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The Amazing Deception - A Critical Analysis of Christianity By Doyle E. Duke Light unto the World The ancient Greeks were the first society known to offer democracy and freedom for the common man, and that freedom was still existent for the privileged classes under Roman rule. Even slaves were allowed to choose their own gods. But with the union of the Catholic Church and the Roman Empire, all freedom was suppressed by the threat of damnation and the pyre. For over a thousand years, the Church ravaged all of Western Europe and much of Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa, with its insane policies of exterminating the intellectuals, and forcing its God upon illiterate and superstitious pagans. As noted in a Church statement quoted earlier, all Christians prior to the sixteenth century believed that orthodoxy should be maintained at any cost. But where one would expect Christian nations to be filled with just and honest men, such was not the case. The Church had instilled a hatred of everything and everyone not Catholic. That hatred, combined with poverty, injustice, and despair, created a vast international society of illiterate fanatics who were more attuned to the propaganda of the Church than to obeying the Ten Commandments. However, a change was imminent. By the twelfth century, secular rulers were beginning to question the power of the Papacy, and the kings of England, Germany and other nations were attempting to shrug off the Church’s authority and take control of their own countries. The knowledge of reason, brought back by the crusaders and Jews returning from the Holy Land, was beginning to dispel the darkness of ignorance. The common man, as well as many rulers, was starting to questioned the Church’s power. Many opposing religious doctrines, such as those of the Albigenses, Poor Catholics and Cathari, were infecting the people. Open criticism and rebellion was threatening to destroy the Church. One of the greater points of criticism was the Church’s wealth.
A favorite satire in the thirteenth century was the “Gospel According to Marks of Silver,” which began: “In those days the Pope said to the Romans: ‘When the Son of Man shall come to the seat of our majesty say first of all, “Friend, wherefore art Thou come hither?” And if He give you naught, cast Him forth into outer darkness.’” Throughout the literature of the time—in the Fabliaux, the chansons de geste, the Roman de la Rose, the poems of the wandering scholars, the troubadours, Dante, even in the monastic chroniclers, we find complaints of ecclesiastical avarice or wealth (Will Durant, The Age of Faith, xxvii, p. 767).
One of the more outspoken sects was the Cathari, who:
…denied that the Church was the Church of Christ; St. Peter had never come to Rome, had never founded the papacy; the popes were successors to the emperors, not to the apostles. Christ had no place to lay His head, but the pope lived in a palace; Christ was propertyless and penniless, but Christian prelates were rich; surely, said the Cathari, these lordly archbishops and bishops, these worldly priests, these fat monks, were the Pharisees of old returned to life! The Roman Church, they were sure, was the Whore of Babylon, the clergy were a Synagogue of Satan, the pope was Antichrist. …troubadours made fun of pilgrims, confession, holy water, the cross; they called the churches “dens of thieves,” and Catholic priests seemed to them “traitors, liars, and hypocrites” (Will Durant, The Age of Faith, xxviii, p. 772).
Men were beginning to see the truth, but, unfortunately, brainwashing by the Church had instilled the ignorant populace with fear, hatred, greed and the sanctity of the Church:
It was a general assumption of Christians—even of many heretics—that the Church had been established by the Son of God. On this assumption any attack upon the Catholic faith was an offense against God Himself; the contumacious heretic could only be viewed as an agent of Satan, sent to undo the work of Christ; and any man or government that tolerated heresy was serving Lucifer.
…Whether because it shared these views without formulating them, or because simple souls naturally fear the different or the strange, or because men enjoy releasing, in the anonymity of the crowd, instincts normally suppressed by individual responsibility, the people themselves, except in southern France and northern Italy, were the most enthusiastic persecutors; “the mob lynched heretics long before the Church began to persecute.” The orthodox population complained that the Church was too lenient with heretics. Sometimes it “snatched sectaries from the hands of protecting priests.” “In this country,” wrote a priest of northern France to Innocent III, “the piety of the people is so great that they are always ready to send to the stake not only avowed heretics, but those merely suspected of heresy” (Will Durant, The Age of Faith, xxviii, pp. 777-778).
While the Church might wash its hands and point to the secular state as the wicked wielders of death, its guilt cannot be excused. All the wickedness of the governing bodies, and even that of the common people, must be accredited to the Church because they were the curators and dispensers of all knowledge. It was the Church that extinguished the light of reason, then instilled and nurtured the hatred of all non-Catholics. It was the Church that destroyed morals, rather than cultivating them. Throughout the centuries of darkness, and even today, the Church maintains they brought a greater blessing to man. Were their goals loftier than those of the pagans? Was their regime more beneficial to mankind? To investigate such questions, we must compare civilizations that existed before the rise of Christianity, to the one instituted by the Church. For that comparison I’d like to quote from Joseph Wheless’ Forgery in Christianity, written in about 1930. Please note that the majority of Mr. Wheless’ references are from the Catholic Encyclopedia: (Note: since the early copies of the Old Catholic Encyclopedia are rare and page references hard to trace; I have italicized and replaced Mr. Wheless' references with the Original Catholic Encyclopedia references.)
THE "FRUITS" OF CHRISTIANITY
"Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them." Jesus.
What Christianity did for [to] Civilization
The first effects of a new, and particularly an official State Religion, are upon mind and morals,— the state of culture or prevailing civilizing conditions; essentially, on the system of moral and intellectual education of the peoples subject to it. This is recognized by the Church: "As in many other respects, so for the work of education, the advent of Christianity is the most important epoch in the history of mankind." [http://oce.catholic.com/ index.php?title=Education] Alas, this is disastrously true, as the Church's own history demonstrates. Jesus Christ, says the Catholic Encyclopedia, was the "Perfect Teacher"; "to His Apostles He gave the command,' Going, therefore, teach ye all nations.' These words are the charter of the Christian Church as a teaching institution" (ib.). Here it got its Divine License to teach, and it taught. How effective was the Church as the Divinely instituted Pedagogue of Christendom, can be justly appreciated only through a knowledge of what kind of education, moral and mental, previously and at the time existed, and what educational system the Church inherited from the "heathens" when it assumed its sacred monopoly of teaching, and by a comparison between the pre-christian and the Christian systems and results. By what the Church destroyed of existing systems, and by what is produced through its own, by these fruits of its zeal for Christian teaching must the success of its execution of its Divine Commission be known and judged…
Thus by centuries of fraud, fear and force was the "house of God" filled from the highways and the hedges, the forests and the wattle villages, with Pagans "nominally converted to Christianity." Heathen superstitions veneered with the Pagan superstitions called Christianity, blended together for the further bestialization of the Faithful of Holy Church of the Christ, and the pall of the Dark Ages of Faith settled down over benighted, Church-ruled Christendom, that "civilization thoroughly saturated with Christianity," and "fully absorbed in the supernatural." Two holy characteristics of the Age of Faith, the groveling fear of guilt and devout concern for the devil, are thus commended: "Superstition is abject and crouching, it is full of thoughts of guilt; it distrusts God and dreads the power of evil" [http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Anthony%2C_Saint] and, with the pious Christians, "as among all savages, disease and death were commonly ascribed to evil spirits or witchcraft." [http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Sipibo_Indians]
…Christianity arose and finally prevailed in the Graeco-Roman world, and there it exercised its Divine License as exclusive teacher of faith and morals and of secular education. Before the advent of Christianity, the nations of the Pagan Empire were—we are told—"such as sit in darkness and the shadow of death"; the "Perfect Teacher" came "to give light to them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death" (Luke, i, 79; cf. Matt. iv, 16). A dismal picture is thus presented, and for centuries was touched up with the darkest colors by Christian preachments, of the moral depravity if not intellectual benightedness of the poor heathens before the "Light of the World" was shed upon them from the Cross on Calvary. The Greeks and Romans knew naught of Moses and the Prophets, had never conned the Ten Commandments, and had never murdered any one "who hearkeneth not unto the priest," as commanded in Deut. xvii, 12. Deplorable indeed must have been their state before the Divine Teacher undertook their enlightenment. The picture of their actual moral and intellectual plight we will scan as drawn by Christian scholars. Here is faintly a sketch of-
THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE
"The education of the Greeks exhibits a progressive development. ... The ideal of Athenian education was the completely developed man. Beauty of mind and body, the cultivation of every inborn faculty and energy, harmony between thought and life, decorum, temperance, and regularity-such were the results aimed at in the home and in the school, in social intercourse, and in civic relations.' We are lovers of the beautiful,' said Pericles, ‘yet simple in our tastes,' and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness'” (Thucydides, II, 40). ...
