The previous section is still just below this new comment- “Benz exposes the massive infrastructure pushing the elite/commoner divide in our liberal democracies”, Wendell Krossa
The crusade to establish the elite/commoner divide in our liberal democracies, and the “influencer” ideas behind these crusades.
Also still below this opening section- a summary of the Joe Rogan interview of Mike Benz on the massive infrastructure of the elite censorship complex that is now in a full-frontal battle against populism.
Here is the link to the JRE interview of Benz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrJhQpvlkLA&t=2s
Also new below: Michael Shellenberger’s latest in the battle against the censorship complex, and Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn’s latest “America This Week” on Biden’s pre-emptive pardon project and what that involves.
Now this new section:
Some may think that my repeated arguments about the profound contradictions between Jesus and Paul’s Christ are lacking merit. Check out Brinsmead’s summary of research posted below… “What the scholars are saying”.
Here is a summary note from Bob Brinsmead’s powerful essay noted below: “It was an appalling mistake to turn the protest of Jesus against sacrifices into the myth of his own sacrificial death. That, as Patricia Williams says, is “where Christianity went wrong.””
Add this to my points re Jordan Peterson just below… Wendell Krossa
I posted this to a discussion group, challenging Jordan Peterson’s point that “Scripture is the central narrative underpinning Western civilization”:
“He (Jordan Peterson) may be right on some of this but not on the “restore the Bible” point, as a general embrace of scripture. The issue is that in the Christian Bible there are profoundly opposite narratives, fundamentally contradictory narrative themes. The Old Testament, as Bob Brinsmead reminds us, reveals a major contradiction between the prophets (against sacrifice) and the priesthood that sought to establish and maintain the sacrifice industry.
“Most prominent in the Bible is the New Testament contradiction between the message of Historical Jesus and Paul’s Christ that buried the critical, central insights of Jesus. These are the two entirely contradicting narratives in the New Testament.
“This is the real issue for Western civilization- Which story should frame our public narratives? Which narrative themes best orient us to what it means to be truly human and point us toward a truly humane future?” (end of post)
Here is a recent article noting Peterson’s claims on the Bible as the central narrative underpinning everything in Western civilization.
Yes, to his comments on the Bible’s dominant influence on Western civilization. But “No” to his affirmation of the Bible with, apparently, no clear differentiation of the narratives contained in it. The two profoundly different narratives (complexes of narrative themes) in the Christian Bible have completely different influences on human life and society, with crucial differences in outcomes.
“Jordan Peterson says Trump’s election was a blow to wokeism: Rejection of ‘hedonistic, power mad progressives’: ‘I think it is a testament to the enduring faith of Americans,’ Peterson said of voters rejecting Vice President Harris and her progressive agenda”, Gabriel Hays, Dec. 5, 2024
Hays begins noting Peterson’s comments that the Trump election shows Americans choosing “to take their country back from far-left radicals vandalizing their culture.” Peterson believes this was a rejection of the hedonistic and power-mad progressives.
Peterson was commenting in relation to his new book “We Who Wrestle With God”, a book that “hammers home the crucial importance of the Bible to the functioning of western civilization and urges readers to look to Scripture in order to recapture the sense of meaning he says our modern culture is losing…. As the psychologist told the outlet, when western civilization abandons Scripture as the central narrative underpinning everything, it looks to fill the void with unbridled ambition for “power and hedonism.””
Peterson re-enforces useful Classic Liberal points with his appeals to scripture and I give him props for that. As Hays notes in this comment…
“Drawing wisdom from the Biblical texts he’s been poring over lately, he told Fox News Digital, “You see, in the Old Testament accounts, the Israelites are always clamoring for a king. And the voice of the Divine counsels them, saying, ‘If you follow my ways, you don’t need a king.’ And there’s a reason for that. The reason is, is that if everyone did what they could and should, there’s no need for authority, especially central authority.””
My contention/dispute is that making clear the larger context of the profound biblical contradiction between two opposing narratives, as Jefferson and Tolstoy did, would provide people with the tools to better evaluate any given teaching, event, or point being made by the Bible. It would provide the larger background or ‘big picture’ criteria for people to evaluate the varied teachings and events that he refers to, and whether the influence of any given teaching/event is affirming something good or bad.
Its just not most helpful to make these generalized statements of affirmation of something that includes narrative themes (Paul’s Christology) that have had a proven devastating impact on Western civilization- i.e. Peterson’s comment on “the crucial importance of the Bible to the functioning of western civilization and urges readers to look to Scripture in order to recapture the sense of meaning he says our modern culture is losing…. when western civilization abandons Scripture as the central narrative underpinning everything, it looks to fill the void with unbridled ambition for ‘power and hedonism’”.
