Thomas Paine - a simple quote

From The Collected Writings - page 482

"Toleration is not the opposite of Intoleration, but is the counterfeit of it. Both are despotisms. The one assumes to itself the right of with-holding Liberty of Conscience, and the other of granting it."

I can't think of anything to add to that....:)

More Book Of Mormon head scratchers

This concerns Helaman 12:14-15, which reads,

"Yea, if he say unto the earth - Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the day for many hours, it is done....for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun."

This is a claim that the early Jewish settlers of the New World understood a fundamental truth about the solar system. The Earth-centric view of the universe was not even questioned until some 1500 years later, and even then it was considered heresy.

Again, this in my mind pushes the Book Of Mormon further and further into the realm of fiction. It claims to be a translation of ancient texts, yet includes knowledge the ancients never even conceived of, let alone knew.

The Book Of Mormon - several curiousities

I do wonder how a Mormon would reply to my questions concerning the undeniably "modern" cast to the language in the parts of the book I have read so far (I am up to 3 Nephi). By this, I mean a distinct parallel between the rhetoric of the book and those of the early Revolutionary writers (Thomas Paine being the most obvious - and the most ironic). The time frame of the discovery of the plates which carried the Book - 1823 - is mere decades after the Revolutionary war ended, and many of the writers of the time were still publishing new works well into the 19th century.

The most common "sticks out like a sore thumb" word to me is "liberty". A concurrent reading of the Bible (I'm in the book of Numbers now) reveals no such sentiments. The Israelites had one leader, and later a succession of kings. It was quite literally "my way or the highway". Descended as they are supposed to be from the original Twelve Tribes, the people inhabiting the New World as "Promised Land II" are distinctly modern in their approach to government (a word also not mentioned in the Old Testament).

The Book of Mormon has always seemed fictional to me, and my reading of the book itself does nothing to dispel this notion.

The theory of persecution and the attack with a sponge

I have no interest at all in attacking anyone's fundamental beliefs. Even so, I find that many people see my views on religion and the relationships of humans within society's boundaries to be, as it were, "throwing mud". I do not intend at any time to obscure anything. The truth will always win.

The persecution complex in others is both frightening and hilarious to me. People who imagine themselves cornered will often do irrational things, including physical violence. Beset on all sides by enemies both imagined and real, they will lash out. I suffer from no such delusions. I seek more information, not less.

This more than anything is my main reason for reading the Bible front to back, instead of the more accepted method of skipping around trying to make a whole out of many parts. What disturbed me so greatly in my previous incarnation as a Catholic was the refusal on the part of the church to use more than maybe five percent of the Bible. I began to wonder what else was between those two rose-colored covers.

Seeking without guidance can be counterproductive (just ask any man who has wandered the streets in a strange town for hours before stopping to ask for directions), but it is, in my judgment, only when we are willing to stand alone that we see the whole truth. There are too many people looking to "shepherd" you past multiple doors saying in a gentle soothing voice "Oh no, you don't want to go in there."

I demand the right to know for myself.

The seeking for common ground

Sure it's lonely being like this. As humans, we seek common ground, a social web in which to operate. Perhaps this "system of systems" should be looked at like a community of webs, rather than a community based on a single web of which we are but a single strand.

Or perhaps more like a collection of nerve cells, independently operated but connected to every other cell by an increasing number of connections.

We seek security. The "group hug" sure feels better to us than the utterly frustrating effort to hug ourselves. What turns me off about this whole idea is being in that group hug and once it's over, finding that your wallet is missing. To move that metaphorical equivalent into the 21st century, not only your money is gone, but your identity as well.

The common ground as it has been previously understood comes at too high a price. I seek a new understanding of this idea, a way to integrate security into my soul without giving up the freedom it has previously enjoyed. I do not think they are mutually incompatible.

Daring to read what you ridicule

It's always been amazing to me how many people willingly bash ideas they know nothing about. They absorb the opinions and pronouncements of others and refuse to think for themselves. That is what I've always found so difficult to accept about religions that are centered around any kind of authority system.

Recently I've been digging into texts I've always meant to read and never got around to even owning. Among these are:

The Federalist Papers
The Collected Writings of Thomas Paine
The Book of Mormon
The Bible
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures
The Flower Ornament Scripture
The Origin of Species
The Wealth of Nations

Yes, I am famous for reading many books at once. It actually helps when you start seeing connections between books, even those not intended to be addressing the same subject. More posts on this blog will follow which will detail some of the more interesting parallels between these and other works I have in my possession.

Let's get this ball rolling

New to this kind of thing, but not new to the idea that this blog's title represents. My spiritual wanderings have led me into all kinds of interesting places, but I always come back to my own personal spiritual space, using the best parts of what I've found and rejecting the rest.

The solid nature of the Golden Rule, the not-so-solid nature of pure lunacy, and anything that rings the bells in my soul has a place in my universe.