The below was taken from ConspiracyArchive.com. I know from the title of the website that you’re probably thinking, sounds totally legit! Illegitimate websites don’t give citation. This one does. The Author is Alice Bailey (theosophy) and the rest of the citation information is listed after the quote.
“Once the key to Genesis is in our hands it is the scientific and symbolic Kabbala which unveils the secret. The Great Serpent of the Garden of Eden and the "Lord God" are identical ...
Stand in awe of him, and sin not, speak his name with trembling ... It is Satan who is the god of our planet and the only god ...
When the Church, therefore, curses Satan, it curses the cosmic reflection of God...
In this case it is but natural ... to view Satan, the Serpent of Genesis as the real creator and benefactor, the Father of Spiritual mankind.
For it is he who was the "Harbinger of Light," bright radiant Lucifer, who opened the eyes of automaton (Adam) created by Jehovah, as alleged; and he who was first to whisper, "In the day yea eat there of, ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil" -- can only be regarded in the light of a Saviour. An "adversary" to Jehovah ... he still remains in esoteric truth the ever loving "Messenger"... who conferred on us spiritual instead of physical immortality ...
Satan, or Lucifer, represents the active ... "Centrifugal Energy of the Universe" in a cosmic sense ... Fitly is he ... and his adherents ... consigned to the "sea of fire," because it is the Sun ... the fount of life in our system, where they are petrified ... and churned up to re-arrange them for another life; that Sun which, as the origin of the active principle of our Earth, is at once the Home and the Source of the Mundane Satan ..."
- The Secret Doctrine, Volume I, page 414, Vol II, pgs. 234, 235, 243, 245
Now do you see why the Lucis Trust was originally named “Lucifer Trust”? The NAM “flips the script” as they say. It turns the Devil into a positive figure. How so? It makes his work in the Garden of Eden a good thing. He brought us knowledge. Knowledge is always good. Nevermind that whole issue of the loss of experiential knowledge mankind had with God. The Fall forever damaged relationship between humanity and God. Not until the final resurrection will mankind finally be restored. Why did I drag in the Mormons into this? They believe also that the eating of the fruit was a good thing. Satan was sent for this purpose. Read the following from a prominent writer within Mormonism.
“The opportunity of winning the victor's reward by overcoming evil was explained to our parents, and they rejoiced. Adam said: 'Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.' Eve was glad and declared: 'Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient."
James Talmage - The Articles of Faith, p. 62 or this link.
Orthodox (from beginning) Christianity has condemned sin. Adam and Eve’s sin was our sin. It’s called “Original Sin.” There is a lot that could be said on Original Sin, but I’ll keep it short. Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve. It has permeated throughout history. It is the cause, in general, of sickness, evil both natural and moral, death, lack of understanding, etc (basically everything bad). All are born with this sinful nature, except Jesus. He avoided this (depending on which theological position you take) because of being born of the Spirit. Jesus, in a sense, was born like Adam without the overwhelming nature of sin. Both had a choice. Adam made the wrong one whereas Jesus made the right one (See Romans 5 for more on this Adam/Christ Parallel). You’re only chance of free choice (regarding sin) isn’t actually at birth but at the new birth. (This is the position of Augustine/Luther/Calvin that your free will was lost at the Fall). Even after re-birth, sin still plays a role (very much has been written on post-salvific sin, so I’m not getting in that debate). The bottom-line is this: sin is not to be celebrated. The NAM and Mormonism both do this. Mormonism sees it as a gaining of knowledge but forgets about the loss of relational knowledge. God became distant.
After posting this and re-reading it, I noticed a few more connections between the Alice Bailey quotes and Mormonism that I overlooked. Mormonism, pits Jesus and Satan as “spiritual brothers" (look under section titled “Devil, the”) of God the Father (aka to them Elohim). Go back and look at some of the quotes from Bailey. Alice Bailey uses "Elohim" and "Jehovah" rather than just saying God. Who else makes this divide? Mormons. They see "Elohim" as "God the Father" and "Jehovah" as Jesus of the Old Testament. So it is Jehovah who creates and his Adversary Satan brings in knowledge. They are partners in this world. Elohim is “God” in Hebrew, and Jehovah is the revealed “name” of God which is rendered as LORD in English. I put quotes around “name” because “Jehovah” isn’t really a name. It means “I am that I am” or “I am” or “To Be.” There is no other true God so God doesn’t need a name so that we can know which “god” we’re talking about. Humans need names so that we can know who is who. God is the only God. (Just my interpretation of the whole “I AM” situation.) Anyway, the point is that I’ve found more connections between theosophy and Mormonism.
Look at this Alice Bailey quote again:
"For it is he who was the "Harbinger of Light," bright radiant Lucifer, who opened the eyes of automaton (Adam) created by Jehovah, as alleged; and he who was first to whisper, "In the day yea eat there of, ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil" -- can only be regarded in the light of a Saviour. An "adversary" to Jehovah ... he still remains in esoteric truth the ever loving "Messenger"... who conferred on us spiritual instead of physical immortality ..."
