn the soul that depends on the flesh."

113 His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?"

"It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it."

[Saying added to the original collection at a later date:] 114 Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life." Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven."

Scholars Version translation of the Gospel of Thomas taken from *The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version.* Copyright 1992, 1994 by Polebridge Press. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Go Back to Thomas Homepage

SEE:OTHER TRANSLATIONS:  http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thomas.html

 

HOW DO WE BECOME CONSCIOUS CO-CREATORS WITH GOD?

 

THE HOPIS . NAVAJOS AND LAKOTAS KNOW IT BEST:  NAVAJO SAND PAINTING

 

THIS IS THE NAVJO SAND PAINTING

 

The above Navaho sand painting is used in a blessing ceremony. Joseph Campbell wrote: "The conformity of the imagery of this particular sand painting to the sense and symbolised experiences of the yogic sushumna is certainly astonishing, but not more so than many other concordances in the myths and ritual arts of peoples across the world."

He explained that the bounded area parallels archetypal symbols of the "enclosed park," such as the interior of a temple, or an Earthly Paradise. The word, "paradise," comes from the Greek "paradeisos, meaning "enclosed park." The Old Persian word, "pairi," means "around," and "daeza," means "wall," giving "pairidaeza," meaning "enclosure."

 

The sand painting shows a corn plant with seven markers, which, according to Joseph Campbell, correspond to the seven chakras. From the bottom-upward, they are marked by the root, the five leaves, and the tassel. The two leaves marking the third and fourth chakras also show ears of corn. A lightning bolt from above strikes at the fourth marker, which is in the center. This corresponds, he wrote, to the vajra, "the thunderbolt of enlightenment" of Hindu and Buddhist iconography, which exactly fits with the fourth chakra, anahata, "where the sound is heard that is not made by any two things striking together."

Joseph Campbell continues:

"In Navaho myths and legends the god known as Sun Bearer, Tsohanoai, possesses lightning-arrows. His domicile is above, in the sky, and when his twin sons, conceived of him by an earthly virgin, Changing Woman, arrived to receive from him the power and weapons with which to rid the world of monsters, the solar power of which they then became possessed was so great that when they returned to earth it had to be modified by a deity known as Hastyeyalti (Talking God), maternal grandfather of the pantheon, in whom male and female powers are combined. In the sand painting the realm of operation of this second god is represented by a modified rainbow of two colors, red and blue, symbolic respectively of solar energy and of water and the moon. The high place onto which the twins descended from the heavenly house of their father to earth was the central mountain of the world (locally, Mt. Taylor in New Mexico; height, 11,302 feet) and the corresponding station in the painting is at Chakra 4, anahata. Moreover, the root of the corn plant is threefold, like Yuktatriveni in the muladhara. The pollen path commences lower right and is of two colors, like the modified rainbow (or like the moon, which is of both matter and light). But at the turn between the Spirit Bringers the path becomes yellow and single (like the fire of blended breaths exploding to ascend the sushumna; after which, in a sacred way, to an accompaniment of chants and prayer, the sanctuary is entered."

 

The footprints show the path taken by initiate. The two figures below the enclosure are the guardian Spirit Bringers, which are similar to portal guardians in other traditions. Their hands suggest that the center path of the three roots is preferred, which leads along the stalk of the corn plant. The roots correspond to the root chakra, chakra 1, which is known as Yuktatriveni, "Three River Junction." The rainbow with the same two colors indicate an alternate path of unbalance of the duality attributes, yet meets the central path at the key marker, the heart chakra. Above the heart center, the path remains single, the color of pollen. The rainbow seems to correspond to concepts in the eastern tradition of Yoga. The subject breathes out of one nostril and breathes inward with the other. The breaths are imagined to go out one spine channel (or "snake)" and then back in through the other channel. The channels (or "spine snakes), called Ida and pingala, are said to interlace like a double-helix, around the chakra centers. The two channels are associated with sun and moon, or male and female.

The two figures inside the enclosure are spiritual messengers, known as "Dontso, "big Fly," and in his second aspect, "Little Wind." The black and white colors represent male and female energies.

During the Pollen Path ceremony, the Navaho chant:

 

In the house of life I wander
On the pollen path,
With a god of cloud I wander
To a holy place.
With a god ahead I wander
And a god behind.
In the house of life I wander
On the pollen path.

Joseph Campbell speaks of the normal course of a lifetime, according to the yogic psychological schedule . . .

"the biological urges generated from these three pelvic spinal centers (the lower three chakras) mature naturally in succession as the body develops through its first three and a half decades. These alone, have supplied the motivations of historical man, his effective moral systems, and his nightmare of world history. They are the centers of the basic urges, furthermore, that mankind shares with the beasts - namely, (1) to survive alive by feeding on other lives, (2) to generate offspring, and (3) to conquer and subdue. Unrestrained by any control system, these become devastating, as the history of the present century surely tells. For as declared in the Indian Arthasastra, Textbook on the Art of Winning: 'When uncontrolled by virtue (dharma) and the big stick (danda), men become wolves unto men.'

"The elevation of the human will to aims transcendent of this bestial order of life requires, according to the yogic model, an awakening that will not be of the pelvic region, but of chakra 4, which is of the heart."

Joseph Campbell also pointed out that Jesus was about thirty-five years of age at the time of his crucifixion, as was The Buddha when he was awakened under the Bodhi Tree. Thus, thirty-five years in the life of a man of "threescore years and ten," as the Bible speaks of seventy years, (such as in Genesis 46:27) may be yet another symbol of the chakras and the midpoint.

