Questions

A reader, searching, asked me some questions here, so I'm going to devote this entry to answering some of them.

Hello Jeff. I've read the posts on this page. There was one part in your reply to naniecheng that you said your questioning of your faith turned you away from it. So what was it that you held on to, despite the many times you were turned away by your own questions, did you question yourself into coming back or something like that? or what happened?

There were aspects of the conventional teachings that troubled me. For example, the emphasis on the issue of salvation, to the point that some have the idea that if one doesn't believe in whatever the brochure says, one would go to hell. A natural result is the obnoxiousness of some believers, sometimes reaching ridiculous levels (e.g. Xiaxue's account.) Other times, a greater bad thing happens, and a concern of a lot of Christ's parables: hypocrisy.

So for a long while, I tried to understand this, and I 'turned away' in the sense that I decided that this interpretation isn't really the point. In fact, it could even well be wrong. Let's just say we use the model, everyone will go to hell unless the person believes. OK, if that's true, what happens to the 1 month old baby who dies? Would the baby go to hell? Well, what's the point? A baby is born, and then almost immediately after, gets tortured in hell? I asked many people this, and a common response was on the lines of...well, maybe the baby won't go to hell, or, God isn't that cruel, there might be some criteria that applies to cute babies, or, God works in mysterious ways, which I reckoned was an easy thing to say to 'explain it away'... So there was a period of time when I was very troubled by this.

Another thing that makes me suspicious is this idea of if you believe, you'll go to heaven. The contrary is also true. Now, this seems to me a very conditional thing; it's like emotional blackmail. The question I have is: believe in what? Maybe some believe in the factual account of the Resurrection, some believe in the intellectual arguments or emotional effects, and maybe some believe in the love of God and some believe to be good people, and so on. So there are a range of things that people can believe in, or proclaim.

When I read and try to understand the spirit of Christ's teachings, I realise that this 'model of salvation' seems questionable.

"Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'

And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' ~ Matthew 7:21

So, I figure, it's not believing (whatever), per se, it might have to do with other things. So the guys ask how come? We did all the mighty works in your name already, what? How come we're still 'evildoers'? Another is:

Jesus looking at him said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." ~ Luke 18:24

This passage is for all of us who have Internet connections. There's no arguing that we are rich. So what is Jesus saying? Seems to me that it's no longer an issue of whether we can choose or 'activate' our salvation, not even in 'believing'. It is impossible. It is up to God, and of Christ's sacrifice. (As I write this, I'm also looking at Wikipedia's Protestant entry, and it seems that what I'm expressing is similar to 'sola gracia', grace alone.) So, if this is true, the 'believe or you will go to hell' account can be shown to be considerably weakened. At this point in time, this is what I believe is what the Scriptures mean. Although 'evangelical Christians' are technically Protestants, a lot of 'evangelical' churches do not really preach this.

You know something? I think it is absolutely liberating. What this implies is no longer should we view people as either going to hell, or not, for it is quite irrelevant. It also relieves us of our stress that we need to do enough good things to justify our entry into heaven, because it simply can't be done. On the contrary, we try to do good things for its own sake. And we try to love others for who they are, for they are God's creations.

Obviously the above is not something you mingt find in Sunday School, so I would hope you readers will do your own research and test things out for yourselves. Searching, I'll answer the rest of your questions in due time. :)

Mind control and brainwashing

The Skeptic's Dictionary on mind control and brainwashing:

"The techniques available to manipulate the vulnerable are legion. One technique is to give them the love they feel they do not get elsewhere. Convince them that through you and your community they can find what they're looking for, even if they haven't got a clue that they're looking for anything. Convince them that they need faith in you and that you have faith in them. Convince them that their friends and family outside the group are hindrances to their salvation. Isolate them. Only you can give them what they need. You love them. You alone love them. You would die for them. So why wouldn't they die for you? But, love alone can only get you so far in winning them over. Fear is a great motivator. Fear that if they leave they'll be destroyed. Fear that if they don't cooperate they'll be condemned. Fear that they can't make it in this miserable world alone. The manipulator must make the recruit paranoid.

Love and fear may not be enough, however; so guilt must be used, too. Fill them with so much guilt that they will want to police their own thoughts. Remind them that they are nothing alone, but with you and God (or some Power or Technique) they are Everything. Fill them with contempt for themselves, so that they will want to be egoless, selfless, One with You and Yours. You not only strip them of any sense of self, you convince them that the ideal is be without a self. Keep up the pressure. Be relentless. Humiliate them from time to time. Soon they will consider it their duty to humiliate themselves. Control what they read, hear, see. Repeat the messages for eyes and ears. Gradually get them to make commitments, small ones at first, then work your way up until you own their property, their bodies, their souls. And don't forget to give them drugs, starve them, or have them meditate or dance or chant for hours at a time until they think they've had some sort of mystical experience. Make them think, "It was you, Lord, who made me feel so good." They won't want to give it up. They have never felt so good. Though they look as if they are in Hell to those of us on the outside, from the inside it looks like Heaven.

What religion doesn't use guilt and fear to get people to police their own thoughts? Even some therapists use similar methods to control their patients. They prey on the vulnerable. They demand total loyalty and trust as a price for hope and healing. They often isolate their prey from loved ones and friends. They try to own and control their clients. The methods of recruiters are not much different. Are the recruits, the converts to the faith, and the patients willing victims? How would we tell the difference between a willing victim and an unwilling victim? If we cannot do that, then we can't distinguish any true cases of mind control."


However, as they point out later, free will is an iffy thing.

When does relentless persuasion turn into subtle coercion? When can someone be said to be manipulated by another? If someone cheerfully does something of his own volition, how can we say that he is being brainwashed? Is advertising a form of mind control?

These are not easy questions to answer, for free will is one of those things, like consciousness, that we are still trying to unravel.

Nonetheless, being told to and made to dwell constantly on what one has done wrong instead of what one has done right, being held to an impossible standard which one is still supposed to aspire to, being given contradictory suggestions, being told to have faith even when said faith may be unjustified, and above all being told still that one is loved despite the lack of objective expressions of this love is surely suspect.

A future post on the signs of an abusive relationship will deal with some of this issues at greater length.


Seen as someone's MSN status message: "I am a hypocrite. I am selfish. I am evil. I am a liar. I am stubborn. I dishonour you. GOD!!! Why do you still love me???"