"The Greeks indeed laid stress on courage, temperance, and obedience to law; and if their theoretical disquisitions—[or those of the Christians, for that matter]—could be taken as fair accounts of their actual practice, it would be difficult to find, among the products of human thinking, a more exalted ideal. The essential weakness of their moral education was the failure to provide any adequate sanction—[e.g., the fear of Hell and damnation]—for the principles they formulated and the counsels they gave their youth... The practice of religion, whether in public services or in household worship, exercised but little influence upon the formation of character. ... As to the future life, the Greeks believed in the immortality of the soul; but this belief had little or no practical significance [as to them, virtue was its own reward]..."
"Thus the motive for virtuous action was found, not in respect for Divine law nor in the hope of eternal reward, but simply in the desire to temper in due proportion the elements of human nature. Virtue is not self-possession for the sake of duty, but, as Plato says,' a kind of health and good habit of the soul,' while vice is 'a disease and deformity and sickness of it.' The just man ‘will so regulate his own character as to be on good terms with himself, and to set those three principles (reason, passion, and desire) in tune together, as if they were verily three chords of a harmony, a higher, a lower, and a middle, and whatever may lie between these; and after he has bound all three together and reduced the many elements of his nature to a real unity as a temperate and duly harmonized man, he will then at length proceed to do whatever he has to do' (Republic, IV, 443). This conception of virtue as a self-balancing was closely bound up with that idea of personal worth which has already been mentioned as the central element in Greek life and education. ... The aim of education, therefore, is to develop knowledge of the GOOD." [http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title= Education]
Let’s begin around 600 BC, when pagan Grecian culture was at its pinnacle, and journey down through time to about 400 AD, when Christian light dispelled heathen superstition and opened the glorious Dark Ages of the Church. Of course, as we have already noted, it was those pagans who invented democracy, the inherit right of man to rule himself. The poor Greeks didn’t have the divine revelations revealed through Moses, so they had to content themselves with human lawgivers such as Draco, Solon, and Lycurgus. Their history was recorded by Herodotus, the “Father of History,” Strabo, and Plutarch. And everyone should be familiar with artistic creations such as the Parthenon, the Apollo Belvedere, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory. Classic literature and the theatre were born in Greece and have inspired the form, style, and culture in universities and playhouses throughout the world. Their philosophers were the first to explore the mind and soul in search of the first principles of being. Their lofty system of moral values has dominated civilization ever since. Grecian science, undeterred by religion and superstition, endeavored to reveal the secrets of creation, of nature, and to explain the universe. Astronomy was introduced into Grecian culture by Thales (640-546 BC), who is accredited for a number of geometric principles, including the Thales theorem. Anaximander (610-546 BC) discovered and taught the obliquity of the ecliptic. He estimated the sizes and distances of the planets, discovered the phases of the moon, and, though inaccurate, constructed the first astronomical globes. He was also the first to discard oral teaching, and commit the principles of natural science to writing—approximately 700 years before Christianity began recording the gospel tales. Pythagoras of Samos (c. 584 BC), most noted as the founder of the Pythagorean cult, coined the word "philosopher,” and made discoveries in music which he conceived as a science based on mathematical principles. He proclaimed that the earth was a globe, revolving around a “fire;" and conceived of people living on opposite sides. Anaxagoras (500-428 BC) was the first to trace the origin of animals and plants to preexisting elements by concluding that hair, flesh, and bones must already pre-exist as other elements. Democritus (c. 460 BC) the "Laughing Philosopher," the most learned thinker of his day and renowned for all moral virtues, wrote some 60 works on physics, mathematics, ethics, and grammar. He left an immortal mark on the world of knowledge by his elaborated theory of atoms, or particles of matter too small to be cut or divided. Modern chemistry, the most universal and useful of the sciences, is founded on modifications of the atomic theory of Democritus. He introduced the idea of design in nature and believed man's thoughts and perceptions were also composed of atoms. Hipparchus (c. 150 BC) made the first catalogue of stars, numbering up to 850. But his master achievement was the discovery and calculation of the precession of the equinoxes, in about 130 BC. Without a telescope or instruments, by the powers of mathematical reasoning and from observation, he detected the complex movements of the earth from rapid rotation on its own axis, to a much slower circular and irregular movement around the region of the poles, which causes the equator to cut the plane of the ecliptic at a slightly different point each year. This he estimated at not more than fifty seconds of a degree each year, and determined that the forward revolution in precession was completed in about 26,000 years. There was Hippocrates (c. 460-377 BC), the "Father of Medicine" and Erastosthenes (c. 276-194 BC), who invented the imaginary lines, parallels of longitude and latitude, which adorn all our globes and maps to this day. Almost seventeen hundred years before the Americas were discovered, and with nothing more than mathematical calculations, he determined the circumference of the earth to be 28,700 miles, a bit excessive, but a magnificent intellectual accomplishment. And Hero of Alexandria (c. 130 BC), discovered the principle of the working power of steam, and devised the first steam-engine. Thus, the basis of almost every field of modern science originated within the minds of Greek philosophers and teachers. All this knowledge the Church sought to destroy. How successful were their efforts and how much was lost forever will never be known. It has been estimated by some that the Church’s bloody campaign against knowledge set the growth of civilization back two thousand years. Now I return to Forgery In Christianity.
THE POWER THAT WAS ROME
The Greeks with their brilliant culture and educational system lay for the most part remote from the Holy See of God's Teacher-Church at Rome; so it may be that the environment of the Teacher was really in a region which lay in darkness and the shadow of death, and thus its divine efforts were thwarted and rendered desultory. Thus it becomes important to know the degree of intellectual darkness and incapacity which whelmed the Empire of the West. The tale may best be told in the words of its Inspired Tutor.
"In striking contrast with the Greek character, that of the Romans was practical, utilitarian, grave, austere. Their religion was serious, and it permeated their whole life, hallowing all its relations. The family, especially, was far more sacred than in Sparta or Athens, and the position of woman as wife and mother more exalted and influential. ..."
"The ideal at which the Roman aimed was neither harmony nor happiness, but the performance of duty and the maintenance of his rights. Yet this ideal was to be realized through service to the State. Deep as was the family feeling, it was always subordinate to devotion to the public weal.' Parents are dear,' said Cicero,' and children and kindred, but all loves are bound up in the love of our common country'” (De Officiis, I. 17) ...
