Past Postings

Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.

***********************************************************************************************************

"When Tsze-kung asked him (i.e., Kong Fuzi, aka Confucious) 'Do the dead have knowledge, or are they without knowledge?' Confucius refused to make any definite reply. When Ke Loo asked about 'serving the spirits' (of the dead), the Master responded: 'While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?' Ke Loo asked: 'I venture to ask about death?' and was answered: 'While you do not know life, how can you know about death?'"
~ Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, Book 3, ch. 4, II, 3.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

The present, so called, war on terrorism is truly an utter joke because the people fighting it are, with few excepton, such shameless liars or at best incompetent, brainless persons.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

If it weren't for these damn spirit people, flagrantly dishonest and irresponsible regular (flesh and blood) people could not get way with so much as they do. Meanwhile, one comes to realize that it s not so much a case of it being so very hard to see through the facade and illusion of spirit people's false heaven, as much as it is one of people deliberately refusing to do so; so that they might continue use said "heaven" as an excuse to absolve themselves of guilt when it comes to receiving and listening to spirit people as authority.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

For your information, the Memorial day for vampires and werewolves is Oct. 31st.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

The latest entry in our "Continental Army series" is "Flamborough Head Revisited," and for which see: http://www.gunjones.com/Flamborgh-Head-Revisited.pdf

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

"If it can be done, then God permits it. If God permits it, then it must be all right or acceptable to do."

Among the fallacies of this argument is that it assumes the validity of logic, and yet according to its very assertion, logic itself may or might be rightly rejected and dispensed with. At the same time, if, say, murder is justified because it can be done, then that would include the murder of the person asserting such a thing. (And similarly.)

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

If people chose casual deceit, the governance of ghosts, and submission to blind fear over honest truth, right reason, and steadfast courage, they have only themselves to blame for life being as ruined as it is.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

In continuation of our reading of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, we find ourselves arriving at the Refutation of Heresies by "Bishop Hippolytus," and that is said to have been discovered "at Mount Athos in 1842." Without any pre-prejudice, I have perused this work and find it an abject, in fact depressing, plummeting in terms of thought and palpable insight from and compared to the high quality analyses and reflections of Origen. Indeed, I was so put off by it's convoluted pedantry and utter lack of sincerely moving sentiment, that I am not a little inclined to view it as either an out-and-out 19th century forgery (possibly done up by the magician himself or person(s) acting under his supervison) intended actually to revive (not dissuade from) gnosticism, or else a well-meaning work by a seriously deluded, most likely "under the influence," individual. Further I find it absurd, even laughable, how much time and trouble scholars have spent pouring meticulously over such prodigious rubbish; which while it may have some value as a supplementary catalogue of post-apostolic heresies (real or alleged) is otherwise a tiresome recounting of gnostic perspectives without the benefit of impartialy or objectivty such as by stark contrast we do find in Origen or without the more obvious timely mandate or motive Irenaeus had for writing his refutation. And even if you do agree that the author's conclusions are correct, his method of arriving at them is deplorably dogmatic and coldly devoid of depth and perspective.

Next stop -- Cyprian.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

The latest "Continental Army series" article is "Eloquence of Chiefs" -- a review of some speeches by 17th and 18th century Native Americans. To download, see: http://www.gunjones.com/Eloquence-of-Chiefs.pdf

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Whenever someone criticizes, they of necessity in doing so take as given a higher standard that is fallen in short of by whom they are criticizing. And whenever then anyone criticizes, it should or must, in the interest of due justification, be asked who or what this higher standard is they are invoking or assuming.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Like a powerful army, spirit people and hell -- including "Satan" pretending to be "Jesus" (and or some other religious figure of ostensible or like benevolence) -- can be fought and defeated; only, for obvious reasons, fighting them and achieving this takes some doing. Yet it is well to be regularly reminded of this fact and truism lest we lapse, irrationally and under their spells, mind control, or terrors, into a thoughtless and an unnecessarily fatalistic view of things.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Hey General Gates! Don't worry about Pakistani ties to the now dead Ben Ladin. They are using brain torture radios right here in Seattle, Washington! (I know, I know...but I had to say something.)

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Or...He uses crime and evil to gain all this wealth and power; explaining that according to Darwinian principles that's just how life is. He then uses all that wealth and power to tell everyone, and have everyone tell him, how much they love and admire his person; including having the Presidential Medal or Freedom and Lifetime Achievement award bestowed on him at some point or other. In this and other ways, he shows his high regard for matters divine by making clear to all that God and the truths of morals and religion are intended solely and strictly for a next and future life.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

He feels tremendously sorry for himself, and spends the greater part of his life spiting and demeaning others as a way of compensating for his own pronounced feelings of inferiority. That others view him as great and god-like is little consolation; because either with respect to such admirers or himself, truth has little or no meaning; heavily relying so much as both do on mere seeming.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

This world to us is Maya or an illusion. Yet what is it to Brahman? Who can say? To a Christian, the equivalent of Brahman would be the Father or else the Trinity. And according to Christ, this world is fallen; which is as much to say it is Maya. But he tells us, by way of the Father, or if you will Brahamn, one day this will no longer be so, and the world will shed Maya and be reborn in realty and truth; in Harmony with the One.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

You have it very bad, that's true. But also, and in other ways, very good too. (So now what?)

