Rocky

All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher. Lucretius

Preach it, brother!

Sounds to me like brazen propaganda and indoctrination.

Are you suggesting vpee was a whited sepulchre? Well, let me do more than suggest it. Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious that he was. Boo-YAH! Nailed it.

Indeed...

And it is abominably fallacious magical thinking and complete bulls*it.

Well, I watched an intriguing (and perhaps a bit subversive) documentary this weekend, The Lottery of Birth. A quote put up in a graphic in the movie caught my attention and made me think of this thread. Passive acceptance of the teacher's wisdom is easy to most boys and girls. It involves no effort of independent thought, and seems rational because the teacher knows more than his pupils; it is moreover the way to win the favour of the teacher unless he is a very exceptional man. Yet the habit of passive acceptance is a disastrous one in later life. It causes man to seek and to accept a leader, and to accept as a leader whoever is established in that position. -- Bertrand Russell, British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 - 1970) I wonder to what extent that insight makes/made us susceptible to cults. I suspect the answer is -- to a great extent. The next question becomes, what would it take to counter that susceptibility?

I think so. But how many people thought of it like that, as opposed to just thinking about "my sweet Lord?"

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/srLcDhmHn5s?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> This video, according to YouTube is from a 1971 concert. I wonder how much influence Harrison's song had in seeding the Jesus Movement.

About the REV, yes. About JS/STF, not necessarily. Yeah, well, I never opined on JS or STF... because I don't know him and don't care. Since I offered no opinion, how can I prove that? It seems more impossible than trying to disprove a negative. I also didn't opine on the REV. Because I've never read it and have no interest in doing so. I'm also not sure what it matters whether or not you will accept my lack of opinion on the two items. Cheers.:doh:/>

Your view certainly doesn't offend me... but I still disagree with you on the need to read the "REV by JS/STF" in order to develop an informed opinion on JS/STF. For me, the criteria Steve L set forth for his view is legitimate and valid. However, from a strictly logical perspective, perhaps reading the REV might be necessary in order to critically analyze that translation (or whatever you'd want to call it) of the bible. Then again, I have no dog in this fight, so to speak.

Thankfully. We're all survivors.

But is it still an emotional defense mechanism? I'm not suggesting you're wrong, just expanding the question.

Indeed... and it took major emotional trauma for me to realize that crap was messed up. Trauma in the home and in the workplace.

Well, it was posted in April 2014, has about 2,500 views... had only two thumbs up and two thumbs down. Now it has three thumbs up.

Nevertheless, you didn't come off as preachy. It's a good reminder that can't hurt to review every so often. Thanks.

:rolleyes:/>

It's perhaps a matter of defining what may take place between the ears of the people you observed being told things. Something was taking place. It wasn't simply being made aware and then holding it as such. That's not how it works. Denial is a very powerful psychological defense mechanism. "in psychiatry, a defense mechanism in which the existence of unpleasant internal or external realities is denied and kept out of conscious awareness. By keeping the stressors out of consciousness, they are prevented from causing anxiety." YOU may have been able to retain those items in your conscious awareness because they didn't cause you an extreme level of anxiety. Maybe?

Sounds like cause for being thankful you didn't marry the bloke. ;)

1) CP1 was complete BS. 2) I think you hit the nail squarely on the head about Loy's almost certain motivation for his homo rants. I say that piecing things together, NOT that I have been inside the creep's head.

Holy CRAP! There's some tremendous insight on this thread from yesterday and today, particularly the most recent posts by chockful, DWBH and skyrider.

How big was the college?

Babylon Mystery Religion on Amazon.com

My involvement with our cult began a month before I turned 20 and ended the year I graduated from college (age 31). Two years military wow, one year actual wow, one year in residence corpse. I can identify that my emotional development had been arrested and through a difficult marriage and personal study, I learned a lot of what I should probably have learned and accomplished ten years earlier. Though I survived a year in rez, I never did fully relinquish my independence. Then after a year as a wow in northern Ohio, peer pressure to conform to the whim of the minimog seemed totally unacceptable to me. Perhaps that's why when the poop paper popped, I was ready to jump ship. I went through recognizable stages during my thirties... had a wife and a kid, then just a half time kid. These days, I'm much more comfortable with my independence. I spend most (not all) of my time alone,reading and writing. My identity being a writer and a grandfather. No effing way I see myself becoming subject to anything like twi again. However, interpersonal communication skills developed during that time are coming in handy in political endeavors these days. :) So, too, I say thanks Charlene for the discussion and contributions like DWBH to provoke self-reflection and evaluation. <3 you both.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!