By Kelly O'Connell ——Bio and Archives--April 23, 2012
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Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.Here we see God referring to Himself in both the singular and plural, and also as having male and female aspects. This offers a true complex godhead. 2. Trinity: Jesus, Father & Spirit Later, in the New Testament the authors reveal a God of three persons in many passages. For example, John 1:1 states about Jesus:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.Later in the same chapter (John 1:18) the writer says:
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.In both verses Christ is portrayed as the Word (Logos) Jesus and God Jesus, the Only Begotten. Jesus earlier had promised his followers to send the personal Holy Spirit when he left in John 14: 16-17.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth.
Simple solutions to the one and the many sacrifice the diversity and individuality of the many for an imposed and tyrannical unity of the one, or sacrifice the unity (family, nation, business, club, or church) for the sake of the pluralism and diversity of the many.Allison describes how the image of God one chooses, or His utter rejection, massively impacts society, directly shaping the related image of humans in tribe, city and nation. For example, if mankind is created in God's image, then one can claim rights reflecting this connection. Specifically, the Bible and Ten Commandments offer an argument humans have a right not to be murdered. For instance, in Genesis 9:6 it states as part of Yaweh's covenant with Noah:
Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God as God made mankind.When the biblical Trinity God is rejected, chaos ensues. For example, consider the 100+ million souls murdered in communist nations, innocent of any specific crime. Who was the "God" in these officially atheistic societies? Ultimately, just a human leader, such as Stalin, Lenin or Mao. We witnessed the massive cults portraying these leaders as super efficient, imbued with divine insights, and error-free. Christian theologians claim the trinity offers a nuanced description of the universe, an example for democracy. The Three take counsel with Each Other, doing all things according to Divine Law. So trinitarian societies opened the door for human creativity, innovation and liberty. An application of the one/many trinity construct is federalism, a Hebrew innovation, recognizing the many and one within a political context, making more of each than either could on its own. Such is the history of covenant theology and political theory.
Whoever knows the Old and New Testaments, and then reads the Koran, clearly sees the process by which it completely reduces Divine Revelation. It is impossible not to note the movement away from what God said about Himself, first in the Old Testament through the Prophets, and then finally in the New Testament through His Son. In Islam all the richness of God's self-revelation, which constitutes the heritage of the Old and New Testaments, has definitely been set aside.
The heights of culture actually attained were reached in spite of the restraints of Islam rather than through encouragement given by it. The religion of Mohammed, founded in opposition to liberal learning, never ceased to oppose that learning. Science made headway against a religious fanaticism which manifested itself in the destruction of libraries, the burning of condemned books, the persecution of philosophers. Imprisonment, banishment, popular violence, threats of house-burning, fears of death,--to these were men exposed who cultivated the ancient learning under the rule of princes, who, actuated either by their own prejudices or by the desire of popular favor, used their influence in the interest of religious intolerance.But, if true -- Why would this be?
It has often been said that Islamic law represents the core and kernel of Islam itself and, certainly, religious law is incomparably more important in the religion of Islam than theology.The preceding attests to the lack of the concept of liberty, freedom or human rights in Islam. One's liberties are tied to one's acceptance of Allah. But even for Muslims, human or civil rights are a fiction. Such notions were never contemplated in the Quran. The God of Islam is both unknowable and utterly separate from mankind, by design. Therefore, the worst sin is shirk, associating anything created with Allah. And since human freedom itself is opposed by the unknowable Allah, everything in Islam resists liberty.
For ethics or morality, the fundamental point for a Marxist is that there is no such thing as an absolute Right and Wrong, being relative for a Marxist. A thing wrong at one time, and in one set of circumstances, will be right in another. It is therefore simply not possible to settle an argument with them by reference to ethical principles--by saying, for instance, that the consequence of a particular policy would be murder, and you cannot commit murder. From a Marxist standpoint, you can--in certain circumstances.So modern leftism is characterized by a mono-maniacal view of power, rights, and authority. But where does this spirit of absolutist religion come from? We must trace the instinct for totalitarian religious humanism to a 12th century Italian monk named Joachim of Flora who created a humanistic interpretation of the Bible and history that socialism adapted as a template. This is why socialism and Marxism have a highly religious flavor.
Full social equality calling for dissolution of the individual in the community. As social & economic inequalities derive primarily from inequalities of possession, communism desires abolition of private property.As the individual dissolves into the community, his or her individual rights vanish. So no rights of free press or speech existed in communist nations. No dissent was tolerated. Most pointedly, religion was illegal in communist countries, as described by Rev. Richard Wurmbrand in Tortured For Christ. Communism proposes a total theory of life so no outside ideas are even theoretically acceptable. There existed no public forum for the discussion of dissenting opinions.
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Kelly O’Connell is an author and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Galway, Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He has also been employed as a university Speech & Debate professor. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico.