You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town.
You better watch out, you better not sin, you better not doubt, he’ll set fire to your skin. Jesus Christ is coming to end the world.
In America and in some other countries, when some parents want their children to behave the way they want and it’s near Christmas time, they tell them a small lie about a man the children will never see (except in parades and department stores) who when he comes will either give the children presents or leave them a lump of coal depending on whether they do as the parents say.
For centuries and centuries Christian leaders have either intentionally or unintentionally been manipulating their followers and potential followers this same way by threatening them that if they don’t believe in a being they can’t see Jesus will drop them in a lake of fire when he comes. And of course the Christian leaders for centuries have been perpetually saying “Watch out! his coming is just around the corner.” They always have and always will because a Christ that comes back in 10 or 20 years or more is not a strong motivator.
Hi Capella,
I do have a little quibble with you this time. It’s not so much that one is punished for not believing: one is punished for not conforming. Your very Santa example is about conformity.
You see, the Bible prescribes a social hierarchy, from the lowliest of the low, to the highest: children must conform to their parents and slaves to their masters, women to their men, and everybody to a prophet/king/leader, who -just so happens- was hired by god and speaks for him/her/it/them.
This is the meaning behind the coronation ceremonies in Europe, from the Middle Ages on. A religious authority figure invests the king/emperor with divine authority over their subjects: thus, the Absolute Monarchy. Absolutist monarchs did not have to obey the laws: they made the laws. Their only duty was towards god, and -in theory- towards the religious figure investing them with divine authority. The symbolism is clear: the crown reflects god’s authority; the monarch kneels before the celebrant, to receive the crown.
As a side note, the same hierarchy was re created during the Middle Ages in heaven itself, with angels, archangels, cherubs and all. And the Catholics (Eastern and Western) added yet a further similar hierarchy among their saints.
The story (some say dubious) that Napoleon took the crown from Pope Pius VII’s hands and crowned himself created a scandal because it meant that Napoleon disrespected the Pope and had no divine authority, whatsoever.
In Europe, for instance, this belief that civil authority comes from god survived until Francisco Franco’s death (early 1970s). Franco was the last Fascist dictator in Europe and one of Hitler’s pals. His title was “caudillo por la gracia de dios”: leader/boss by god’s grace.
Cheers
Marco
Excellent points Marco and I agree 100%. These hierarchies are also seen in the animal kingdom in chimpanzees for example (along with the waging of war on one’s neighbors).
I think that the Santa and Jesus motifs however have to have belief as a prerequisite because of the non-existence (invisibility) of the two.
Can’t manipulate one’s followers unless they can be convinced of the nasty things to come from an invisible being they can’t see. But first they must be convinced of the invisible being’s existence.
As in the Santa motif, believers are also swayed by the positive things to come (heaven, presents) if they conform and by the psychological aspects, i.e. parental approval.
“As in the Santa motif, believers are also swayed by the positive things to come (heaven, presents) if they conform and by the psychological aspects, i.e. parental approval.”
Matie, that’s a classical application of the carrot and the stick principle. Now on a supernatural plane.
No wonder the modern-day would-be Caudillos want to impose the same thing this time over.
“As in the Santa motif, believers are also swayed by the positive things to come (heaven, presents) if they conform and by the psychological aspects, i.e. parental approval.”
Matie, that’s a classical application of the carrot and the stick principle. Now on a supernatural plane.
No wonder the modern-day would-be Caudillos want to impose the same thing this time over.
I was watching a documentary on Christianity today and it showed a bunch of those paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries that depict people suffering in hell. Since illiteracy was so wide-spread at that time, paintings were used to drive home the point, be a Christian or burn in hell forever. It was no less than mental terrorism, IMO.
Amazing!
To put it quite simply; Knowledge and wisdom are the subjects to the nobility of truth, so if thy have a boastful tongue let it be that which rest upon thy head the Crown of Truth.
So if the Bible is the word of God and God can create Heaven and Earth then why didn’t God just create the Bible?
It is not man who was created in the image of God, but rather God was created in the imagination of man.
What use would such an omnipotent being have for the written word, anyway? What happens when you remove the book and its construct of the god figure?
If this thing is so powerful, then you wouldn’t need a collection of ancient texts for us to make sense of it. You would be able to feel it and to explain it (because he made us with that ability) just because it exists. Seems to me, anyway.
Man made God, not the other way around. Get over it…