Choose your God carefully. (Because “It’s always the theology, stupid”- my paraphrase of James Carville and Bill Clinton on the economy), Wendell Krossa
Whatever we idealize most, or worship, is what we become like. And if our fellow citizens widely idealize the same ideals then that is what our society becomes. We have two main God options (ultimate reality, ultimate ideal) to shape our belief systems, narratives, and the national stories that populations/societies unify around. These two produce or effect differing influences on people and societies.
Preface: As noted before here, I do not appeal to Historical Jesus as some final authority. I do not “believe in Jesus”. I simply find the content of what he said to be useful for illustration of the best of being human. Hence, I refer to him as a widely known and influential historical figure.
Unfortunately, due to the “burial” of his diamonds under the dominant New Testament Christology of Paul, some of Jesus’ better insights/statements have been undermined and even lost. For example, he stated clearly that true greatness does not lord over others (i.e. dominate) as worldly rulers do but the truly great serve others. Then Paul turns around and makes him the ultimate Lord demanding that every knee bow to him and people subject every thought to his domination and control (Philippians 2:10-11, 2 Corinthians 10:5). Totalitarianism taken to ultimate extremism. Those two entirely opposite views did not come from the same person.
See also on this site: “How Paul constructed the great dualism of highly conditional ‘Christ-ianity’, burying the stunningly unconditional ‘diamond’ of Jesus.” Posted on April 3, 2026 by Wendell Krossa
http://www.wendellkrossa.com/?p=15526
Few true believers will acknowledge this great contradiction in Christianity because of the threat that such admission poses to the essential identity built on this religion and the investment of life in such a religious system- i.e. the beliefs that shape one’s personal narrative, the emotional satisfaction from such beliefs, the guidance for life, the promise and hope for eternal salvation and bliss, and the validation of one’s life by one’s deity (pleasing a parent, satisfaction in parental pride, etc.).
His “Q wisdom sayings” (“the closest we get to what he actually taught”) provide some of best ideas to shape narrative themes and thereby eventually reshape/transform the archetypes of our collective subconscious (Carl Jung’s theory). New fundamental archetypes framed by the themes of the Jesus tradition/message will provide upcoming generations with the most humane of ideals that will inspire them to respond with “emotional satisfaction” (Kristian Niemietz) in their choice of beliefs that will subsequently continue to affirm liberal democracy principles and practises.
The two main deity images- (deity images have always been the ultimate embodiments of human ideals/archetypes)
First, the “stunning new theology of Jesus“:
Historical Jesus presented the image of a nonreligious, unconditional deity that led eventually to the basic principles of liberal democracy societies. His view of ultimate reality/ultimate Ideal (1) affirmed non-tribal principles/practises where all receive protected equal rights and freedoms (i.e. universal inclusion- “sun and rain generously given to all equally”), (2) affirmed non-domination by state elites/bureaucracies and institutions that should function to serve citizens (no lording over but serving others), and (3) affirmed non-punitive justice systems that hold offenders responsible but treat them humanely (no more eye for eye but love your enemy), etc.
And the opposite view of theology–
The opposite and highly conditional theology of Paul’s Christ myth was a retreat to the primitive deity images of previous history- i.e. (1) a deity that embodies the tribalism of true believer insiders versus excluded/demonized unbelievers who are to be punished and destroyed in Hell (Lord Jesus will return in blazing fire to destroy all unbelievers- 2 Thessalonians, etc.), (2) deity as Lord/King that validates human domination (i.e. “divine right of kings, slaves submit to masters”, husbands as lords of families just as Christ is Lord of Christians, etc.), and (3) deity solving problems with violent destruction through apocalyptic purging and eternal hell (i.e. the still widely dominant theme of “salvation/purifying through destruction” shapes religious narratives as well as secular/ideological narratives).
Which theology dominates today? In the last century it was the elements of the apocalyptic millennialism of Paul’s Christ, and we saw the outcomes as that Ultimate Ideal carried entire societies into the mass-death outcomes of Marxist/socialist violent crusades to establish collectivism (see Tabor, Landes, and Ellens quotes below). We also saw Paul’s Christology of “salvation through destruction” work its influence of deforming human minds and lives in the horrific antisemitism of Nazism, and we are now watching it ruin liberal democracy societies again through the salvation by destruction crusade of environmental alarmism, along with the very same theology threatening liberal democracy through the theocracy crusade of Islam.