Better, pay some attention to what historians Arthur Herman, Richard Landes, Arthur Mendel, David Redles, and others, have warned about not heeding the evidence that apocalyptic millennial themes (originating in Western civilization from Paul’s apocalyptic Christ myth) drove the profoundly religious crusades of Marxism, Nazism, and are now driving environmental alarmism (i.e. “climate crisis” apocalyptic).
Kash Patel for new FBI director
This guy- Kash Patel, and others like him- has to be confirmed to open up the hidden “secrets” files and expose it all as part of the larger necessary exposure of corruption at the core of the elite censorship complex.
Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi and others have also hit the classified information thing repeatedly. Too much state-held information is classified as secret. Aside from some necessary classification of intelligence, that even Patel acknowledges as necessary, most of what is classified belongs to the public. Why are the elites and their bureaucracies hiding that? Shellenberger states there must be exposure, and holding people accountable, as part of shining the cleansing effect of sunshine on rot, in order to get Classic Liberalism (freedom, democracy) back on track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2xJAqLhkoc
Note how these “disrupters”- i.e. Patel, Pete Hegseth, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and others- are viewed as threats to elites and their bureaucracies and hence are being demonized now by mainstream media, the propaganda arm of the elites and their intelligence agencies.
And…
Just to encourage all of you to listen to Joe Rogan and Mike Benz to get some sense of how we are being propagandized into a new totalitarianism like none before. How terms are bent and twisted to manipulate information and hence thought and emotions of the public. The manipulation of terms like “hate speech” now extended (“concept creep”) to include any opposition to elite narratives. And populism, as a commoner revolt against elites, now demonized as “right-wing authoritarianism”. Covid dissent demonized as “disinformation/misinformation” or quack pot “conspiracy theory” that is dangerous and must be criminalized.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrJhQpvlkLA&t=2s
Get some sense of all the behind-the-scenes manipulation of information that is cloaked as “noble cause struggle to promote democracy” (again, that perversion of democracy to mean “consensus of state institutions” as in elite-controlled institutions). Then note Benz exposing elite projects like the funding of non-state agencies such as university “departments of disinformation studies” to give the elite state actors cover and the appearance that this censorship is a spontaneous, organic crusade not associated with state agencies. State elites use non-state proxies to present the appearance that their censorship is not the corrupt top-down state authoritarianism that it really is.
And the actors behind this- the Bill Gates, George Soros, and related characters… associated with the WEF desire (Klaus Schwab) to see the Chinese model of authoritarian governance worldwide. So also Justin Trudeau, a WEF protégé/devotee, admires the Chinese authoritarianism. Yes, elite authoritarian control of commoners, the noble philosopher kings of Plato to run the collectives that take and redistribute the workers wealth and property for equity outcomes. Social justice. ESG. DEI. All citizens coerced to become Woke Progressives and embrace the disastrous policy outcomes, the Net Zero decarbonization of regimes like Biden/Harris or Trudeau, or Kiers Starmer.
https://blog.independent.org/2022/12/01/klaus-schwab-china/
So yes, just another push to all of you to listen to the JRE/Joe Rogan interview of Mike Benz who exposes the incredibly complex infrastructure of mass censorship in our societies, noting the major state bureaucracies behind this totalitarian movement, all part of the new elite establishment of the old elite/commoner divide in our societies.
This current censorship industrial complex, as Shellenberger and others have warned, is a far worse totalitarianism than anything before, an effort to control speech and thought as never before. To enslave minds at huge scale- at “whole of society” scale.
Note Benz’s comment on how even before Covid disinformation hysteria, the censors were using the “hate speech” pejorative (concept creep or better- obliterating concept boundaries entirely) to shut down populism, even censor comedy. “Hate speech” was the go-to smear applied to anyone challenging out-of-control immigration, or making other criticisms of elite’s policies and programs.
This relates to the overall elite censorship complex. That complex involves co-opting universities, NGOs (often intelligence fronts), media, social media and other corporations, and more- the “whole of society” thing. Thanks to Benz and others exposing the massive infrastructure of this new totalitarianism being spread throughout our societies.
Note:
Mike Benz on Rogan noted that the CIA actively intervenes in numerous other countries with programs to get them to censor US social media companies, meaning- censor US citizens. That fits the definition of pure “fascism” according to Poli Sci 101 (i.e. Communists took full ownership of the “means of production”, the business sector/the economy. Fascists leave businesses in private hands but force compliance with the state’s narrative and demands). So, who’s your “Fascist” now? Think projection.
Something for the “quibble” section: Jordan Peterson ‘peters out’ on this, Wendell Krossa (It’s the “contradiction”, stupid. A fun play on Bill Clinton/James Carville’s long-ago statement on the economy.)
