Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.
www.gunjones.com
["Unthinking Chosen with Gilad Atzmon"]
See also as an introduction from five years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUfrmsurtEE
["Meet Gilad Atzmon - Jazz Musician and Author"]
I would only add in passing that it is my own view that hard core evil, violence, falsehood, and injustice originate and emanate from hard core criminal spirit people, and there is not a major faith, creed, doctrine, or nationality that they don't significantly influence and have a pronounced political and ideological holding in; no matter how cleverly disguised. But then, as we have frequently noted, it is not permitted to discuss criminal spirit people scientifically, empirically in a sober, duly rational way.
[ch. 69]
...But the God and Father of all things is not the only being that is great in our judgment; for He has imparted (a share) of Himself and His greatness to His Only-begotten and First-born of every creature, in order that He, being the image of the invisible God, might preserve, even in His greatness, the image of the Father. For it was not possible that there could exist a well-proportioned, so to speak, and beautiful image of the invisible God, which did not at the same time preserve the image of His greatness. God, moreover, is in our judgment invisible, because He is not a body, while He can be seen by those who see with the heart, that is, the understanding; not indeed with any kind of heart, but with one which is pure. For it is inconsistent with the fitness of things that a polluted heart should look upon God; for that must be itself pure which would worthily behold that which is pure. Let it be granted, indeed, that God is “difficult to see,” yet He is not the only being who is so; for His Only-begotten also is “difficult to see.” For God the Word is “difficult to see,” and so also is His wisdom, by which God created all things. For who is capable of seeing the wisdom which is displayed in each individual part of the whole system of things, and by which God created every individual thing? It was not, then, because God was “difficult to see” that He sent God His Son to be an object “easy to be seen.” And because Celsus does not understand this, he has represented us as saying, “Because God was 'difficult to see,' He put His own Spirit in a body resembling ours, and sent it down to us, that we might be enabled to hear Him and become acquainted with Him.” Now, as we have stated, the Son also is “difficult to see,” because He is God the Word, through whom all things were made, and who “tabernacled among us.”
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), Contra Celsus, Book VI
[ch. 45]
...It is certain, then, that there will be diversities among the hearts of men—those which are inclined to virtue not being all modelled and shaped towards it in the same or like degree; while others, through neglect of virtue, rush to the opposite extreme. And among the latter are some in whom evil is deeply engrained, and others in whom it is less deeply rooted. Where is the absurdity, then, in holding that there exist among men, so to speak, two extremes, — the one of virtue, and the other of its opposite; so that the perfection of virtue dwells in the man who realizes the ideal given in Jesus, from whom there flowed to the human race so great a conversion, and healing, and amelioration, while the opposite extreme is in the man who embodies the notion of him that is named Antichrist? For God, comprehending all things by means of His foreknowledge, and foreseeing what consequences would result from both of these, wished to make these known to mankind by His prophets, that those who understand their words might be familiarized with the good, and be on their guard against its opposite. It was proper, moreover, that the one of these extremes, and the best of the two, should be styled the Son of God, on account of His pre-eminence; and the other, who is diametrically opposite, be termed the son of the wicked demon, and of Satan, and of the devil. And, in the next place, since evil is specially characterized by its diffusion, and attains its greatest height when it simulates the appearance of the good, for that reason are signs, and marvels, and lying miracles found to accompany evil, through the co-operation of its father the devil. For, far surpassing the help which these demons give to jugglers (who deceive men for the basest of purposes), is the aid which the devil himself affords in order to deceive the human race. Paul, indeed, speaks of him who is called Antichrist, describing, though with a certain reserve, both the manner, and time, and cause of his coming to the human race. And notice whether his language on this subject is not most becoming, and undeserving of being treated with even the slightest degree of ridicule.
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), Contra Celsus, Book VI
[ch. 44]
...Now he who in the Hebrew language is named Satan, and by some Satanas— as being more in conformity with the genius of the Greek language— signifies, when translated into Greek, “adversary.” But every one who prefers vice and a vicious life, is (because acting in a manner contrary to virtue) Satanas, that is, an “adversary” to the Son of God, who is righteousness, and truth, and wisdom. With more propriety, however, is he called “adversary,” who was the first among those that were living a peaceful and happy life to lose his wings, and to fall from blessedness; he who, according to Ezekiel, walked faultlessly in all his ways, “until iniquity was found in him,” and who being the “seal of resemblance” and the “crown of beauty” in the paradise of God, being filled as it were with good things, fell into destruction, in accordance with the word which said to him in a mystic sense: “You have fallen into destruction, and shall not abide for ever.” We have ventured somewhat rashly to make these few remarks, although in so doing we have added nothing of importance to this treatise. If any one, however, who has leisure for the examination of the sacred writings, should collect together from all sources and form into one body of doctrine what is recorded concerning the origin of evil, and the manner of its dissolution, he would see that the views of Moses and the prophets regarding Satan had not been even dreamed of either by Celsus or any one of those whose soul had been dragged down, and torn away from God, and from right views of Him, and from His word, by this wicked demon.
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), Contra Celsus, Book VI
[ch. 3]
Let the ancient sages, then, make known their sayings to those who are capable of understanding them. Suppose that Plato, for example, the son of Ariston, in one of his Epistles, is discoursing about the “chief good,” and that he says, “The chief good can by no means be described in words, but is produced by long habit, and bursts forth suddenly as a light in the soul, as from a fire which had leapt forth.” We, then, on hearing these words, admit that they are well said, for it is God who revealed to men these as well as all other noble expressions. And for this reason it is that we maintain that those who have entertained correct ideas regarding God, but who have not offered to Him a worship in harmony with the truth, are liable to the punishments which fall on sinners...
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), Contra Celsus, Book VI
[Posted at the Lee's Legion page on Face Book]
Just wanted to take the occasion to report a title added to the recently announced LIBRARY OF EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE series; namely James Kirke Paulding: Five Historical Novels; and which at 720+ pages includes complete texts of his Koningsmarke, the Long Finne (1823); The Puritan and His Daughter (1849); The Dutchman’s Fireside (1831); The Old Continental, or the Price of Liberty (1846), and Westward Ho! (1832) - and which all together present an (as it were de facto) saga of early America stretching from Swedish settlements in Delaware in about the 1650s to the drive toward the Mississippi in the early 19th century.
For those unfamiliar with them, you might reasonably liken Paulding's novels as an unusual cross between the humor writings of Washington Irving (a close friend and partner of Paulding's) and the adventure tales of James Fenimore Cooper; and which present a comic view of early America relatively few are acquainted with. It is especially my pleasure to bring them at once into one affordable package; since collecting them individually hitherto and otherwise might end up costing anywhere from $75 to $100+.
For the Kindle version at 1.99, see:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089YW6GPR
For this book in paperback at 19.99:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08B35XKBH
For the LEAL series generally:
https://tinyurl.com/ybfdgn5d