James Tabor in “Paul and Jesus”:
“There was a version of ‘Christianity before Paul’, affirmed by both Jesus and his original followers, with tenets and affirmations quite opposite to these of Paul… the message of Paul, which created Christianity as we know it, and the message of historical Jesus and his earliest followers, were not the same. In fact, they were sharply opposed to one another with little in common beyond the name Jesus itself” (p.xv1).
“Paul is the most influential person in human history and realize it or not, he has shaped practically all we think about everything… the West in particular… the foundations of Western civilization- from our assumptions about reality to our societal and personal ethics- rest in a singular way upon the heavenly visions and apparitions of the apostle Paul. We are all cultural heirs of Paul, with the well-established doctrines and traditions of mainstream Christianity deeply entrenched in our culture. In contrast, Jesus as a historical figure… has been largely lost to our culture” (p. xv11).
“Paul operated with a strongly apocalyptic perspective that influenced all he said or did” (p.15).
“The entire New Testament canon is largely a post-Paul and pro-Paul production…” (p.19).
“The ‘Jesus’ who most influenced history was the ‘Jesus-Christ’ of Paul, not the historical figure of Jesus… Paul transformed Jesus himself (and) his message of a… kingdom of justice and peace on earth, to the symbol of a religion of otherworldly salvation in a heavenly world”, (21).
“The form of Christianity… (that thrived in the late Roman Empire)… was heavily based upon the ecstatic and visionary experiences of Paul. Christianity as we came to know it, is Paul and Paul is Christianity. The bulk of the New Testament is dominated by his theological vision”, p.24).
“Paul’s view of Christ as the divine pre-existent Son of God who took on human form, died on the cross for the sins of the world, and was resurrected to heavenly glory at God’s right hand becomes the Christian message”, (39).
“The Q source is the earliest collection of the teachings and sayings of Jesus… the most striking characteristic of the Q source in terms of reconstructing Christian origins is that it has nothing of Paul’s theology, particularly his Christology or view of Christ”, (41).
Then, Harold Ellens as quoted in Zenon Lotufo’s “Cruel God, Kind God”:
“Beliefs do exert much more influence over our lives than simple ideas… ideas can also, in the psychological sphere, generate ‘dynamis’, or mobilize energy… (they) may result, for instance, in fanaticism and violence, or… may also produce anxiety and inhibitions that hinder the full manifestation of the capacities of a person…
“The image of God can be seen as a basic belief or scheme, and as such it is never questioned…
“Basic cultural beliefs are so important, especially in a dominant widespread culture, because they have the same properties as individual basic beliefs, that is, they are not perceived as questionable. The reader may object that “God”, considered a basic belief in our culture, is rejected or questioned by a large number of people today. Yet the fact is that the idea of God that those people reject is almost never questioned. In other words, their critique assumes there is no alternative way of conceiving God except the one that they perceive through the lens of their culture. So, taking into account the kind of image of God that prevails in Western culture- a ‘monster God’… such rejection is understandable…
“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). Crystallized in Anselm’s juridical atonement theory, 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’”.
And then this from Richard Landes in “Heaven On Earth” (a history that details how Paul’s Christology/Christ myth of apocalyptic millennialism shaped the mass-death movements of the last century):
Speaking of the Twentieth century intellectuals (Lenin’s “useful idiots”) in thrall to Marxist ideology and its collectivist approach, Richard Landes says this-
“Any attempt to put this totalitarian system in the category of a closed and barbarian theocracy is very often vehemently refused. In this case, very emotionally seated aspirations and hopes of young or older intellectuals are at stake. Everybody who dares to take the Bolshevik world as a religious community is considered a traitor betraying the humanitarian ideals of the modernity of the French Revolution…
“If you see it in this sense, say the proponents of the project of modernity, the distance between the old and new modern world would shrink too much and the debts to the Christian tradition would become too heavy. Thus, when you treat the Bolsheviks as a millennial sect, you are going to betray the project of modernity and treat the Bolsheviks, despite their very modern efforts to industrialize backward Russia, as a medieval sect of obscure believers.”
He adds, “Among the historical issues of the twentieth century nothing poses greater problems to scholars than the similarities and differences between the Soviet and Nazi totalitarian systems, both of which (by the definitions of this study) were active cataclysmic, apocalyptic millennial movements”.