The point here is not to push some issue of disagreement in order to diminish someone in some manner. It’s to focus in on something that impacts all of us at a very profound level- the level of deeply held beliefs that shape our minds, emotions, motivations, and responses/behavior. Something that I hope Peterson comes to understand as part of his defense of the bible and Christianity. It’s the central issue overriding all other issues in that tradition.
But first…
Jordan Peterson is right in affirming, as many others have, that we all live by story. Our societies live by great meta-narratives. Stories that encompass the history of a nation and its heroic figures and great events.
No one lives solely by fact or evidence. This recognition helps understand Kristian Niemietz’s statement that “Emotional satisfaction, not rational thinking, and despite contrary evidence, dominates our choice in beliefs.” Our stories influence everything in our lives.
I add that I have much respect for Jordan Peterson for his courageous stand against Woke extremism. He has suffered personally from vicious attacks on his reputation and occupation and will be remembered as a strikingly courageous hero who fought for freedom in this generation. So yes, he is a “head and shoulders above the rest” figure. A ‘spine of steel’ man. Much admired by this blogger.
Back to topic…
As narratives are vital to human lives and societies, it is critical, then, what actual story guides our personal lives and our societies. And the great question for all narratives, narrative themes- Do our stories produce humane outcomes? The “test of facts” (Sowell).
My point of contention with Peterson is his unclear argument for a general restoration of the bible as some sort of foundational pillar for our Western societies. He argues that the bible is the founding book of Western civilization. He sometimes posits the restoration of scripture in Western civilization as the only credible alternative to the contemporary abandonment of religion that, as he claims, has been replaced with the left-wing push for power and hedonism.
He appears (I don’t know all that he has said on this) to advocate for some sort of undifferentiated re-establishment of Christianity, and illustrates this with his probe into the scriptural archetypes as universal metaphors.
Well, if that isn’t the “Mother of all ‘missing the main points’ with Christianity”… I don’t know what is then.
He seems unaware of the overarching problem with Christianity and its bible- the singularly major contradiction in the Christian bible and Christianity itself. History’s single greatest contradiction, certainly greatest religious contradiction, a contradiction that has maintained a state of cognitive dissonance like nothing else anywhere in history.
All summed in one title- “Jesus Christ”. And while at it with all these “greatest” adjective-attachments, the “Jesus Christ” title is also the greatest oxymoron ever put together.
I would suggest that Peterson consider Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy’s point that there is a profound difference between the message of Historical Jesus and Paul’s Christ myth. What they termed the “diamonds/pearls” of Jesus that were buried in the New Testament context of Paul’s Christ myth- the “dung, slime and muck, garbage… product of lesser minds”. Ouch, but true.
I recognize these harsh-sounding terms are sure to incite outrage in true believers, but Jefferson and Tolstoy understood the nature of the damage that Paul and his Christ had done to what Jesus had taught. Best summed as “burial”.
Further, I would suggest to anyone interested in tackling the bible and Christianity to explore the “Jesus Seminar” material and books, notably the “Q Wisdom Sayings” gospel research. That is critical research to understanding what Historical Jesus was actually about. What he actually taught. Some scholars of “Q Wisdom Sayings” to Google include James Robinson, John Kloppenborg, Stephen Patterson, among others.
The differing themes of Jesus and Paul’s frame entirely opposite narratives.
Added note to Peterson comments:
Much as I admire Jordan Peterson, and hate to criticize someone so far above the rest of us in intelligence and training, but I have to point out that what he is doing is of the nature of “tinkering around the periphery” and missing the core of a very serious problem in Western civilization, an ongoing problem (i.e. the themes of Paul’s apocalyptic Christ) that is, once again, behind the latest eruption of an apocalyptic millennial crusade that is already causing mass-harm to populations- i.e. the “climate crisis” and decarbonization salvation scheme.
This problem of recurring apocalyptic millennial crusades, like Marxism and Nazism before, and just like the repeatedly erupting ISIS versions, will continue until we confront the fundamental ideas that are driving the repeated eruption of such crusades of madness.
I would encourage people like Peterson to consider the corruption right at the core of the Christian tradition, as was nailed by Jefferson and Tolstoy.
Again, “corruption at the core”- Yes, as in Bob’s summary I quoted before…
“It was an appalling mistake to turn the protest of Jesus about sacrifices into the myth of his own sacrificial death. That, as Patricia Williams says, is “where Christianity went wrong.””