"Thus the moral element predominated, and virtues of a practical sort were inculcated: first of all pietas, obedience to parents and to the gods; then prudence, fair dealing, courage, reverence, firmness, and earnestness. These qualities were to be developed, not by abstract or philosophical reasoning, but through the imitation of worthy models and, as far as possible of living concrete examples. 'Vitae discimus, We learn for life,' said Seneca; and this sentence sums up the whole purpose of Roman education [in contrast to 'We learn for heaven,' as we shall see the Christian ideal of education]."
"In the course of time, elementary schools (ludi) were opened, but they were conducted by private teachers and were supplementary to the home instruction. About the middle of the third century BC foreign influences began to make themselves felt. The works of the Greeks were translated into Latin, Greek teachers were introduced, and schools established in which the educational characteristics of the Greeks reappeared. Under the direction of the literatus and the grammaticus education took on a literary character, while in the school of the rhetor the art of oratory was carefully cultivated." (Catholic Encyclopedia v, 298; see p. 358-9) [http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Education]
All the marvelous culture of pagan Greece, its physical, mental, and moral educational system, was inherited by Rome. Then, with the decline of that mighty empire, the Christian age of faith came burrowing within the cracks of its foundation like a creeping parasitic vine. And though the Church had much praise for Grecian and Roman culture and thought, she viewed their ignorance of the Christian God as an insurmountable moral weakness. Christian Education
Now, let’s examine the educational system that promoted such ungodliness; what was its curriculum and its planned goals? And specifically, how did it compare with that of the pagans? As we shall see, it was almost totally limited to the priesthood for over a thousand years. Outside the Church, only one person in a thousand could read or write his own name.1 Why? The Church had a mandate; it was after souls, not minds.
To these Apostles He gave the command, 'Going therefore, teach ye all nations' (Matt. xxviii, 19). These words are the charter of the Christian Church as a teaching institution. While they refer directly to the doctrine of salvation, and therefore to the imparting of religious truth, they nevertheless, or rather by the very nature of that truth and its consequences for life, carry with them the obligation of insisting on certain characteristics which have a decisive bearing on all educational problems. (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – http://oce.catholic.com/index. php?title=Education).
The spread of His doctrine was entrusted, not to books, nor to schools of philosophy, nor to the governments of the world, but to an organization that spoke in His name and with his authority. No other body of teachers ever undertook so vast a work, and no other ever accomplished so much for education in the highest sense. [That much was accomplished cannot be denied, but as we have just garnered from the Church’s own reports, it was nothing that should merit praise.] Apart from the preaching of the Apostles, the earliest form of Christian instruction was that given to the catechumens in preparation for baptism. Its objective was twofold: to impart a knowledge of Christian truth, and to train the candidate in the practice of religion… [Notice that the objective was not the development of the mind, but the subjugation of the mind.] Until the third century this mode of instruction was an important adjunct to the Apostolate; but in the fifth and sixth centuries it was gradually replaced by private instruction of the converts, and by the training given in other schools to those who had been baptized in infancy. The catechumenal schools, however, gave expression to the spirit which was to animate all subsequent Christian education: they were open to every one who accepted the Faith, and they united religious instruction with moral discipline. The 'catechetical' schools, also under the bishop's supervision, prepared young clerics for the priesthood. The courses of study included philosophy and theology, and naturally took on an apologetic character in defense of Christian truth against the attacks of pagan learning. (Emphasis added) (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Education).
It has already been pointed out that some of the pagan peoples, and notably the Greeks, had attained a very high conception of personality; and it has also been shown that this conception was by no means perfect. The teaching of Christianity in this respect is so far superior to any other that if a single element could be designated as fundamental in Christian education it would be the emphasis which it lays on the worth of the individual (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – http://oce.catholic. com /index.php?title=Education).
As can be seen, the emphasis was not upon the “worth of the individual,” but what the Church perceived as the worth of the individual. When people are slaughtered for their differences in opinion, it is not the person that is valued, but personal values.
In respect of its content Christianity opened up to the human mind wide realms of truth which unaided reason could not possibly have attained, and which nevertheless are of far deeper import for life than the most learned speculations of pagan thought (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – http://oce.catholic.com/index.php? title=Education).
What “wide realms of truth” are inferred? Our God is the one true God? Jesus Christ is his Son? If you don’t believe this we’ll torture you, burn you at the stake, and consign your soul to an eternal burning hell? And why couldn’t the unaided human mind grasp this “truth?” Because it cannot be proven, apart from faith, and the only dispenser of that faith was the Church. However, “truth” that cannot be proven is only opinion or supposition; therefore, theirs was not an educational system, but that form of tyranny in which one imposes his will upon another. The Church was so intent upon promoting the name of Christ that they totally ignored the education of their own children. The homes finally grew so corrupt it was impossible for the children to obtain proper moral training.
Monasticism as an institution was a protest against the corrupt pagan standards of living which had begun to influence not only the public life of Christians but also their private and domestic life. Even in the fourth century, St. John Chrysostom testifies to the decline of fervour in the Christian family, and contends that it is no longer possible for children to obtain proper religious and moral training in their own homes (http:oce.catholic.com /index.php?title=Schools).
The monasteries were the sole schools for teaching; they offered the only professional training; they were the only universities of research; they alone served as publishing houses for the multiplication of books; they were the only libraries for the preservation of learning; they produced the only scholars; they were the sole educational institutions of this period. (Paul Monroe, A Text-Book in the History of Education, New York, 1907, p. 255). (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Education).