(End of Landes quotes)
Liberal democracies have, successfully at times, countered the worst of Paul’ influence but are continually undermined and weakened by Paul’s more dominant Christ themes that present endlessly ongoing threats/assaults through varied and endlessly morphing crusades of “salvation through destruction”.
Such threats come from without and from within liberal democracies through the ever-new and endlessly morphing variants of totalitarian “salvation through destruction” just as we are seeing today in the two main threats to liberal democracy- i.e. Islamic/Christian theocracy and Marxist collectivism. The Islamic theocracy crusade appears to be more publicly dominant today than similar Christian variants.
See also on this site: “Understanding the true nature of the two main threats today”, Posted on March 23, 2026 by Wendell Krossa
http://www.wendellkrossa.com/?p=15420#more-15420
The collectivist versions, of these salvation through destruction crusades, continues from both the Russian and Chinese sides that pose threats of direct military assaults from their countries as well as through their more insidious long-game approaches to infiltrate, indoctrinate, and undermine Western institutions from within. Both countries have bluntly stated their intentions and commitments to undermining and overthrowing liberal democracy and replacing it with their totalitarian approaches to organizing societies (Joe Rogan sometimes plays the 1984 video of a Russian intelligence agent stating the Soviet intention to undermine and overthrow liberal democracy via domestic infiltration and indoctrination of Western populations).
We see that Marxist collectivism has now morphed, most recently in history, into “Woke progressivism with DEI racism/discrimination”. This is, at core, the same old collectivist dualism of dividing populations into classes of “oppressor/oppressed, victimizer/victim” but now adding classification according to skin color onto the still present classification by possession of capital resources, or not.
And this collectivist divide of populations traces back in history to the more primitive tribalism of dividing people into “good versus evil” where the “evil” enemies must be destroyed according to the archetypal patterns set forth in the same old Zoroastrian cosmic war (circa 1000-1500 BCE) that shaped Judaism Christianity, and Islam, and now continues to shape the modern-era crusades of Marxism and environmentalist alarmism.
This mental deformity is all such primitive stuff, eh.
Notes:
General Nagata: We can defeat these violent crusades of salvation through destruction with military force, but we have not yet defeated the “idea” that drives them to endlessly erupt in new crusades against liberal democracy. We also have to defeat the “idea” as in the complex of ideas/beliefs/theology that shape human narratives that then guide human behavior.
And the egregious irresponsibility here? We know how to defeat the “idea” that is Paul’s Christology. We have the opposite idea of Historical Jesus (his theology and message) but many refuse to embrace that fully and replace Paul’s Christ myth with his central theological insight and message.
This is the current cognitive dissonant confusion that reigns in Christianity from Paul’s oxymoronic merger of Jesus with his Christ (i.e. “Jesus Christ”). Two entirely opposite theologies and messages combined into one where the dominant element buries the subordinate one (Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy’s point on the “diamonds of Jesus buried in Paul’s Christology”).
Due to the ongoing confusion from Paul’s merger, we now only get reformism efforts that tinker at the periphery of religious traditions and do not go to the core of the problem to purge Paul’s theology and replace it with Jesus’ stunning new theology of an unconditional God. Until more people get the point that “It’s the theology, stupid”, we will not get the reality that Landes warned of when he stated at the end of his chapter on Nazism (my paraphrase)- That until you recognize how Christian apocalyptic millennial ideas carry entire societies into mass-death outcomes you have not learned the real lessons of Nazism.
The level of transformation needed amounts to a “death/rebirth” process, or the “disintegration of the old and reintegration around the entirely new” that few people are willing to embrace. Replacing Paul with Jesus is the core issue.
The issue above traces to those deeply embedded “archetypes” that were long ago shaped by the earliest primitive mythologies of salvation through violent destruction. That has resulted in many people even today responding to the subconscious influence of these archetypes and consequently choosing their beliefs by the criterion of “emotional satisfaction” not by rational evidence. We respond to public narratives like “environmental apocalyptic alarmism” because that apocalyptic millennialism simply feels right, true, good, and just (see historical detail in Kristian Niemietz’s “Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies”).
This site, now with the help of AI, presents detailed research on the history of human ideas and the outcomes both bad and good from differing ideas/beliefs/themes. This has to do with the common human practise of “basing behavior on similar validating beliefs”. We are driven to do so by our primary impulse to meaning and purpose and the dominant role of theology (ultimate reality/ideal) in this.