A repost list from other sections below on this site: Wendell Krossa
Here are some of the points of contrast, the main contradictions that highlight the oxymoronically opposite themes in the messages of Historical Jesus and Paul’s Christ mythology. The point I draw from this? The themes of Paul have shaped Western consciousness, narratives, and societies for the past two millennia. The Jesus themes have influenced us to a lesser extent, mainly moderating the harsher features of Paul’s message:
(1) Unconditional love (no sacrifice is demanded in Jesus’ original message- i.e. the “Q Wisdom Sayings” gospel). Versus the highly conditional atonement religion of Paul (i.e. the supreme condition of the sacrifice of a cosmic godman- the Christ).
(2) Nonretaliation in Jesus (no more ‘eye for eye’ justice but ‘love the enemy’ because God does not retaliate but loves and includes enemies- as in “sun and rain for all alike”). Versus supreme divine retaliation in deity punishing people through natural disasters, disease, accidents, etc., and punishing ultimately through apocalyptic destruction of the world and then after-life punishment in hell. Note Paul’s statement of his theology of a retaliatory deity in Romans 12- “’Vengeance is mine, I will repay’, says the Lord”. Also, in his first letters to the Thessalonians, “Lord Jesus will return in flaming fire to destroy all who don’t believe my Christ myth”.
(3) To relate the above retaliatory theme to justice systems- Restorative justice (again- no eye for eye) versus punitive, destroying justice.
(4) Nonviolent resolution of problems (again, no violent retaliation against enemies) versus the violent destruction of apocalypse and hell, and the violent pacification of deity by blood sacrifice for atonement.
(5) Nontribal inclusion of all humanity (“sun and rain given freely to both bad and good people”) versus the ultimate tribal favoritism toward true believers and the discriminatory exclusion of unbelievers as per Paul’s Christ. The ultimate tribal divide is illustrated in Revelation as the eternal division of humans- assigned either to heaven or to hell, as per the cosmic dualism of Zoroaster.
(6) Nondomination in relationships (“If you want to be great then serve others”) versus ultimate eternal domination by Lord Christ with his rod of iron totalitarianism (“every knee shall bow… He will rule them with an iron scepter”).
(7) Non-dualism (God as the Oneness of Ultimate Reality that is love) versus eternal dualism (i.e. again, the cosmic dualism of “God and Satan”, “heaven and hell”).
And so on…
You cannot mix and merge these profound opposites in the one and same person- i.e. “Jesus Christ”. That supremely oxymoronic combination creates such profound cognitive dissonance that you are left in a state akin to severe mental deformity.
The egregious issue here is that the good elements (i.e. the Jesus insights) are distorted and buried by the primitive and darkening elements in the Christology of Paul.
Applying Christology to Jesus (i.e. the divinizing of a common man over the first few centuries of Christianity) has effectively buried the potency of his liberating insights, notably his stunning new theology of a non-retaliatory, non-apocalyptic God. The truth of his entirely new view of deity, though still present in the New Testament in summaries of his statements (see Matthew 5, Luke 6), that “stunning new theology” is no longer clearly visible to most people’s minds because the larger New Testament context overwhelms the Jesus material with its emphasis on Paul’s retaliatory, apocalyptic Christ.
Paul’s intention, two decades after Jesus died, was to redefine the theology of the young Jesus movement, to correct the “errors” of Jesus and his colleagues. Paul, for example, despised the wisdom tradition that Jesus belonged to and bluntly dismissed it in Corinthians as “worldly wisdom” (i.e. the “wisdom of this world is foolishness”). For contrast, he promoted his Christ myth as something like the secret knowledge of Hellenistic mystery religions- i.e. the “secret wisdom of the Christ”, the “secret truth” presented as the alternative to the ignorant/foolish worldly wisdom of Jesus and his followers, notably Apollos.
Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy both nailed the contradiction between Jesus and Paul in the bluntest terms and few have been as clear and direct since. Most dissenters to Christianity shy from using the forceful terms they used, perhaps because their comments are potentially offensive to true believer’s sensibilities.
And few since have paid much attention to their blunt clarification of the striking contrast between Jesus and Paul, preferring instead the religious reformism that tinkers around the edges and gets nothing done, that avoids the central issue of theology- how Paul’s Christology utterly deformed Jesus, burying his stunning new insight on God, along with his overall unconditional message.
For two millennia now most people have lived with this grand mental deformity- the distortion and burial of the single most profound insight ever offered to humanity, an insight that would have liberated people from threat theology, the “cruel God” image that psychologists Harold Ellens and Zenon Lotufo argue deforms human personality and development. The Jesus insight that God was a stunningly inexpressible unconditional love would have brought history’s greatest liberation movement ever- liberation from long-deformed archetypes, liberation at the depths of human consciousness, subconscious. Liberation of the human spirit as never before.
