Subj : Bible
To   : Todd Henson
From : Joseph Voigt
Date : Thu Nov 02 2000 05:20 am

Thursday November 02 2000 03:23, TODD HENSON wrote to RALPH ZETTER:

 >> Didn't the gnostics believe that we were pieces of God that become
 >> trapped in the world, and that through their teachings we could
 >> regain our divinity?

 TH> You're new here, so maybe some new blood can inject some sanity into
 TH> the echo. :-) As you can tell, this has now become Holysmoke 2.

And both you and Constance are responsible for that.

 TH> That's not unlike modern charismatic Christians, who are taught that
 TH> in order to commune with God you have to undergo some intense physical
 TH> experience, where they hype themselves into hyperemotional states of
 TH> consciousness. That causes all manner of physcial manifestations, like
 TH> rolling around, falling dowm, "speaking in tongues", etc.

ROTFL!  No hyperemotional states required, Todd.  Sheez.  Rolling around and 
falling down is nothing more than silly behavior.  And speaking in tongues is 
nothing more than speaking gibberish.  What silliness.  Here, let me speak in 
tongues now:

dijolsudfokful skoppsju  smidopidfo  shuntu lomnesbop

I must have been in the spirit, huh?  Cool... new altered state phenomena... 
typing in tongues.  LOL.

 TH> These experiences are said to be of God, but they are more a product
 TH> of induced altered states.

They are neither.  They are nothing more than silly behavior.  No altered 
states required.

 TH> The same thing happens in other religions too. I suppose the intense
 TH> emotional experience can serve as a kind of catharsis, and the person
 TH> may feel relieved of some things, which simply reinforces the idea
 TH> that this is the Holy Spirit making them do this, rather than some
 TH> practice which philosophers and mystics have known about for years.

Sure, Todd.

.... Get a taste of a true religion.....Lick a witch!
--- FastEcho 1.46 (reg)
 * Origin: The Danse - Where Norse Gods Ponder Their Navels (1:387/638)

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