It is unclear when these “indoctrination” schools were first established. The earliest date seems to be about the ninth century, late in the Medieval Age. And what were some of the works they produced? A prime example is the Dialogues of Pope St. Gregory I, which presents some of the “miracles” from the life of St. Benedict: how Benedict, by the sign of the holy cross, broke a drinking glass; how he brought a fountain into existence by prayer; how the head of an iron bill rose from water and returned to a handle (shades of flying axe heads); how Maurus walked on water (in emulation of Jesus); how Benedict brought a boy, crushed by a falling wall, back to life; and how Benedict knew one of his monks had received certain handkerchiefs.2 While works on math, science, literature, languages, medicine, and philosophy were burned, such silly nonsense is what Catholicism deemed important. Indeed, many classical works were erased or written over simply for the need of parchment.3 I return to Mr. Wheless' Forgery In Christianity:
In the sweet-sounding music of this clerical chorus, a rudely jarring discord is struck by these dissonant notes: “The revival of the classics, lost for a thousand years in Western Christendom. ... The loss of Greek authors and the decline of Church Latin into barbarism were misfortunes in a universal ruin.” [http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Renaissance%2C_The] An attempt by Charlemagne to establish even rudimentary education was abortive, and “the accumulated wisdom of the past ... was in danger of perishing,” but “When the permanent renaissance of learning came several centuries later, the light began again to pierce through the storm-clouds of feudal strife and anarchy.” [http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Alcuin]
In one singular and unintentional way, however, is it true that “the preservation of fragments of Greek and Roman classics is due to the monasteries, which were the custodians of manuscripts of the ancient Greek philosophy,” science, and literature. Such manuscripts existed in great numbers in the age of Greek and Roman culture; they were written on enduring parchment. When the Light of the Cross dimmed Pagan culture, and its learning became abhorrent to the pious Christian, the monks needed papyrus for their literary efforts, so they gathered in the manuscripts wherever found;—and thus they “preserved” them: “Due to cost of vellum, old books were scraped and used again”—(that is the meaning of “Palimpsest”)—for the scribbling of the precious monkish chronicles and theological folderol soon to be noticed. “In the West much use was made of old manuscripts from the seventh to the ninth century, when, in consequence of the disturbed state of the country, there was some scarcity of material, and the old volumes of neglected authors were used for more popular works. ... The practice continued down to the sixteenth century. Many Latin and most Greek manuscripts are on reused vellum. A manuscript in the Vatican contained part of the 91st Book of Livy’s‘ Roman History.’ The famous Sinai Bible discovered by Tischendorff was written over by lives of female saints. Parts of the Iliad and the‘ Elements’ of Euclid were covered by monkish treatises. The‘ De Republica’ of Cicero, was discovered under the Commentary of Augustine on Psalms, and several of his Orations under the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon.” Other such monkish palimpsests were discovered to contain the Institutes of Gaius; eight orations of the Roman senator Symmachus, the Comedies of Plautus, parts of Euripides, epistles of Antoninus Pius, Lucius Verus, Marcus Aurelius, and others, the‘ Fasti Consolaris’ of 486, the Codex Theodosianus, are among the precious remains of Greek and Roman erudition which were “Preserved” in this monkish fashion in the erudite monasteries. (NIE. xvii, 762-3.) As for “monks constantly occupied in copying {284} the classic texts,” for the preservation and diffusion of Pagan culture, it is a joke! They couldn’t read Greek nor good Latin, and nobody else could read at all,—also, Holy Church and Churchmen loathed Pagan culture and literature. (Joseph Wheless’, Forgery in Christianity, chap. 7).
And the superstitious practices were common in all monasteries throughout Christendom. Imagine the Pope, the head of the most powerful force on earth, with nothing better to do than sit around scribbling folktales over classical manuscripts and endowing them with the power of his God. These superstitions were also manifest in the veneration of holy relics; bones of the saints, bits of Jesus’ cross, John's staff or Peter’s toenail—any imaginable object—the evidence of Holy lies used to confound the gullible. They were collected by churches and abbeys to attract worshippers, and thereby, monetary donations. But what of the institutes of higher learning?
The same synthetic spirit took concrete form in the universities... In university teaching all the then known branches of science were represented... The university was thus, in the educational sphere, the highest expression of that completeness which had all along characterized the teaching of the Church" (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – http://oce. catholic.com/index.php?title=Education).
The idea of a university, such as we perceive today, should not be confused with those referred to above by the Church. For though they infer grand institutes of higher learning, that is not the accurate picture. Until about the twelfth century, a “university” was little more than a hired teacher moving from place to place. Professor James Harvey Robinson, nineteenth century American historian, gives us a thumbnail sketch of the typical university when he describes the one in Paris:4
There were no university buildings, and in Paris the lectures were given in the Latin Quarter, in Straw Street, so called from the straw strewn on the floors of the hired rooms where the lecturer explained the text-book [a handwritten manuscript], with the students squatting on the floor before him. There were no laboratories, for there was no experimentation. All that was required was a copy of the text-book. This the lecturer explained sentence by sentence, and the students listened and sometimes took notes…
As evidenced in the passages and inferences quoted above, it should be obvious that the Christian educational system differed greatly from those of pagan Greece and Rome. Even though the Greek diadochoi system was used to promote the gospel and train the clergy, it is obvious those principles were never used to further secular knowledge because only the teachings and doctrines of the Church were considered important. Where the educational systems of the Greeks and Romans were designed to develop the human mind and sought a furtherance of knowledge, history proves the Christians were arrogant enough to believe they were the only possessors of true knowledge, and desired to enforce that knowledge upon everyone else. For comparison, let’s consider what the Church claims to have accomplished. Then, in their own words, we'll see what they actually achieved. This is really a simple endeavor because, as we have already discovered, there was little or no effort toward general education until the ninth or tenth century. One of the few boasts we find was of enlightenment to the Germans, late in the ninth century:
The Christian Church during this era—a fact of the greatest importance—was the guardian of the remains of classical culture. With this culture the Church was to endow the Germans. Moreover it was to bring them a great fund of new moral conceptions and principles, much increase in knowledge, and skill in art and handicrafts. The well-knit organization of the Church, the convincing logic of dogma, the grandeur of the doctrine of salvation, the sweet poetry of the liturgy, all these captured the understanding of the simple-minded but fine-natured primitive German (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Germany).
After destroying almost all the classics and secular knowledge they suddenly became the "guardian of the remains". And look what they referred to as that "classic culture:" new moral concepts, art and handicrafts, dogma, doctrine of salvation, the liturgy, the Church—but no mention of math, science, philosophy, or even the rudiments of reading. But surely the Church imparted some knowledge. What of the minds of their most brilliant leaders? From their works, we should see what was really taught as infallible truth. First, consider the intellectual genius of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD). Philip Schaff, in his History of the Christian Church says of him:
… "a philosophical and theological genius of the first order, dominating, like a pyramid, antiquity and the succeeding ages. Compared with the great philosophers of past centuries and modern times, he is the equal of them all; among theologians he is undeniably the first, and such has been his influence that none of the Fathers, Scholastics, or Reformers has surpassed it." (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Augustine_of_Hippo %2C_Saint).
Now, a few samples of Augustine’s genius; from his blueprint of the Church, City of God, Book XXI.
If, therefore, the salamander lives in fire, as naturalists have recorded, and if certain famous mountains of Sicily have been continually on fire from the remotest antiquity until now, and yet remain entire, these are sufficiently convincing examples that everything which burns is not consumed… (Chapter 4)
But who can explain the strange properties of fire itself, which blackens everything it burns, though itself bright; and which, though of the most beautiful colors, discolors almost all it touches and feeds upon, and turns blazing fuel into grimy cinders?… (Chapter 4)
For who but God the Creator of all things has given to the flesh of the peacock its antiseptic property? This property, when I first heard of it, seemed to me incredible; but it happened at Carthage that a bird of this kind was cooked and served up to me, and, taking a suitable slice of flesh from its breast, I ordered it to be kept, and when it had been kept as many days as make any other flesh stinking, it was produced and set before me, and emitted no offensive smell. And after it had been laid by for thirty days and more, it was still in the same state; and a year after, the same still, except that it was a little more shrivelled, and drier… (Chapter 4)
We know that the loadstone has a wonderful power of attracting iron. When I first saw it I was thunderstruck, for I saw an iron ring attracted and suspended by the stone; and then, as if it had communicated its own property to the iron it attracted, and had made it a substance like itself, this ring was put near another, and lifted it up; and as the first ring clung to the magnet, so did the second ring to the first. A third and a fourth were similarly added, so that there hung from the stone a kind of chain of rings, with their hoops connected, not interlinking, but attached together by their outer surface… (Chapter 4)
Nevertheless, when we declare the miracles which God has wrought, or will yet work, and which we cannot bring under the very eyes of men, sceptics keep demanding that we shall explain these marvels to reason. And because we cannot do so, inasmuch as they are above human comprehension, they suppose we are speaking falsely… I will not, then, detail the multitude of marvels which are related in books, and which refer not to things that happened once and passed away, but that are permanent in certain places, where, if any one has the desire and opportunity, he may ascertain their truth; but a few only I recount. The following are some of the marvels men tell us:—The salt of Agrigentum in Sicily, when thrown into the fire, becomes fluid as if it were in water, but in the water it crackles as if it were in the fire. The Garamantae have a fountain so cold by day that no one can drink it, so hot by night no one can touch it. In Epirus, too, there is a fountain which, like all others, quenches lighted torches, but, unlike all others, lights quenched torches. … Then in Cappadocia the mares are impregnated by the wind, and their foals live only three years. Tilon, an Indian island, has this advantage over all other lands, that no tree which grows in it ever loses its foliage… (Chapter 5)
Now devils are attracted to dwell in
certain temples by means of the creatures (God's creatures, not theirs), who
present to them what suits their various tastes. They are attracted not by
food like animals, but, like spirits, by such symbols as suit their taste,
various kinds of stones, woods, plants, animals, songs, rites. And that men
may provide these attractions, the devils first of all cunningly seduce
them, either by imbuing their hearts with
A “philosophical and theological genius of the first order, dominating, like a pyramid, antiquity and the succeeding ages…Compared with the great philosophers of past centuries and modern times, he is the equal of them all.” Can anyone seriously equate the ignorant prattle of this man with the likes of Thales, Pythagoras, Democritus, Anaximander, and those other Greeks we listed earlier—men whose daydreams would eclipse Augustine’s limited intellect? If this is the best they can bring to the plate—what more need be said? Even so, perhaps there are those who require more evidence. When Martin Luther withstood the Catholic Church in the early sixteenth century, knowledge and reason were creating a furor, especially with Luther.