All of us are obligated to find and adopt the best of themes to shape our narratives/stories, the most humane features to serve as our guiding ideals. And it’s critical to our well-being that we get right which narrative themes produce humane outcomes.
Paul’s narrative themes have had devastating impacts on people and societies even to mass-death outcomes by inflaming and validating people’s worst impulses to tribalism, domination, and punitive destruction, as in Marxism, Nazism, and now environmental alarmism.
Historical Jesus provided a profoundly different narrative with better outcomes.
Note:
People rush to caution others about public statements and narratives that contribute to harming people, that they claim will incite hatred and violence. We saw this, from both sides, in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump, as with the previous attack on Paul Pelosi. Warnings that public statements can incite crazies to harm people.
Well, this issue of the apostle Paul’s statements causing harm is on a scale far above any sort of harm caused to a single person by public statements. This is societal-scale harm, mass-death harm, that has repeated across history.
Another added note: The singularly stunning contradiction in Paul’s deforming of the message of Jesus- an anti-sacrifice icon portrayed as ultimate sacrifice:
Repeating psychologist Harold Ellen’s point- Paul’s myth of divine intention to violently punish Jesus in a bloody death, and then framing that violent death as “love”, is an utter perversion of the reality that is love.
Note Ellen’s statements in Zenon Lotufo’s “Cruel God, Kind God”.
“There is in Western culture a psychological archetype, a metaphor that has to do with the image of a violent and wrathful God (see Romans, Revelation)… this image represents God sufficiently disturbed by the sinfulness of humanity that God had only two options: destroy us or substitute a sacrifice to pay for our sins. He did the latter. He killed Christ.
“Ellens goes on by stating that the crucifixion, a hugely violent act of infanticide or child sacrifice, has been disguised by Christian conservative theologians as a ‘remarkable act of grace’. Such a metaphor of an angry God, who cannot forgive unless appeased by a bloody sacrifice, has been ‘right at the center of the Master Story of the Western world for the last 2,000 years. And the unavoidable consequence for the human mind is a strong tendency to use violence’.
“’With that kind of metaphor at our center, and associated with the essential behavior of God, how could we possibly hold, in the deep structure of our unconscious motivations, any other notion of ultimate solutions to ultimate questions or crises than violence- human solutions that are equivalent to God’s kind of violence’…
“Hence, in our culture we have a powerful element that impels us to violence, a Cruel God Image… that also contributes to guilt, shame, and the impoverishment of personality…”.
As Harold Ellens says, “If your God uses force, then so may you, to get your way against your ‘enemies’”.
Jesus original message is found in the “Q Wisdom Sayings” gospel. This is the closest that we get to what Jesus actually taught. Nowhere in that original teaching does Jesus present himself as coming to offer himself as a bloody human sacrifice to God to pay for sin. He opposed the sacrifice industry and died because of his opposition to the sacrifice industry (Matthew 21:12, and other references in the gospels. See the Bob Brinsmead link just below for further detail on Jesus’ anti-sacrifice protest).
Scholars note that Jesus had taken up the Old Testament prophet’s protest against sacrifice, as expressed by Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.
Isaiah 1:11, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice…I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, and goats…”
Hosea 6:6, “I don’t want your sacrifices”.
Amos 5:25, “I did not demand sacrifices”.
Jeremiah 7:22, “I did not command sacrifices”.
Psalm 40, 51, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire… burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require… You do not delight in sacrifice… you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.”
Soon after Jesus died, Paul rejected Jesus’ life and message of opposition to sacrifice and turned his death, that was a protest against sacrifice, into the ultimate sacrifice of a cosmic godman- Jesus Christ. How does anyone get away with manipulating anything more contradictory than that?
These fundamental contradictions are so beyond profoundly, stunningly scandalous as to be in the area of the utter ridiculous and absurd.
See Bob Brinsmead’s good research on these issues:
https://bobbrinsmead.com/the-historical-jesus-what-the-scholars-are-saying/
Summary point:
I would not, as Peterson apparently does, just advocate for some form of restored religion or general restoration of the bible as foundational to successful Western civilization, without clarifying the stunning contradictions between the narratives of Jesus and Paul. The contradictions between these two main ‘influencers’ of Western consciousness and civilization are the central issue to probe, tackle, and explain.
Carefully warn people of the consequences they embrace to frame their narratives, personal and public. Nothing has been more destructive to Western narratives, consciousness, and overall civilization than Paul’s apocalyptic Christ myth, the driving narrative behind Marxism, Nazism, and environmental alarmism.
See throughout this site the historians who have carefully researched the outcomes of Christian ideas on the above crusades- i.e. Arthur Herman, Richard Landes, Arthur Mendel, David Redles, and others.