Mormonism teaches that Jesus and Satan both offered God Elohim a plan for salvation. Mormons teach that Jesus' plan was accepted and Satan was angry and jealous. The Fall is salvific. It is not Jesus' plan but Satan's! Satan's plan of salvation is celebrated by the NAM and Mormons! Satan is as Alice Bailey puts it, "...the ever loving 'Messenger'...." This connection is nearly unbelievable.
A note to any Mormon who reads this:
I do not wish to offend you, but I realize that the above will. However, I can only say what I believe to be true. To me, Christianity needed nothing "added" like the Book of Mormon or Mormonism in general. Judaism was different because it was always looking for the Messiah. The Messiah came in Christ, and he fulfilled Judaism in himself. He is it. There is no need for anything or anyone else. Mormonism isn't a "Reformation." It is a different religion. The Protestant Reformation, as John Calvin argues, was a Resotoration of the Apostolic Church. It tried to get back to biblical theology rather than 1,500 years of additives, councils, proclamations, and "infallible" popes who disagreed with the "infallible" pope before them.
You're skewing Mormon thought on the Fall a bit. Mormons see the Fall as a "good thing" in that it was necessary as a part of God's plan. We're here to gain a body, to choose between good and evil, and to figure our way back to God. God placed Adam and Eve on the earth in similar conditions to God's own - a place where there was no death, no evil.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, in the absence of these things, there is no potential for learning and growth. Satan, seeking to frustrate the plans of God, came to tempt Adam and Eve, and by doing so allowed sin into the world. Satan thought he was frustrating God. In reality, he was playing right into God's hands. God - being perfect - couldn't bring sin into the world Himself, but he allowed the conditions for man to choose to bring sin in. Satan was suckered.
That's why Talmage rejoices in the Fall- not because Mormons are in league with the Devil, but because Mormons view the Fall as necessary for human progress. Talmage's view is understandable only when you have a firmer grasp on Mormon doctrine.
I get that Mormons don't believe Satan is good or that sin is good. I get that they're focusing on the positive from The Fall. (I'm implying that there doctrine is more in line with the NAM than orthodox Christianity.) They focus of the positive of the Fall rather than the huge significance of the negative effects of the Fall. Basically, the bad outways the good. There seems to be no mention or little mention of the loss. The loss is of relational knowledge of God.
ReplyDeleteYou spoke of 3 issues: 1) The "gaining a body" isn't a relevant enough topic to debate, so I'll leave that alone. 2) Our foremost purpose is to worship God, but I get what you're saying. 3) I don't know what "figure our way back to God" means. I can't find my way back by being good or bad. Jesus is my way. Faith in the effictiveness of his work is my way.
What you're essentially saying is that God couldn't bring sin (philosophically) so he suckered the devil into bringing it and then rejoiced that it was here. (God does not rejoice in sin). Ha Ha, I tricked Satan into doing my will. Therefore, it is God's will for man to sin. This is what you're logic/theology leads to.
Sin does lead to progress. But realize that this is anachronistic. There was no need for progress before the Fall. It was after the fall that we needed to morally progress to get back to Original Perfection. Do you see how "human progress" then was un-necessary?
For a very long time I held back making a decision on how I felt about Mormons (Mainly because of Glenn Beck). However, I've finally made my choice. It doesn't really matter though because I'm not God, nor will I ever be (double entendre anyone?).
All of the following "judgments" are made based on orthodox Christianity:
1. As far as I know, Mormons teach "triad" regarding the Trinity, which is heresy.
2. As far as I know, Mormons teache that God was a man on another planet. Heresy.
3. That God was birthed. Heresy.
4. God is married to a Goddess. Heresy.
5. God the Father has flesh. Heresy.
6. Jesus is the Spirit Brother of Lucifer. Heresy.
7. Teaches a difference between the Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost (not just a difference in translation).
8. The Book of Mormon is necessary. Heresy.
9. Salvation is about obedience. Heresy. (debatable, I realize)
10. Distinction between Elohim and Jehovah. Heresy.
11. That the ones who died before Jesus came need to be nominally baptized despite being dead.
12. That Jesus isn't enough and we need the revelation of Joseph Smith. Heresy.
Interesting stuff, Chad.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm not mistaken, wasn't Joseph Smith a Freemason? Somewhere along the way, I seem to recall that his Masonic affiliation is what started him down the road to apostasy, got him kicked out of his church in Ohio, and then he conjured up the Angel Moroni.
If that is accurate, it is possible that the Masonry is the connection between Mormonism and Theosophy. If you read Blavatsky's "The Secret Doctrine", she clearly makes the case that the "Custodians of the Plan" intended to use the Masonic Lodge as a conduit for occultism. It may be that Joseph Smith simply imported it and adapted it for his own purposes in the Mormon Church, OR the "angel Moroni" influenced him to that end.
Just a thought.