Friday, March 16, 2007

And now for something completely different...

Ok, its boring.

supposed to be working right now, but I'm stuck on an issue with fixing a texture element.

So, what the heck.  Topix has finally lost its luster -- the idiots are the same ones day after day and even across 21 different threads its the same arguments over and over again.

So yeah, I'll just make note and blog it all here as I get into the mood.  Otherwise, I'll simply start sitting above it all and flinging the occasional barb.

I need to get back to my real world, where courtesy, wit, creative expression, and reason are more common than the irrational religious fervor that seems to rule Topix.

Besides -- trollie is picking on someone else, and I have no more wounds that can be inflicted.  I'm out. Eventually they'll return to picking on me, but for now, well, eh.

 

One thing that I keep seeing, over and over again, is literally giving me nightmares, though.

I love depth of background, conceptualized social settings, odd crap like that.  And what I'm seeing is that some 20+ years ago, margert atwood saw the religious right coming into power, and wrote a science fiction novel.

The Handmaid's Tale is what I see slowly beginning to rise. A subtle development of power and influence in an ecumenical way that seeks to create an effectve, controlled, theocratic society.

Since I'm also dealing with the loss of male privies, at the same time, I'm rather concerned on a deeply personal level.

Its placing me in a situation where I'm finding myself in an anti-christianist positon -- something I likely would be in any case, but that isn't particlularly appealing, given my background.

Dominionism scares the living shit out of me. Seriously.

From "religious tolerance. org":

Beliefs:

According to Gary DeMar, a popular Reconstructionist author, the foundation of Reconstructionism is a unique combination of three Biblical doctrines:

  1. Regeneration of the individual, through an intimate relationship with Christ
  2. Individuals guiding their lives closely by following a specified subset of Biblical laws
  3. Promoting of the world-wide Kingdom of God.

Specific beliefs include

A rejection of Antinomianism: the belief that salvation is obtained totally through faith and not through performing good works and living a moral life

Presuppositionalism: the acceptance on faith that the Bible is true. They do not attempt to prove  that God exists or that the Bible is true.

Inerrancy: the belief that the Bible, as originally written, is totally free of error.

Postmillennialism: the belief that Christ will not return to earth until much of the world has converted to Christianity. This will not take place for some considerable time; it will not be a painless transition. Most Fundamentalists and other Evangelists hold to a different view. They are Premillenialists and believe that all (or almost all) of the preconditions of Christ's return have been met. They expect Jesus' second coming to occur very soon.

The 613 laws contained in the Hebrew Scriptures' Mosaic Code can be divided into two classes: moral and ceremonial. Christians are not required to follow the ceremonial laws, because Jesus has liberated them from that responsibility. However, all persons must follow those moral laws which were not specifically modified or cancelled by further revelation --generally in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).

The moral laws given by God to the ancient Israelites reflect of God's character, which is unchangeable. Most of the laws are intended for all nations, cultures, societies, religions and all eras, including the present time. However, there are a few laws, in such areas as personal safety and sanitation, which are no longer applicable because of changes in architecture and sewage disposal. These do not need to be obeyed.

The primacy of the Hebrew Scriptures, relative to the Christian Scriptures (New Testament). All of the Hebrew Scriptures' non-ceremonial laws are still in force, unless they have been specifically rescinded or modified by verses in the Christian Scriptures. "Only if we find an explicit abandonment of an Old Testament law in the New Testament, because of the historic fulfillment of the Old Testament shadow, can we legitimately abandon a detail of the Mosaic law."

Civil laws must be changed to match the Bible's moral rules. That is, anything that is immoral (by their standards) is also to be criminalized.

The only valid legislation, social theory, spiritual beliefs, economic theory are those derived from the Bible

In every aspect of life, there are only two options: God-centered or man-centered; Theonomy or autonomy. Their political goal is to ban the latter, everywhere. Each individual, family, church, government and society must be reconstructed to eliminate sin. Each Christian has the responsibility to contribute to this conversion.

They oppose inter-faith, inter-racial, and same-sex marriages.

Reconstructionists regard the Gods and Goddesses of all other religions to be "the devil," and their teachings to be false. They would attempt to replace all religions with their version of Christianity.

Of course, there exists diversity of opinion within the Reconstructionist movement. Not all followers will necessarily agree with all the above statements of the movement's leaders

horizontal rule

Practices:

If they gained control of the US or Canadian federal government, there would be many changes:

The use of the death penalty would be greatly expanded, when the Hebrew Scriptures' laws are reapplied. People will be executed for adultery, blasphemy, heresy, homosexual behavior, idolatry, prostitution, evil sorcery (some translations say Witchcraft), etc. The Bible requires those found guilty of these "crimes" to be either stoned to death or burned alive. Reconstructionists are divided on the execution method to be used.

A church or congregation which does not accept the Mosaic Law has another god before them, and is thus guilty of idolatry. That would be punishable by death. That would include all non-Christian religious organizations. At the present time, non-Christians total two-thirds of the human race.

The status of women would be reduced to almost that of a slave as described in the Hebrew Scriptures. A woman would initially be considered the property of her father; after marriage, she would be considered the property of her husband.

It would be logical to assume that the institution of slavery would be reintroduced, and regulated according to Biblical laws. Fathers could sell their daughters into slavery. Female slaves would retain that status for life. Slave owners would be allowed to physically abuse them, as long as the slaves lived for at least a day before dying of the beating. 9

Polygyny and the keeping of concubines were permitted in the Old Testament. However, Reconstructionists generally believe in marriage between one man and one woman only. Any other sexual expression would be a capital crime. Those found guilty of engaging in same-sex, pre-marital or extra-marital sex would be executed.

The Old Testament "Jubilee Year" system would be celebrated once more. Every 50 years, the control of all land reverted to its original owners. In theory, this would require every part of North American land to be returned to the original Aboriginal owners (or perhaps to those persons of Aboriginal descent who are now Christians). Hawaii would be given back to the native Hawaiians.

Governments would all have balanced budgets.

Income taxes would be eliminated.

The prison system would be eliminated. A system of just restitution would be established for some crimes. The death penalty would be practiced for many other crimes. There would be little need for warehousing of convicted criminals.

Legal abortions would be banished; those found to be responsible for abortions would be charged with murder and executed.

Consider that for a bit.

Perhaps its time to seriously look at the nature of civil liberties.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You'll pardon me if I don't shed any tears over your loss of "male privies". :)

-Ash

.:dyssonance:. said...

Oh, absolutely, LOL.

Thank you for commenting, lol.

Someday I'll make a commentary on my perceptions of those privies -- I think they'll be rather unflattering, lol

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