Further notes…
I asked AI:
What are the basic principles/institutions of liberal democracy or classic liberalism, i.e. private property rights, equal freedoms for all, free speech, etc.?
AI Overview replied:
Liberal democracy is a form of government that combines the organization of a representative democracy with the principles of classical liberalism— a political tradition focusing on individual liberty, limited government, and the rule of law.
Key principles and institutions of liberal democracy and classical liberalism include:
1. Fundamental Principles
• Individualism and Liberty: The core premise is that the individual is the fundamental unit of society, prioritizing individual freedom over collective or state interests.
• Equal Freedoms and Equality Before the Law: All citizens are equally subject to the law, regardless of background, and enjoy equal civil liberties.
• Private Property Rights: Protection of assets against expropriation by the state is a cornerstone, considered necessary for individual freedom and economic development.
• Consent of the Governed: Government legitimacy comes from the consent of the people, expressed through free and fair elections.
• Limited Government: Authority is restricted by a constitution to prevent tyranny, with power often separated among branches (executive, legislative, judicial).
• Toleration and Pluralism: Acceptance of diverse political viewpoints and social lifestyles, as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others (the “harm principle”).
2. Key Institutions
• The Rule of Law: Governmental authority is exercised only in accordance with written, public laws, ensuring that no one— not even rulers— is above the law.
• Independent Judiciary: Courts that are impartial and free from political manipulation to enforce the rule of law.
• Free and Fair Elections: Regular, competitive multi-party elections with universal suffrage.
• Separation of Powers: Division of government functions to prevent abuse, often including checks and balances between the legislature, executive, and judiciary.
• Free Market Economy: A market economy with private property where individuals are free to transact business and trade with minimal government intervention.
• Robust Civil Society: The freedom of voluntary association (unions, charities, clubs) and a free press to criticize the government and function outside of state control.
3. Core Rights and Freedoms
Liberal democracies protect numerous individual rights, notably:
• Freedom of Speech and Expression: The right to voice opinions and openly criticize the government.
• Freedom of Religion and Conscience: Protection against state-mandated faith.
• Freedom of Assembly and Association: The right to gather, protest, and form organizations.
• Protection of Minorities: Safety of minority groups from “tyranny of the majority”.
Note: While classical liberalism advocated for a “minimal state” (limited to security, law enforcement, and key public works), modern liberal democracy often integrates social welfare functions.
Also…
What are the 5 pillars of liberalism?
AI Overview
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy centered on individual freedom, equality, and limited government. Key ideals include individual liberty, consent of the governed, rule of law, legal equality, and protected private property, aiming to foster autonomy and fairness.
Here are five key ideals of liberalism:
• Individualism: The belief that the individual is the most important component of society, possessing inherent dignity and the right to pursue their own goals, independent of social groups.
• Freedom/Liberty: The ability to act, think, and express oneself without excessive interference from the state or other individuals, encompassing freedom of speech, religion, and action
• Consent of the Governed: The idea that political authority is only legitimate when it is derived from the people through democratic processes, often involving social contracts.
• Rule of Law/Limited Government: The requirement that all citizens and government officials are subject to legal rules, preventing arbitrary power and protecting individual rights through a constitution.
• Equality/Equal Rights: The principle that all individuals are equal before the law, entitled to equal rights and opportunities regardless of race, gender, or social status, free from discriminatory privilege
(End of AI Overview)
The embrace of liberal democracy principles/practises depends significantly on governing elites trusting common citizens to do the right thing, based on a belief in the essential goodness and common-sense of most people. In liberal democracy peace and order are primarily a bottom-up emergent reality and not mainly a top-down elite-imposed reality (i.e. the fallacy of Plato’s “philosopher kings” as most qualified to rule and control others).
Add this:
A balancing qualifier to my comment in the material above- “The Islamic theocracy crusade appears to be more publicly dominant today than similar Christian variants.”
Is it just me or does this article below illustrate the theocratic impulse from the right?? Perhaps the author has a leftist bent, some TDS, and is just venting on the US. I dunno.