Ignoring this “Jesus versus Christ” contradiction leaves many just tinkering at the edges of religious issues and reforms while denying the “Mother of all elephants/gorillas in the room”.
Note on the research on Jesus’ anti-sacrifice life and message, that was the primary cause of his death.
This concluding comment of Bob’s from below…
“It was an appalling mistake to turn the protest of Jesus about sacrifices into the myth of his own sacrificial death. That, as Patricia Williams says, is “where Christianity went wrong.””
The summary points below are from Bob Brinsmead’s excellent essay in this link that gathers varied strands of scholarship on Jesus. Bob is a specialist on Historical Jesus and how Paul transformed Jesus’ message into Paul’s myth of the Christ, that was a complete denial of what Jesus had taught.
https://bobbrinsmead.com/the-historical-jesus-what-the-scholars-are-saying/
Jesus the Jew and anti-sacrifice icon of first century CE Jewish culture.
Some of the initial material below is from Robert Eisenman’s “James the Brother of Jesus”, among other sources:
As one scholar summarized- “Who and whatever James was, so was Jesus”.
Then material from Keith Akers’ “The Lost religion of Jesus”.
Akers says, “I argue in this book that Jewish Christianity in the first century (Jesus and his first followers) was the direct spiritual ancestor of Jewish Christianity in the fourth century (the Ebionites)… Jewish Christianity is a single continuous entity, defined by two characteristics: loyalty to the Jewish law and acceptance of Jesus as the prophet of this law.”
He continues: “The Ebionites [ post-70 Jewish Christians] are not the only Jewish Christian group in the first centuries of Christianity but were the most important. The Ebionites are mentioned by more of the church fathers than any other such group…There are other groups usually classified as “Jewish Christian” – namely the Elchasaites, the Nazoraeans, and the Ossaeans…all of these groups were similar to the Ebionites on at least these three points: they adhered to the Jewish law, they were vegetarian, and they rejected animal sacrifice…the Ebionites are the best and most important representatives of early Jewish Christianity.”
Later, “The most obvious explanation is that Jesus’ family was part of the earliest Christian church, that that some of the relatives of Jesus, the successors of James, then became the leaders of the Ebionites.”
Then these points, “Jewish Christians detested Paul, and Ebionites represented Jewish Christianity.”
Bob adds, sometimes paraphrasing in summary and sometimes quoting the scholars, “Anti-Sacrifice was an essential feature of the Ebionites… The Ebionites unequivocally condemned one of the central aspects of Judaism, namely the practice of animal sacrifice; and they kept their grievance against animal sacrifice in their traditions long after the practice of animal sacrifice had ended when the temple in Jerusalem, the site of the sacrifices, was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. They also condemned some of the Jewish scripture as being false texts…
“Their view that the sacrificial system did not originate with Moses and was falsely attributed to Moses was unorthodox but, it should be noted, hardly without justification – many scholars believe the same thing… [Ed. note: see Richard Friedman’s highly acclaimed classic, Who wrote the Bible? as a scholarly endorsement that the elaborate sacrificial cult was added to the Law centuries after Moses]”…
“John’s Baptism was an alternative to sacrifice…”
“Ebionites read scripture critically, especially in the matter of violence and sacrifice
The Ebionites condemned many of the texts in the Jewish scripture as false texts: they believed they were not inspired by God but were false and shouldn’t be part of the scripture at all…if the Ebionites believed that sacrifice or warfare was wrong, how do we explain the existence of commands in Jewish scriptures to offer animal sacrifices and commands to engage in bloody warfare? Commands to make animal sacrifices are found throughout Leviticus, and accounts of wars sanctioned by God are found throughout Joshua….
“The Ebionites were not alone in feeling uncomfortable about these texts. However, they did not take this allegorical path… [They claimed that] the written tradition (the Jewish scriptures) had been corrupted by false texts….”
“Jewish Christians were against the cult of sacrifice
“In the ‘Recognitions’… in a celebrated passage describing a speech by James, the brother of Jesus, delivered in the temple seven years after Jesus’ death, James denounces animal sacrifices and predicts the destruction of the temple….
“Opposition to the cult of sacrifice was always a central feature of Jewish Christianity… the distinctive origin of Jewish Christianity lies to a large degree in its opposition to animal sacrifice….
“The Temple protest of Jesus was all about his opposition to the cult of sacrifice
Jesus was attacking the practice of animal sacrifice. “I came to abolish sacrifices,” says the Ebionite Jesus, “and unless you cease sacrificing, my anger will not cease from you.” (Panarion 30.116.5) Now there is a pronouncement explosive enough to cause the temple hierarchy to want Jesus crucified….”
