SO, YOU THINK YOU HAVEN’T BEEN BRAINWASHED? HA!
Thursday, May 1, 2014 17:44
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Some thirty or forty years ago, when I still considered myself a Bible-believing Christian—ugly self-serving words they are—I often heard Christian evangelical preachers rail against the ‘dangers of the cults.’ ‘Beware of the cults, the occult, and all that,’ was their rallying call. Actually, these preachers did me a great service. They protested so much, and so loudly, against these so-called cults that they aroused an interest and a curiosity in me to learn more about them.
True, there have been some evil and truly dangerous cults along the way. I think of Jim Jones, his so-called Peoples Temple, and the Jonestown Massacre [pictured left] … and I think of many others, some just plain wacky, some mere money-making shams, others more sinister in nature and effect, some of which are still active today, one of which I’m too scared to mention by name in this post lest I be sued. Say no more.
The thing is, nearly all of us have been the victim of cults of one sort or another. Now, let’s get down to basics. What is a ‘cult’? The word cult, from the Latin word cultus, refers to a faith-based community of likeminded people who come together on a regular basis to worship; more specifically, the word refers to the specific form of worship, together with the body of beliefs and related practices, of a particular sect. (Note. The word ‘sect,’ like the word ‘cult,’ is very much a pejorative word, but every religious organization or group is a ‘sect’ in the eyes of the law, even if the word more rightly refers to some subgroup or offshoot of a larger organization or group. With its own different set of rules, doctrines, and principles.)
Now, a cult, in the religious sense, is simply a system of religious beliefs that replaces one’s own beliefs with its own, and gives legitimacy—sometimes blatantly, and sometimes quite subtly—only to its own teachings, such that, if a person cannot or does not conform, they are excluded whether by formal excommunication, censure, or other means. More often than not, a cult gives the impress of finality, if not infallibility, to any one or more of the following—its founder, its current leader(s), and its so-called holy book(s). Get the idea? The Roman Catholic Church is the largest single cult in the world today.
Let’s say you were reared a Baptist, or a Roman Catholic, or an Orthodox Jew … or perhaps a Buddhist of one sort of another. Well, you were part of a cult, and you were subjected to brainwashing of one sort or another. Yes, the conditioning—the beliefs and values inculcated into you—was nothing less than brainwashing, and it’s rather ironic that the religious groups doing the most brainwashing are almost invariably the ones screaming the loudest against the dangers of brainwashing.
When I was a Baptist, I was taught that only certain people—those Bible-believing Christians who held similar beliefs to those inculcated into me—would go to heaven. There was little or no hope for the vast bulk of humanity, including people such as Roman Catholics and other non-evangelical ‘Christians.’ (The people with whom I worshipped did not consider those so-called Christians to be Christians at all. Roman Catholics, in particular, taught a ‘false gospel.’ Get the pciture?) One of my Baptist ministers—actually the one who married (i.e. was the officiant minister) my wife and I way back in 1980—would often say, ‘God has spoken His final word in Jesus Christ,’ and ‘If Christianity is right, all other religions are wrong.’ (I have attacked the silliness of those sorts of statements elsewhere.) In sermon after sermon I was taught—yes, brainwashed—a very narrow and exclusivist system of Biblical exegesis and doctrine. Indeed, the doctrinal system was an unwarranted imposition upon sacred scripture of a rigid ideology, an artificial construct which was never part of the original teachings of the religion or its founder. No wonder these sorts of religious organizations turn so many people into atheists.
Now, if you think I’m being too hard on the Baptists I could tell you stories—some firsthand on my part—of some of the other religious organizations mentioned above. The stories would be very similar in key respects.
Yes, most of us have been brainwashed, if not by religious organizations then by political ones, our families, our educational institutions, and so on. We stopped thinking for ourselves, and were taught to think one way only.
Today, I am in the un-brainwashing business. My ‘message’ (a horrible word) is simple. Life (Truth, Reality, God) just is. It—whatever ‘it’ may be—unfolds unceasingly from one moment to the next, and if you want to ‘know’ and ‘understand’ you must throw away all your beliefs (yes, all of them) and simply look, see, observe, and examine. Put no barriers, and allow none to be erected, between you and your direct, immediate and unmediated moment-to-moment experience of Life as it unfolds. Now, you may say, ‘Ellis-Jones, isn’t that—what you’ve just described—some belief of yours?’ I say, ‘No, not at all. I am simply describing and experiencing what is—as it unfolds. I offer no judgment, interpretation, or analysis of what is. I let ‘it’ speak for itself. Such is the nature of Truth. It is not a matter of opinion.’
I am happy today. I have thrown away all of the beliefs I once held or thought I held. I have no illusions, and no delusions so far as I am aware, and I reject all so-called ‘methods’ and ‘techniques’, and ‘paths’ and ‘ways’ to Truth. There is no ‘way’ to Truth. Why should there be? A ‘path’ or ‘way’ implies a distance, a separation, between us and Truth, and that simply isn’t the case. No person—god, demi-god, saint, ‘holy one,’ guru, or teacher—is Truth or is the ‘way’ to Truth … despite what you have read or been taught by others in positions of so-called authority. Now, please don’t think I am a nihilist—far from it. I hold and affirm certain convictions and values, but all of them derive directly and objectively from Life itself, and from an ongoing experience of Life. The convictions and values are ‘things’ I have come to know and understand. They are not articles of faith or belief. Not at all.
I want you to think about just how much brainwashing to which you have been exposed in your lifetime. I’m sure it’s much more extensive than you might have first thought to be the case.
Happy un-brainwashing, each and every one of you!
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Source: http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2014/05/so-you-think-you-havent-been.html
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After reading this nonsense I see what the problem is in America, your all mentally retarded.
I am happy to report that I have the good sense not to live, or want to live, in the United States of America. Sorry that you apparently do.
There’s something fundamentally wrong with evangelism in the US. Seems to me as if it’s centered on the belief of heaven vs. hell, which is a relatively minor subject in the Gospels. It sounds a lot like the teachings of the Quran, where the idea of impending reward and punishment is constantly reiterated to motivate belief. I think most Christians would rather feel safe within a man-made church institution, than face the social and spiritual critique that comes with living the lifestyle habits Jesus commanded his disciples.
This is why I encourage people: Find the truth, not a team. Truth is supported by facts and it doesn’t allow for gaps in logic. If you believe there is an all-knowing, all-powerful deity out there somewhere, that’s fine; but let that belief be sincere and not forced.
I couldn’t agree with you more, FusedNail. BTW, I don’t live in America … and am very happy about that.