Reason is the Devil's greatest whore; by nature and manner of being she is a noxious whore; she is a prostitute, the Devil's appointed whore; whore eaten by scab and leprosy who ought to be trodden under foot and destroyed, she and her wisdom ... Throw dung in her face to make her ugly. She is and she ought to be drowned in baptism... She would deserve, the wretch, to be banished to the filthiest place in the house, to the closets (Martin Luther, Erlangen Edition v. 16, pp. 142-148).
Can you not but wonder as to Luther’s valuation of women? Personally, I find something unsettling in this passage. It brings to mind a young child’s first attempts at cursing, a limited vocabulary, or perhaps a sexual pervert’s ranting. There can be no doubt; here is a man who was in dire need of a good psychiatrist.
Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God (Martin Luther, Erlangen Edition v. 16, pp. 142-148).
These were the intellectual geniuses of the Church. These were the men who interpreted God’s Word. These were the men who decided what Christians of today still believe! Such superstition and ignorance! Luther saw clearly that reason was the enemy of faith; and he feared it—just as all members of that unholy institution feared it. Reason was the stone that would shatter the foundation of their glass fortress.Such was the true genius of the Church. Whatever claims she might make to championing intellectual light, her actions speak the truth. Science that was common knowledge to the Greeks, Egyptians, and Persians a thousand years earlier, was trampled under the superstitious feet of Christianity as the whole western world was driven into the age of ignorance. For those who would cast the blame upon the fall of the Roman Empire and the influx of barbarism, I would point out that the Church was quite capable of slaughtering the heathen in the name of their God. Could they not have accomplished the same goal under the name of reason, and thereby, preserved knowledge and avoided the terrible calamities of the Dark Ages? No—of course not: sound reasoning forbids such insanity.
Throughout the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the Church pursued her goal of spreading the doctrines of her god. Everything else was either ignored, destroyed, or relegated to secondary status. Economies collapsed as skilled craftsmen were forbidden to work and intellectual leaders were forced to flee for their lives. Funds were diverted to support armies needed to carry the ‘Word’ to ignorant barbarians, or to free the Holy Land. Famines swept from nation to nation, as the holy messengers of God slaughtered the laborers of the fields. Pestilences followed starvation, and medical science was lost in the shadows of superstition.
…Moral education was stressed in the Middle Ages at the expense of intellectual enlightenment, as intellectual education is today stressed at the expense of moral discipline. …The splendid school system of the Roman Empire had decayed in the tumult of invasion and the depopulation of the towns. When the tidal wave of migration subsided in the sixth century a few lay schools survived in Italy; the rest were mostly schools for training converts and prospective priests. For some time (500-800) the Church gave all her attention to moral training, and did not reckon the transmission of secular knowledge as one of her functions… (Will Durant’s The Age of Faith, xxxiv, p. 913).
Beginning about the tenth century, knowledge began to creep back into the West; either by the knights returning from the crusades or by Jews migrating from Muslim countries, who translated many works from Arabic, to Hebrew, to Spanish, and then to Latin.
The effects of all these translations upon Latin Europe were revolutionary. The influx of texts from Islam and Greece profoundly stirred the reawakening world of scholarship, compelled new developments in grammar and philology, enlarged the curriculum of the schools, and shared in the astonishing growth of universities in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries…It was more important that algebra, the zero, and the decimal system entered the Christian West through these versions; that the theory and practice of medicine were powerfully advanced by the translation of the Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Jewish masters; and that the importation of Greek and Arabic astronomy compelled an expansion of theology, and a reconception of deity, prefacing the greater change that would follow Copernicus… And as that learning had aroused the great age of Arabic science and philosophy, so now it would excite the European mind to inquiry and speculation, would force it to build the intellectual cathedral of Scholastic philosophy, and would crack stone after stone of that majestic edifice to bring the collapse of the medieval system in the fourteenth century, and the beginnings of modern philosophy in the ardor of the Renaissance (Will Durant, The Age of Faith, xxxiv, pp. 912&913).
Indeed whatever influence came from the Mosque passed through the Synagogue before it reached the Church. When Arabian works were translated into Latin the translation was often made from the Hebrew translation of the Arabic text, and the Jew was often the only means of interchange of ideas between Moorish and Christian Spain. Whatever Scholasticism owes to the Arabians, it owes in equal, if not in greater measure, to the Jews (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Arabian_School_of_Philosophy).
With knowledge comes enlightenment and the irrepressible drive to reason. Galileo’s theory of the solar system was deemed “heretical” and the Catholic Church, with the sanction of Pope Paul V, decreed it false and contrary to Holy Scripture. Galileo’s main antagonist, the Dominican Father Tommasco Caccini, allegedly preached hate-filled sermons condeming geometry as being of the devil, and mathematicians as the authors of all heresies. Galileo was brought before the ecclesiastical institution for combating or suppressing heresy, the Inquisition, and forced to recant.5 To summarize the cultural debacle of over a thousand years, ending with the emergence of the Renaissance, we have only to continue reading the Church’s own publication, the Catholic Encyclopedia.
The Middle Ages did not bequeath to Rome any institutions that could be called scientific or literary academies. As a rule, there was slight inclination for such institutions. ... A special reason why literature did not get a stronger foothold at Rome is to be found in the constant politico-religious disturbances of the Middle Ages. ... Medieval Rome was certainly no place for learned academies. ... From the earliest days of the Renaissance the Church was the highest type of such an academy, that is, of the broadest kind of culture. (http://oce.catholic.com/index. php?title=Roman_Academies).
Even so, when this total lack of learning and retarded intelligence first became evident, the enlightenment of the Renaissance had been competing with the Church’s ignorance for two or three centuries.6 The Protestant heresy was at its peak, and between 1559 and 1574 they published a thirteen volume ecclesiastical history called Centuriators.