Bob says, “Akers’ book is brilliant in presenting the evidence that it was Jesus’ passionate protest against the institution of sacrificing at the temple which led directly to his being put to death. Unless Jesus’ ultimate concern in his temple protest was that forgiveness of sin is always freely available and needs no atoning sacrifice (as if our alienation from God and one another is something that it can be bought or sold)…”
“Christology replaced the teaching of Jesus
“[The cult of the person of Jesus as the Christ Jesus developed after his death] These beliefs originated from the Christ Movement led by Paul. The image of Jesus changed dramatically over the course of just over one hundred years. Jesus became seen as a divine being holding cosmic importance. Along with that development went another: a repudiation of his Jewish heritage…The image of Jesus changed radically, while his roots within Judaism were forgotten. By the mid-second century, Christian leaders were touting Jesus as an incarnate saviour who redeemed humanity by his death and resurrection. Who he was thought to be came to obscure what he had taught and practiced. This represents a remarkable shift in emphasis – away from the religion of Jesus and toward a religion about Christ….”
“Jesus never suggested that a sacrifice was required as a condition of forgiveness or acceptance with God.
“The fourth Gospel comes nearest to telling what happened in this temple protest when it says “he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle.” (John 2:15)…”
“Jesus was utterly and passionately opposed to the cult of sacrifice. That was what his protest in the temple was all about.
“It was an appalling mistake to turn the protest of Jesus about sacrifices into the myth of his own sacrificial death. That, as Patricia Williams says, is “where Christianity went wrong.””
Shellenberger’s latest in the battle against censorship and for freedom
“Constant Demand For Censorship By Elites Shows Their Rule Depends Upon Disinformation: A report from my trip to Brussels where I told the European Union to ‘Back Off’”, Michael Shellenberger, Dec. 6, 2024
See this link for Michael’s actual presentation to the European Parliament
https://www.public.news/p/constant-demand-for-censorship-by
Note below as Shellenberger lists the major lies that we have been propagandized with over the past few years…
Shellenberger says,
“Over the last two years, we have been reporting on the alarming rise of censorship by governments around the world and speaking out against it…. We are more aware of the strategies that the Censorship Industrial Complex of politicians, government agencies, supposedly nongovernmental organizations, and the media use, around the world, to demand ever-more censorship by Internet and social media companies.
Shellenberger notes that elites worldwide are trying to expand censorship of online platforms but his and other’s pushback against such censorship has been successful, “Simply pointing out that “Fighting misinformation and hate speech” is, in reality, “Government censorship” has proven effective everywhere, as it breaks the hypnotic trance imposed by censorship advocates.”
He notes that countries like Britain and Germany are pushing new demands for censorship, “including the direct imprisonment of people for posting distasteful but nonetheless harmless content online…”
He adds that “massively expanding censorship remains one of the highest priorities if not the highest priority of the elites behind those governments.”
Shellenberger states that global elites have decided that it is not possible to govern without controlling the media and public narratives. They have to control media because “their main narratives have been lies, and only social media has proven capable of exposing them on a mass scale.”
The major media lies: The Russiagate hoax, Covid vaccine disinformation, Joe Biden’s perfect mental health, gender change affirmation without any real science, government and media denial of immigration crisis, denial of inflation, Ukraine war lies, and so on.
He concludes: “The point is clear: the people who run civilized Western nations, through the media that they control, have for years if not decades spread disinformation to justify their unpopular policies, and the rise of social media generally, and the transformation of Twitter into a free speech platform by Musk particularly, cracked the media bubble and allowed reality, cold hard facts, and larger truths to shine through.”
He adds that a growing number of independent journalists and podcasters have exposed the elite lies and are making a strong defense of freedom of speech, “without which independent journalism, and Western liberal democratic civilization itself, would not exist.”
He ends affirming that he believes we will win this battle against censorship and for freedom.
One comment at the bottom of his article expresses well how many feel about this massive censorship complex:
“The amount of disinformation being peddled by the media is exhausting. In addition to the above, there are additional rumors that have been peddled unquestioned to affect public opinion:
“Tulsi Gabbard is controlled by Russians
“Brett Kavanaugh and the allegations (they even produced a “witness”)
“BLM and Michael Brown.
“Then the media works actively to suppress the below or don’t question the “official narrative”:
“Hunter Biden’s laptop (supported by govt)
“Joe Biden’s health condition
“Actual Ukraine-Russian war progress
“Natural disaster recovery (Lahaina, Hurricanes, Palestine train derailment.)
“I’m tired.”
Taibbi and Kirn’s latest “America This Week”
While offering praise for Jon Stewart now speaking out to expose what the Biden’s are doing with pardons, Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn are right to condemn Stewart for, well, cowardice for speaking out so “Johnny-come-lately” on this issue. Like so many others who have done exactly the same- e.g. George Clooney only cautiously venturing some honesty about Biden’s mental decline after it was first made public by others, etc.