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

[Chapter 54]
When Celsus adds, “We must therefore believe that men are entrusted to certain beings who are the keepers of this prison-house,” our answer is, that the souls of those who are called by Jeremiah “prisoners of the earth,” when eager in the pursuit of virtue, are even in this life delivered from the bondage of evil; for Jesus declared this, as was foretold long before His advent by the prophet Isaiah, when he said that “the prisoners would go forth, and they that were in darkness would show themselves.” And Jesus Himself, as Isaiah also foretold of Him, arose as “a light to them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,” so that we may therefore say, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast their cords from us.” If Celsus, and those who like him are opposed to us, had been able to sound the depths of the Gospel narratives, they would not have counselled us to put our confidence in those beings whom they call “the keepers of the prison-house.” It is written in the Gospel that a woman was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus beheld her, and perceived from what cause she was bowed together, he said, “Ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” And how many others are still bowed down and bound by Satan, who hinders them from looking up at all, and who would have us to look down also! And no one can raise them up, except the Word, that came by Jesus Christ, and that aforetime inspired the prophets. And Jesus came to release those who were under the dominion of the devil; and, speaking of him, He said with that depth of meaning which characterized His words, “Now is the prince of this world judged.” We are, then, indulging in no baseless calumnies against demons, but are condemning their agency upon earth as destructive to mankind, and show that, under cover of oracles and bodily cures, and such other means, they are seeking to separate from God the soul which has descended to this “body of humiliation;” and those who feel this humiliation exclaim, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” It is not in vain, therefore, that we expose our bodies to be beaten and tortured; for surely it is not in vain for a man to submit to such sufferings, if by that means he may avoid bestowing the name of gods on those earthly spirits that unite with their worshippers to bring him to destruction. Indeed, we think it both reasonable in itself and well-pleasing to God, to suffer pain for the sake of virtue, to undergo torture for the sake of piety, and even to suffer death for the sake of holiness; for “precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints;” and we maintain that to overcome the love of life is to enjoy a great good. But when Celsus compares us to notorious criminals, who justly suffer punishment for their crimes, and does not shrink from placing so laudable a purpose as that which we set before us upon the same level with the obstinacy of criminals, he makes himself the brother and companion of those who accounted Jesus among criminals, fulfilling the Scripture, which says, “He was numbered with transgressors.”

[Chapter 57]
Celsus supposes that men “discharge the duties of life until they are loosened from its bonds,” when, in accordance with commonly received customs, they offer sacrifices to each of the gods recognised in the state; and he fails to perceive the true duty which is fulfilled by an earnest piety. For we say that he truly discharges the duties of life who is ever mindful who is his Creator, and what things are agreeable to Him, and who acts in all things so that he may please God. Again, Celsus wishes us to be thankful to these demons, imagining that we owe them thank-offerings. But we, while recognising the duty of thankfulness, maintain that we show no ingratitude by refusing to give thanks to beings who do us no good, but who rather set themselves against us when we neither sacrifice to them nor worship them. We are much more concerned lest we should be ungrateful to God, who has loaded us with His benefits, whose workmanship we are, who cares for us in whatever condition we may be, and who has given us hopes of things beyond this present life. And we have a symbol of gratitude to God in the bread which we call the Eucharist. Besides, as we have shown before, the demons have not the control of those things which have been created for our use; we commit no wrong, therefore, when we partake of created things, and yet refuse to offer sacrifices to beings who have no concern with them. Moreover, as we know that it is not demons, but angels, who have been set over the fruits of the earth, and over the birth of animals, it is the latter that we praise and bless, as having been appointed by God over the things needful for our race; yet even to them we will not give the honour which is due to God. For this would not be pleasing to God, nor would it be any pleasure to the angels themselves to whom these things have been committed. Indeed, they are much more pleased if we refrain from offering sacrifices to them than if we offer them; for they have no desire for the sacrificial odours which rise from the earth.

[Chapter 58]
Celsus goes on to say: “Let any one inquire of the Egyptians, and he will find that everything, even to the most insignificant, is committed to the care of a certain demon. The body of man is divided into thirty-six parts, and as many demons of the air are appointed to the care of it, each having charge of a different part, although others make the number much larger. All these demons have in the language of that country distinct names; as Chnoumen, Chnachoumen, Cnat, Sicat, Biou, Erou, Erebiou, Ramanor, Reianoor, and other such Egyptian names. Moreover, they call upon them, and are cured of diseases of particular parts of the body. What, then, is there to prevent a man from giving honour to these or to others, if he would rather be in health than be sick, rather have prosperity than adversity, and be freed as much as possible from all plagues and troubles?” In this way, Celsus seeks to degrade our souls to the worship of demons, under the assumption that they have possession of our bodies, and that each one has power over a separate member. And he wishes us on this ground to put confidence in these demons of which he speaks, and to serve them, in order that we may be in health rather than be sick, have prosperity rather than adversity, and may as far as possible escape all plagues and troubles. The honour of the Most High God, which cannot be divided or shared with another, is so lightly esteemed by him, that he cannot believe in the ability of God, if called upon and highly honoured, to give to those who serve Him a power by which they may be defended from the assaults directed by demons against the righteous. For he has never beheld the efficacy of those words, “in the name of Jesus,” when uttered by the truly faithful, to deliver not a few from demons and demoniacal possessions and other plagues.
~ Origen (c.185–254), Against Celsus, Book 8, chs. 54, 57, 58.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

It's highly problematical, if not impossible, for us to tell us what or which god rules a given Age in this world. Yet Christ, or the incarnation of devout and honest truth (for such as prefer, say, Buddha or Vishnu), rules the healthy and happy soul forever.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Love without truth is a lie, and without love, what are you after all but some stupid witchcraft person who answers to demons?

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

More