The purpose of this work was to commit history to the cause of Protestantism by showing how far the Catholic Church had departed from primitive teaching and practice, … The publication of its initial volumes, however, at a time when its polemical value made it acceptable to Protestants, provided the Reformers with a most formidable weapon of attack on the Catholic Church. It did much harm. The feasibility of a counter attack appealed to Catholic scholars, but nothing adequate was provided, for the science of history was still a thing of the future (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Cesare_Baronius%2C_Venerable).
Christianity had been in existence for over 1500 years, and there was no recorded history! There were Church histories and countless thousands of Church saint and martyr myths—obviously the fodder for the Centuriators, but no factual world history. Baronius, a young man of twenty-one, was commissioned by the Church to compile a rebuttal history. He spent his entire life compiling a twelve volume reply which was finally completed in 1607. Thus, we have a true picture of the Church’s lauded superior furtherance of education, literature, history, and general knowledge. Might we hope for better results in the field of science?
The Church, therefore, far from hindering the pursuit of arts and sciences, fosters and promotes them in many ways (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Science_and_the_Church).
When a clearly-defined dogma contradicts a scientific assertion, the latter has to be revised (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Science_and_the_Church).
Nothing could be further from the truth than this last statement. Despite the Church’s many assertions that the sun has stood still, the Red Sea parted, and other scientific impossibilities, not one scientific fact has ever been overturned by Church dogma; rivers flow to the sea, apples fall downward, and men do not walk unaided upon water! Man can assert all he wants, but he’ll not alter one universal law of science. The Middle Ages are generally understood to be a designated period of European history between the Fall of the Roman Empire and the middle of the fifteenth century. The Church makes a highly significant explanation of that period.
The Middle Ages have become an interlude, clearly bounded on both extremities by a more civilized or humane idea of life, which men are endeavouring to realize in politics, education, manners and literature, and religion… A glance at the map will remind us of the striking fact that Christianity is bound up in space no less than in time with the Greek and Roman World. It has never yet flourished extensively outside these borders, except in so far as it subdued to ancient culture the tribes to which it offered the Gospel (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title= Renaissance%2C_The).
From the pen of their own authors we have a confession of the ineptitude of their endeavors. And from these same writings, we have just read that, other than theological treatises, monastic chronicles, and saint-tales, there was no literature and no science other than “sacred science”—theology.
It [theology] is the very science of faith itself (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Science_and_the_Church).
We have seen the zeal with which the Church pursued its “sacred science,” a dedication that virtually ignored all other branches of human knowledge. The Church also maintains that "far from hindering the pursuit of arts and sciences, fosters and promotes them in many ways...." (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13598b.htm), and infers that it always encouraged and protected science. But the Church has some very contradictive ideas when it comes to dividing science from theology.
Yet, while acknowledging the freedom due to them, [scientists] she tries to preserve them from falling into errors contrary to Divine doctrine, and from overstepping their boundaries and throwing into confusion matters that belong to the domain of faith (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Science_and_the_Church).
And when the Church tries to subordinate the unassailable laws of science to religious dogma, things really become confusing.
Science is limited by truth, which belongs to its very essence. Should science ever have to choose between truth and freedom (a choice not at all imaginary), it must under all circumstances decide for truth, under the penalty of self-extermination. ... Ethics is more important for mankind than science. Those who believe in revelation, know that the Commandments are the criteria by which men will be judged… (http://oce.catholic.com/index. php?title= Science_and_the_Church)
The demand for unlimited freedom in science is unreasonable and unjust, because it leads to license and rebellion. ... To submit one's understanding to a doctrine supposed to be Divine and guaranteed to be infallible is undoubtedly more consistent than to accept prevailing postulates of science, or national doctrines, or a passing public opinion (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Science_and_the_ Church).
The Church may give lip service to scientific license, but faith cannot stand in the light of reason. Therefore, she must relegate science to a position below miracles and dogma. With anathema, curses of God, prison, the rack, and stake, she sought to control or destroy the minds of those who would think. But reason cannot be stifled forever.
The Renaissance may be considered in a general or a particular sense, as (1) the achievements of what is termed the modern spirit in opposition to the spirit which prevailed during the Middle Ages; or (2) the revival of classic, especially of Greek, learning and the recovery of ancient art in the departments of sculpture, painting, and architecture, lost for a thousand years in Western Christendom. (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Renaissance%2C_The)
Though the Church claims to have welcomed pagan art and literature with a “power of sweetness and patience,” (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12765b.htm), one has to wonder. Could it only be coincidence that the Holy Inquisition was established, by his Holiness Innocent III, to coincide with the first university?
The taking of Constantinople in 1204, the introduction of Arabian, Jewish, and Greek works into the Christian schools, the rise of the universities… these are the events which led to the extraordinary intellectual activity of the thirteenth century. ... Even in the Christian schools there were declared Pantheists ... These developments were suppressed by the most stringent disciplinary measures during the first few decades of the thirteenth century. ... Roger Bacon demonstrated by his unsuccessful attempts to develop the natural sciences the possibilities of another kind which were latent in Aristotelianism (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Scholasticism).
Roger Bacon (1214-1294), the genius of the “Revival of Learning,”—the Renaissance—was learned in several languages and lamented the corruption of the Holy Scriptures. He wrote over eighty books, some in secret cryptogram, for fear of ecclesiastical penalties, which he finally suffered.7
…It is in these treatises that Bacon speaks of the reflection of light, mirages, burning-mirrors, of the diameters of the celestial bodies and their distances from one another, of their conjunction and eclipses; that he explains the laws of ebb and flow, proves the Julian calendar to be wrong; he explains the composition and effects of gunpowder, discusses and affirms the possibility of steam-vessels and aerostats, of microscopes and telescopes, and some other inventions made many centuries later. ... Pope Nicholas IV, on the advice of many brethren condemned and rejected the doctrine of the English brother Roger Bacon, Doctor of Divinity, which contains many suspect innovations, by reason of which Roger was imprisoned (http://oce.catholic.com/index. php?title=Roger_Bacon).
“Blessed Albertus Magnus” (1206-1280), a contemporary of Bacon, was more prudent. He respected authority and traditions, and was sometimes hesitant in expressing his opinions. At a time when science was considered a form of black magic:
Albert gives an elaborate demonstration of the sphericity of the earth; and it has been pointed out that his views on this subject led eventually to the discovery of America… More important than Albert's development of the physical sciences was his influence on the study of philosophy and theology. He, more than any one of the great scholastics preceding St. Thomas, gave to Christian philosophy and theology the form and method which, substantially, they retain to this day (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title= Albertus_Magnus%2C_Blessed).
Albertus was probably the greatest pioneer of philosophy (then considered the study of science as well as philosophy), the Church had ever produced. And, had he not been hampered by the superstitions of that Holy Order, there is no doubt his endeavors would have been even greater. Nowhere is that superstition, bigotry, and ignorance more evident than in the Church’s repression of medical science in an era when plagues and diseases swept unchecked throughout Europe. As we have already seen, modern medical science rests upon the foundation of Hipprocrates’ studies. But such knowledge was condemned, or ignored, by the Church until Toledo fell to the Moors in 1085 and Arabian medicine began filtering into Christendom. Even then, Vesalius, one of the first medical scientists, was forced to defy the Church and escape the Holy Inquisition in order to pursue his studies.