The contrast of these cowardly figures compared to courageous others, is all the more obvious because they are contrasted at a time in history when historically and uniquely heroic figures have made the sacrifice and paid the price for their courageous stands to protect freedom. I refer to Elon Musk, Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn, Jordan Peterson, Douglas Murray, Glen Greenwald, Joe Rogan, and so many others. The contrast with the courage of these people compared to the cowardice of these others, needs to be noted and publicized. Every generation produces such contrasting figures.
Publicized? Yes, because we all serve the function of being either examples that inspire (be or do like I do) or examples of warnings to others- Don’t be like this. And many public figures are mixed examples to others, both warnings and inspirations. But the people noted above exhibit more of the glaring contrast between base cowardice and true courage. Unfortunate for them, they are on the scene when there are such incredible contrary figures exhibiting such stellar courage now.
Note also the wise sage who said that the courage of the brave few inspires others to get over their own fears and take similar stands against wrong and for right.
Mark Zuckerberg is another example of cautiously and skittishly coming forth after its safe to do so, to admit his embarrassing failure to stand against tyranny and for freedom on a major public information/sharing forum. Again, others at the very same time took courageous stands against censorship while he embarrassingly bent the knee to the totalitarian bullies, thereby fulfilling the Poli Sci 101 definition of fascism- i.e. companies doing the bidding of authoritarian state elites. His after-the-fact “safe time to come out”, and timid admission, did not really exculpate his cowardice and refusal to defend freedom. And the lack of clarity on any critical principles involved that were violated. It was not taking a stand for much of anything. Think legacy, man. Your children.
And Mark, do you have any fundamental understanding of the principles, systems of common law, and representative institutions of Classic Liberalism?
But then, hey, “love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13). We all need chances to change our minds, continue to develop as human, recover some understanding of populism as Classic Liberalism, and generally “grow the fuck up”.
Here in latest “America This Week”, Taibbi and Kirn comment on Jon Stewart’s semi-courageous “getting into the game” of pointing out the failures on his side of society.
“America This Week: The Immaculate Pardon. A trial balloon floats presidential pardons no one asked for, no one knows anything about, and no one needs, but will be done anyway. Plus, the ‘Masque of the Red Death’, by Edgar Allen Poe”, Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn, Dec. 6, 2024
Quotes from below:
“I got to confess to you, when I saw that, I felt a surge of rage welling up within me. Like are we just going to go back to this without acknowledging that people like you and me were in the wilderness for eight years and we’re shunned for making basically those same kinds of observations?… did he (Stewart) ever spend a summer or two or five being shunned? Did he ever have things thrown at him or was he ever called a Russian? See? Unless you’re called a Russian asset and have been for years, then you don’t get to play in the new arena as far as I’m concerned. Former Russian assets, at least alleged only, going forward. Jon always manages to… How can I put it? Get into the game just as it’s being won, just as the tide is turning.
“There is this ‘rats fleeing the sinking ship’ thing that’s going on now, where some people are turning around and criticizing the Democrats in ways that they never would have over the last eight years.”
They then go into the Biden administration’s plan to “pre-emptively pardon” any who might be in Trump’s crosshairs for possible prosecution. They note how media frame this “in terms of Trump’s vengeance… (that one author) is assiduous in his inversion of every point such that it is more damaging to what Trump might do than what is being done.”
This pre-emptive pardoning appears planned to prevent investigations of the corruption around, for example, Covid and Anthony Fauci’s lies and crimes, or the corruption around Adam Schiff’s lies and Russiagate.
They then note what this is really about- i.e. Its about the monster that they have created over the past 8 years, so grossly exaggerated as a threat to all that is good…
“Walter Kirn: So these are the immaculate pardons. These are pardons that the pardoned people don’t know about, that the pardoner isn’t responsible for, that don’t involve crimes. You know what these pardons really are? They’re convictions of Donald Trump.
“Matt Taibbi: Right, yes. Actually, yeah.
“Walter Kirn: Right. Every single one of them is a testimony to his rage, his contempt, his unfairness, his thirst for revenge.”
The “projection” that Democrats have perfected over past years always stuns. “His unfairness, thirst for revenge”? Huh? How about the lawfare against Trump for defeating Hilary? The impeachments, criminal charges, endless payback demonizing, exaggerating, distorting, lying, hassling. Sheesh. “His thirst for revenge”? Look in the mirror, guys.
They note how this pre-emptive pardoning is also very much about preparing to fight and frustrate Trump’s planned investigations of government corruption over past years.
https://www.racket.news/p/transcript-america-this-week-december