“The end of Viktor Orbán: Hungary’s Sunday election poised to topple Putin’s Trojan horse in the EU”, Adam Zivo, Apr 10, 2026
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/adam-zivo-the-end-of-viktor-orban
As this author suggests, Orban represents authoritarianism and aligns with Christianity.
The author says: “After Orbán took power in 2010, he subordinated state institutions to his will, conspired with loyal oligarchs to capture most of the national media, and amended Hungary’s constitution to emphasize Christianity and traditional values.”
Orban did things like defy the mass-immigration that other Euro states opened their borders to. And that “bolstered his domestic support and made him a darling of the populist right.”
Also, “Orbán used state funds to establish a constellation of conservative think tanks that, in addition to becoming hubs of MAGA and nationalist ideology”.
Zivo concludes that “the Trump administration has decided to enthusiastically back Orbán.”
He says, “In February, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Hungary, where he praised the corrupt autocrat and told him that President Donald Trump was “deeply committed to your success.” Trump gave Orbán his “complete and total endorsement” the following month, and then, this Tuesday and Wednesday, Vice-President JD Vance visited Budapest to openly campaign for Orbán.”
“During a Wednesday talk at a Hungarian private school, Vance attacked America’s European allies and, in an Orwellian twist, accused Ukraine of attempting to influence Hungarian elections. At a campaign rally, he implored Hungarians to “stand with Viktor Orbán, because he stands for you,” and then, putting his phone to the microphone on stage, called Trump, who heaped praise upon the autocrat and his strict immigration policies.
“It was deplorable. The United States once stood for freedom. Now, it shills for anti-western, second-rate dictators. If Hungarians save their democracy with a clean election this Sunday, it will be despite Washington’s wishes.”
Another note on self-fulfilling “dynamis”:
When embracing apocalyptic, the most violent and destructive idea/myth in history, beware of the self-fulfilling influence of such beliefs. Because, as psychologist Harold Ellens warns, these “Cruel God” beliefs “generate dynamis and produce energy”- i.e. they deform human minds and incite motivation (dynamis) to act on one’s beliefs, just as ISIS and the Iranian theocrats act to initiate the final apocalypse that will spur their God to descend and finish the slaughter and purging of all the unbelievers from the earth. This belief (salvation through violent destruction) drives the Iranian theocrats to seek nuclear weapons to finish their crusade of initiation of a final Armageddon slaughter.
The same pathology of apocalyptic has endlessly motivated true believers across history to murder millions as part of the divinely demanded apocalyptic cleansing of evil as required to open way for installation of some imagined subsequent utopia. The very same basic theme drives the environmental apocalyptics.
People embrace these pathologies and feel them intensely and then even act on them just as the Marxists did in initiating violent revolutions last century to purge the evil of capitalism, and just as Hitler did to purge his imagined evil of Jewish Bolshevism in order to prepare the way to install a millennial Reich, and just as Islamic theocrats are repeatedly doing now to purge evil and install their Caliphate (ISIS in Syria, 2014, Iran today).
Such mental deformity endlessly produces such violent insanity in outcomes. Look at the madness we are still trying to extricate from- i.e. the destruction of our societies under environmental climate apocalypse. So many keep embracing new versions of these same old “salvation through destruction” narratives- i.e. save the world through destroying our societies with Net Zero decarbonization.
And with the climate apocalypse crusade apparently now dying, many are moving on to demonize AI as the next great threat of apocalypse, hence, they are stirring crowd madness to shut down AI as the evil to be purged. That will dangerously cede AI dominance to China which, according to the stated intentions of those totalitarians, will lead to destruction/overthrow of liberal democracy.
Update on Jordan Peterson
Here’s an update on a man who has suffered the horrific cost of bearing truth to the world, a man “who stared into the face of totalitarianism and refused to back down”, as the commentator in this video clip states. And he has paid the cost in unrelenting hatred, vilification, public misrepresentation and lying, outright persecution by professional academies, and more.
I think of these heroic people, who bring such immense benefit to millions, as illustrations of Tom Petty’s song- “You can stand me up at the gates of hell and I won’t back down, no I won’t be turned around.”
“At 63, The Tragedy Of Jordan Peterson Is Beyond Heartbreaking – health updates”, GoldenFameNewstream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmggMrEqY4A
We may disagree with various points and positions of such people as Peterson, but his spirit inspires so intensely. And few have spoken so clearly in defense of liberal democracy. Pray for the man. We need his voice and spirit.