His eagerness to learn went so far that he stole corpses from the gallows to work on at night in his room… The supreme service of Vesalius is that he for the first time, with information derived from the direct study of the dead body, attacked with keen criticism the hitherto unassailable Galen, and thus brought about his overthrow, for soon after this serious weaknesses in other parts of Galen's medical science were also disclosed. Vesalius is the founder of scientific anatomy and of the technique of modern dissection. Unfortunately, he himself destroyed a part of his manuscripts on learning that his enemies intended to submit his work to ecclesiastical censure… Violent attacks upon ancient traditions were not confined to the domain of medicine, but also found expression in the general upheaval caused by Humanists, by the discovery of new countries, by the opening up new sources of knowledge, by the dissemination of education through the invention of printing, and by the schism of the Church brought about by Luther. Authority, both ecclesiastical and civil, had been considerably weakened (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=History_of_Medicine).
Although the Church persisted in its efforts to bind the minds of those who could see beyond the “sacred science of Christianity,” the quickening minds of men could not be chained. By the construction of a crude telescope, Galileo was able to comprehend the mysteries of the stars, and thereby, expose the ignorance and superstitions of the Church.
But what, more than all, raised alarm was anxiety for the credit of Holy Scripture, the letter of which was then universally believed to be the supreme authority in matters of science, as in all others… (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Galileo_Galilei).
[The Church made horrendous efforts to combat all new thought] …we know from the calendar of saints at this time and other sources how much had been done to check the wild license of thought and speech in the Peninsula. Giordano Bruno, renegade and pantheist, was burnt in 1600; Campanella spent long years in prison. The different measures meted out to Copernicus by Clement VII and to Galileo by Paul V need no comment (Original Catholic Encyclopedia – (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title= Renaissance%2C_The).
When we are studying a book, supposedly inspired and compiled via the Holy Spirit of God, it is only logical that we examine the character and practices of those who claim to be the instruments of that spirit. When we do so, we find that even the Church’s own Scriptures teach that good cannot co-exist with evil.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh (James 3:11-12).
Neither can a wicked and fanatical religious organization, that persecutes and destroys all opposition in its god’s name, compile and interpret a holy book!
From 1940 to 1945, Nazi Germany exterminated over six million Jews. And in the latter part of the 1970’s, the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia slaughtered over one and a half million men, women and children of its own people. Even though genocides are occurring throughout the world today, people still tremble at these two shocking atrocities that claimed an estimated seven and a half million lives in a total of only ten years. But what of a worldwide religious order that used armed invasion, torture and mass murder to subjugate nations and kingdoms for nearly fifteen hundred years! How many million pagans, Jews, heretics, and martyrs may we credit to Catholicism and Protestantism, from 382 AD, when Theodosius the Great pronounced heresy a capital offense, until the last Auto-de-fẻ occurred in 1815?8 And we must not limit our count to only those who died on the rack, in the flames, or by the sword; those would only be the minority! No, we must consider those who died from deprivation, starvation, and diseases because superstition had replaced medical science or because non-Catholics were forbidden to work or ply their trades. The destruction of the economy, the stifling of education, the poverty, pestilences, and epidemics must be laid at the fanatical feet of the Catholic dais. How many lives then may we estimate—fifty million—one hundred million—perhaps five hundred million? Such wickedness! Such cruelty! Such—UNGODLINESS! Can we believe this was the method a holy and omni-benevolent god chose to preserve and perpetuate his Word—a method in direct conflict with their own teachings? And yet today, kind and gentle loving, people proudly proclaim the sanctity of Christianity. If they would only research the roots and see the vile shamefulness—then could they hold their heads up and profess the name, Christian? What have we learned from this study? I have purposely attempted to convey the worst aspects of Catholicism, and by reason of inheritance, Protestantism, simply as a contrast to the generally accepted view of Christianity. Even so, many atrocious and despicable practices, such as the witch-hunts, the selling of indulgences, the crusades, the persecutions of the Jews, and the atrocities committed upon the heathens were omitted or glossed over, simply because of the mass of information available. I also stopped short of mentioning the inhuman cruelties and wars waged between Catholics and Protestants, not to favor Protestantism, but because the doctrines and dogmas had already been established by the Catholic Church, thus bringing this study to an end. I do concede two points in favor of the Protestants; they recognized some of the false teachings of Catholicism and pulled away, and by those protestations made reason and freedom possible. The most profound question is, if the basic story of Christianity is a human fabrication, and I feel we’ve proved it is, why must it be perpetuated? What purpose does it serve? Why is it needed? Think of all those silly miracles mentioned earlier; Maucus walking on water, a hook flying to its handle, and Benedict’s divining of the handkerchiefs. Why such stupid, useless miracles? Surely, thousands were praying for something substantial such as food, prosperity, salvation from the barbarians, and freedom from suppression by the Church. Why did it take two thousand years for such prayers to be answered—because the answers to those prayers did not come from a god, but from men of goodwill, of much thought, and of little faith. We are now an enlightened society, are we not? Here, in the United States, we have built the greatest civilization in history upon reason and the desire for independence. Our forefathers struggled and fought to break the grip of England and the Church. Now we are free, free to think and reason, to make decisions based upon fact and logical deductions. Why not apply those same values to evaluate your God? Prove your God! Blasphemous you say! According to Catholicism, perhaps it is blasphemous, but not according to the New Testament and not according to Yahweh. From I Thessalonians 5:21 Paul exhorts:
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
And in Judges, 6:36-40, we're told the story of Gideon's means of proving God by laying out a fleece. Many times I've hear Church members speak of "laying a fleece before God" to make a decision. Here is a simple, scriptural, means to "prove all things". Lay a fleece out on the ground—literally. Apply the dew test, or do you fear the results? Do you really believe the Bible, or are you a hypocrite? Oh—I already know your answer—"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!" Context—study the context, and you'll see that warning has nothing to do with proving God's existence. Supposedly, God proved himself again and again with signs and wonders to the children in the wilderness. Could it be that some little bit of early Catholic fear control still smolders within your breast? If this study has revealed anything, it is the fact that the will of men dictates the values of their god. We have just reviewed the history of a despotic regime that suppressed the rights of the individual for nearly fifteen hundred years—all for the perceived values of their god. Today, those same godly values have been relegated to a secondary position in favor of personal rights. Look at the results. The name, Christian, is spoken with pride and love, not out of fear and necessity. The labors of Christians are producing good works, beneficial to society and yet, the greater amount of their resources and endeavors are wasted upon promoting a non-existent deity. Imagine what could be accomplished if all that manpower, all those resources were devoted to eradicating drug abuse, improving healthcare, educating the illiterate, or dozens of other social illnesses; if the Church would but turn their efforts to real, visible, tangible problems instead of the perceived will of their own created god. But they won't. Such reasoning will only be perceived as the insidious manipulates of a jealous Satan, intent upon destroying the blessed kingdom of their god. To those I say—don't look for that Prince of Darkness among the non-theists—we don't believe in devils or gods. Look to your own creations. As a young, very fundamental Christian, forty or fifty years ago, I, along with my fellow members, was admonished to stand against those who would destroy the faith. We were told horror tales of a mythical Satan who had nothing better to do than wage an angry, doomed battle against those who followed his sworn enemy. We were recounted stories of atheists who died screaming in unrequited anguish, because they dared reject the word of