 

Joseph Campbell gave other examples of this symbolism in the book and explained them at length. It seems this is indeed an elementary idea found all over the world.

I was surprised when I happened to read Isaiah 52:12. The verse is strikingly similar to the Pollen Path chant of the navaho:

"For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard."

A significant verse is Revelation 6:5, 6 -
 

"When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, 'Come!' And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a balance in his hand; and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, 'A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm oil and wine?'"

The "balance," I believe, is a balance scale, such as depicted by the Egyptians. Notice also, that the verses refer to money being exchanged, a hint, perhaps of the karmic or judgment function.

I remembered that a verse in Genesis speaks of the heart. I found it again . . . In Genesis 8:21 -

"And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, 'for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done'"

 

The Weighing of the Heart
The Book of the Dead of Kenna
1405-1467 BC

 

Proverbs 21:2 -

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart."

Yet another example is Daniel 5:27 -

". . . TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; . . . "

Putting this together with the "balance" held by the black horse rider of Revelation, it seems quite in line with the ancient Egyptian beliefs.

 

Black Elk's Great Vision

I read Black Elk Speaks around October, 1990. I had some dreams about it, and a number of coincidences happened. I came to see his great vision as having many similarities to the Book of Revelation. The part that seems to correlate to the heart chakra symbolism is on pages 32-33. He was only nine years old, when he fell unconscious for some two weeks. The vision was very extensive, and he never forgot any part of it. Below is an excerpt from the book. At this point in his vision, he is riding his horse in the storm clouds. There are twelve horses with riders from each of the four directions. The black horse riders are from the West, the White horse riders are from the North, the red horse riders are from the East, and the Yellow horse riders are from the South.

"Now the earth was bright again as we rode. I could see the hills and valleys and the creeks and rivers passing under. We came above a place where three streams made a big one - a source of mighty waters - and something terrible was there. Flames were rising from the waters and in the flames a blue man lived. The dust was floating all about him in the air, the grass was short and withered, the trees were wilting, two-legged and four-legged beings lay there thin and panting, and wings too weak to fly.

Then the black horse riders shouted 'Hoka hey!' and charged down upon the blue man, but were driven back. And the white troop shouted, charging, and was beaten; then the red troop and the yellow.

And when each had failed, they all cried together 'Eagle Wing Stretches, hurry!' And all the world was filled with voices of all kinds that cheered me, so I charged. I had the cup of water in one hand and in the other was the bow that turned into a spear as the bay and I swooped down, and the spear's head was sharp lightning. It stabbed the blue man's heart, and as it struck I could hear the thunder rolling and many voices that cried 'Un-hee!,' meaning I had killed. The flames died. The trees and grasses were not withered any more and murmured happily together, and every living being cried in gladness with whatever voice it had. Then the four troops of horsemen charged down and struck the dead body of the blue man, counting coup; and suddenly it was only a harmless turtle."

The Hopi Creation Myth of Spider Grandmother

I saw a depiction of the Hopi Creation myth in 1990, and read the story. It struck me that the diagram had a similarity to some crop circle formations.


The three images above compare the Hopi depiction Creation myth (top) with two crop circle formations. The lower left crop circle formation appeared in 1990. It was called, "The First Pictogram," because it was the first formation known to appear that had glyphs other than simple circles and rings. The crop formation on the lower right appeared near the end of the summer in 1990. It was called "The Alton Barns Multiple Agriglyph." Other, similar formations appeared that year, and in the years since.

I later learned of Solara's suggestion that the rectangles in some of the crop circle formations, such as "The First Pictogram," represent the "11:11 Doorway."

Much later, I realized that the Hopi depiction also fit well with the 3 1/2 symbolism. Three chambers are shown underground, connected by vertical tunnels. From the top chamber, another tunnel leads straight up to the surface of the ground. Insects are shown in the bottom chamber, animals in the middle chamber, and humans in the upper chamber. The chambers and tunnels, along with leaves at the top, resemble a large plant. A large spider with a cross on its back is depicted at several places. Near the upper chamber, various birds, a tree, and a twelve-petal sunflower are depicted inside rectangles. Seven human figures are shown climbing in the tunnel from the third chamber to the surface. A small group of humans are shown standing on the surface, with rays of light from the sun striking them. A giant rooster is also standing on the surface.

The text next to the depiction tells the Hopi creation story. The Creator placed insects in the earth and told them to figure out the meaning of life. After a time, the insects still had not found the meaning, so Spider Grandmother was sent to help. She helped them move up to the next chamber, where they became animals. Again, they could not find the meaning of life, so Spider Grandmother came again, and helped them to travel up to the third chamber, where they became human beings. After more time passed by, and the humans had not figured out the meaning of life, Spider Grandmother came again, this time assisted by birds. The people climbed up to the surface, and then Spider Grandmother taught them how to weave.

 

Sometime after I read the Hopi story of creation, a young lady told me about a dream of a spider, and how her friend had the very same dream on the same night. Other dreams and coincidences concerning spiders and weaving followed. After experiencing the coincidences concerning the Joseph Campbell book, I realized at some point that the Hopi myth fit well, because the key point is after the third chamber, or 3 1/2. By 1993 I realized several other things in the Hopi myth fit even better with the ideas. I will speak of those connections in their place, as I continue telling my story.


SEE:  http://www.greatdreams.com/plpath1.htm   FOR THE WHOLE STORY

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