Evangelical/ non-denominational/ baptist variants believe that baptism is not required to secure eternity confined within the pearly gates of heaven.
Catholics are big on the baptism = necessary to get on god’s list of people attending his eternal worship party
Baptism is more of a public declaration of devoting your life to God, and seeking his will. A symbolic rebirth, casting off the old, the shame, the sin, the guilt, the old ways, the foolish ways, the ignorant ways, the way of the world, of he that is in the world— and affirming to god and onlookers of the public proclamation
Lots of great symbolism in the Bible. I think it’s a great tool for transformational psychology
But it’s too loaded for most, too many perverted cultural and historically detrimental interpretations
Ego death is one of the most transformational human experiences, in my opinion. Christianity, in its essence, embodies and facilitates this transformation
My response is that the “born a sinner” is simply that the acknowledgement that we don’t know it all, that pride is detrimental to growth, that humans are fallible, that we don’t know everything. It encourages a humility necessary for personal growth
Ego is an adaptive reaction formation to real or perceived threats to existence
A persons Psychology is essentially their ego
Perhaps you could say that the “soul” is the archaic reference to this
There’s nothing inherently wrong with humans. That’s where the “original sin” thing goes wayyy off track
I would love to provide a more helpful reinterpretation for society
One that leverages modern understanding of neuroscience and psycho analytics and therapeutic strategies
The symbolism is so helpful
Christian symbolism
It’s just so damn literal
And the damn ministers are so damn ignorant of anything but the Bible
Modern Christian interpretation is so damn literal*
I enjoy reading the Bible like I enjoy reading Ovid, or the Bhagavad Gita, Etc
Like I enjoy reading Homer
The symbolism, the archetypes, the appeals to a universal collective unconscious human experience— this are the most valuable contributions of these texts.
It’s when people get caught up in these literalist interpretations that shit goes super wrong
God= truth, love, good— all that is life affirming
Satan = ignorance, separation, bad— all that is life denying
Light = life
Darkness= death
Light= sunshine, energy for the earth, plants, etc. it illuminates and reveals what we could not see, what we did not know.
Darkness= ignorance, it casts shadows and cold, it deceives, like dark clouds it chokes the earth of life, it hides
It seems as simple as this
An unhealthy ego and pride are the source of self deception, ignorance, and the the origin of evil.
Man is no island, and the ego would lead you to believe otherwise.
It gets more comprehensive from there, as we wrestle to survive. Ego= tribalism= primal drives toward self preservation
The Tower of Babel is an interesting story
I wonder is there was a unifying world language… if that would be good, or bad?
One perspective to rule them all?
Language is a cultural byproduct of people working together toward a common cause of survival, and this dictates values
Funny that so much of the Bible is spent harking on language and the “word”
Not funny, and not coincidental
These are a few things that seem to be reliable assumptions about the human experience:
•Change is the only constant
•The function of “life forms” is to persist, and resist change/ entropy of information, DNA or otherwise (information being the “complex” organization of concepts applied to specific contexts that reaffirm the function of life, i.e. To survive/ persist)
•The brain/ mind is the organ responsible for managing these changes, i.e. Responsible for managing adaptations to external stimuli
Funny how stimuli can change you, but only if it is perceived, depending on the stimuli
Information is an amazing idea
Which is why language has always been so fascinating
How can scribbles or characters possess meaning? Where does it exist?
Information is contained everywhere
DNA and language is the information containing the essence of life
We communicate to survive
We survive by pooling our collective resources
Language allows us to “make common” our understanding, the Latin root for communicate, to make common
No man is an island
DNA possesses information on how our material bodies, physiologically and psychologically
Preprogrammed
Crazy
Language.
The word religion is derived from the Latin words re- meaning again, and ligature, to bind
Religion= to bind together again
Survival = common language = common text = bible
Makes sense why religion is so vital to mankinds ultimate survival
I’m curious what will happen when language and it’s values begin to fragment as society becomes more secular. Who will replace these religious institutions, and facilitate a common language, imbued with common values?
Is it even necessary?
Are corporations and academic institutions and governmental institutions and entertainment/media organizations sufficiently capable of fulfilling the task of socialization and enculturation?
William Dare 