God. We learned the history of the Church: the persecutions under Roman rule, the establishment of Christianity by Constantine, its rise to power, and eminence over all kings. We learned of the corruptions under Catholicism, the reformation under Luther, and the migration here, to America. All the while we were taught these things they were never presented in the light of reality. The corruption and vile wickedness, while condemned, was minimized and excused as "the mysterious workings of God," who "used the Church to preserve his Word, complete and undefiled." Only years later, after I escaped the Church’s influence, was I able to discover Christianity for what it truly is—a false religion, used by deceived men to ensnare others. And now, free to question, I am able to look back over history and see that the "threat" to the Church was not the destruction of the Bible, or closing of the congregations, as we supposed, but rather, that which has already taken place, and continues to occur—the evolution of Christianity. It only takes a minimum amount of research to understand the extent to which man has used and corrupted Christianity, and Judaism, for his own benefits. This study alone reveals that what the man Jesus taught and practiced was a vastly different doctrine from what you find in Christian churches today. And despite the Church's abhorrence of compromise, each social conflict produced a stage of reformation in which the dictates of the Church were changed or merged with those of the then-ruling power. And, since Christianity includes the Old Testament and the history of Judaism within its Bible, we can state that the evolution began long before the inception of Christianity. Under the Mosaic Law, there were stringent laws concerning the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, and sacrifices. With Israel’s captivity the Ark of the Covenant was lost and all of those divine instructions were voided, yet Judaism survived. Years later, the temple was rebuilt, and then destroyed again in 70 AD; yet Judaism has evolved and remains even to this day. That was religious evolution. The Jews, in the first century, believed they could not live without the temple and sacrifices. Over a million died trying to rid themselves of the Gentiles, yet today’s Judaism seems to function quite well within a Gentile society. That too, was religious evolution. In the beginning of Christianity, pacifists testified of a God of love. Four hundred years later, they were torturing and slaughtering dissidents and preaching a God of vengeance. That was religious evolution. The Protestant revolution brought numerous changes for which Catholicism had viciously killed; that was evolution. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the religiously persecuted fled to America to find freedom; that was evolution. In the nineteenth century, the Anabaptist, Methodist, and most Protestant denominations preached a message of hell fire and brimstone that scared men to repentance. When I heard those messages, they were watered down and presented in Holiness Churches. The Methodist and Baptist had evolved into stately, dignified forms of worship; that was evolution. Generally speaking, when Catholicism reigned supreme, corruptions were perpetrated from within by a wicked and deranged clergy. Under the rebellion of Martin Luther, the power of the Protestant branch moved from the Church officials to the people. That freedom has been manifested repeatedly since then, as thousands of splinter groups have broken loose to form their own denominations. And today, the persecuting Churches (both Catholic and Protestant) have donned the robes of sanctity and surrendered to the dictates of secular government. That is evolution. All those changes that were considered wicked and sinful at various times during the past four thousand years have proved to be merely perceived values. While the Church’s minions murdered millions, God never intervened, never zapped one single soul. Doesn’t it ever occur to Christians to ask why? Why are men able to mutate new religions from old (Christianity and Islam from Judaism) and introduce new, iron clad, inalterable laws of their God—even new gods—and then revamp them to suit the era and situation? Why are these religions able to literally do as they please, attribute the changes to their God, and never suffer his wrath for corrupting his Word? Could it just possibly be that their gods are, like all the other gods they condemn, no gods at all? Faith, ignorance, superstition, darkness, division, poverty, oppression, slavery—all are synonymous with religions, and we have just seen a prime example in the “success” story of Christianity. If there is any doubt, consider the recent bloody massacres in Bosnia and Croatia, and the Jewish-Arab conflicts of today. What of the Islamic nations, the slaughter between Sunnis and Shiites? Have they been enlightened by their religious beliefs? What other religion has produced an improvement in any society? When has any god ever benefited a people? Reason, knowledge, sensibility, enlightenment, confidence, prosperity, and freedom are the fruits of the intelligent man, and their workings are evident in the great strides that have been made throughout the world, as people turn their minds from superstitions and religious taboos to science, education, and commerce. Consider the world advancements introduced since the Renaissance dispelled the superstitions of Christianity. The amazing growth and freedoms of our own nation were made possible by that enlightenment. And today, that principle is most evident in the fantastic national developments occurring in China, Japan, India and dozens of other nations; all because of economic and technological advancements, not spiritual enlightenment. The Church has promulgated the creed of apostolic succession that claims the New Testament originated with Paul and the Lord’s chosen Apostles, and was rapidly proclaimed to the entire world; but we have uncovered an entirely different story. We have uncovered a story based on oft-repeated fables, mixed with pagan folklore, copied, edited, rewritten, and counterfeited. We have seen how a peace-loving religious sect which abhorred the taking of a life, slowly evolved into a fanatical, cannibalistic organization that devoured its own heart. A story, I believe, that clearly illustrates the dangers inherent within today’s Christian faith. There can be no doubt that Christianity is not "the faith once delivered unto our fathers". It is a corruption of Jewish Messianism and pagan worship. And who were the authors? Many and varied: we have the teachings of the Essenes and Jesus, the apostles, Paul, numerous ghostwriters, secular emperors, Church fathers, and historians. What started out as a noble and sincere work has been swallowed up and ingested by the creeping vines of pagan religions and fables. Christianity is the excrement of that union. It should be obvious from this study that I have only hit the highlights. While it may appear that I have inserted a mass of others works and research, I assure you that isn’t the case. There are thousands upon thousands of books that cover all aspects of the subjects which I’ve only introduced. If you're interested in further study, the information isn't hard to find. The facts are there, readily available on the Internet and in most libraries. You'll find the only barrier to be centuries of Christian brainwashing.
Notes
1 – Josephus Wheless, Forgery in Christianity, chap. vii 2 – St. Gregory's Dialogues, Book II, 6,7,11&193 – Will Durant, The Age of Faith, xxxiv, p. 906 4 – James Harvey Robinson, An Introduction to the History of Western Europe, xix, p. 270 5 – This is a very intriguing and puzzling story. The Original Catholic Encyclopedia (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Galileo_Galilei) goes into great detail about the trials and the story of Galileo's discovery and the Church's opposition. Of course the Church endeavors to exonerate their part in the affair by insisting that the Church did not hate the sciences, even citing their support of the Copernican doctrine. However, they fervently resisted Galileo's teaching it as "truth". Their fear was "for the credit of Holy Scripture, the letter of which was then universally believed to be the supreme authority in matters of science, as in all others." It wasn't a matter of whether Galileo's theory was true; but who ascertained truth. To protect the Holy Scriptures they insisted that he denounce the system he upheld "to be scientifically false, and anti-Scriptural or heretical". There are more intriguing excuses, mostly presented to protect the Church's claim of infallibility because the "Congregation of the Index" did declare the Copernican doctrine heretical—and later had to recant. The reader should read the article for himself.
One glaring omission is obvious. A number of biographies of Galileo; (e.g. James Reston Jr., Galileo; Ludovico Geymonat, Galileo Galilei: a Biography and Inquiry into his Philosophy of Science) all portray the Dominacian Friar Tommaso Caccini, as Galileo's arch enemy. And though extensive records of his birth, life and works are readily available, the Catholic Encyclopedia doesn’t even mention his name. See: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommaso_Caccini) 6 – Josephus Wheless, Forgery in Christianity, chap. vii 7 – Josephus Wheless, Forgery in Christianity, chap. vii 8 – (http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Mexico)
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