Socrates, Jesus, & MLK

Social Martyrs of History – Socrates, Jesus, & MLK 

Remembering Leaders Who Risked Their Lives for Civil Rights

 

For all the famous leaders there are countless common martyrs who sacrificed their health and well being for the sake of others and the pursuit of virtuous truth. In remembering the lives of great figures we know about, we can also reflect on their human flaws or imperfect traits.

The main three figures I want to talk about are Socrates Jesus and Martin Luther King Junior. The stories of Socrates, Jesus, and MLK (Martin Luther King Jr.) will always be relevant so long as there is an ambitious and hungry military, supported by plutocrats and a population that mocks peace and philosophy. Their stories are very similar, except that MLK wanted to actually have political change. They were despised by those in power for raising too many questions, and they were put to death for their influence. I will also mention Simon Bolivar and Martin Luther of the Protestant Reformation in reference to the topics, although they were not put to death by authorities. These are figures which were influential obviously in the annals of history, but more importantly they were people who questioned civilization. They bothered society as social gadflies. Simon Bolivar was more of a political-military leader and I don’t really know his biography so I’m not going to talk much about him; but he is largely unknown in North America although a local town is named for him.

Socrates (circa 400 BC) was a veteran and a retired stone-mason, who taught young men of Athens philosophy for free (unlike the Sophists who charged to teach legal rhetoric). Socrates was such a public nuisance about asking questions, that he was written into theater comedy plays as a ‘clownish fool’. Religion, plays, and politics were all wrapped up in each other as democracy allows; although with the growth of population these extensions became more specialized fields over time. Cultural systems were blended as they are now actually; but we tend to want to try to keep social functions separate. We might say “I don’t want to talk about politics”, but meanwhile our money is spent to kill people; and issues in politics, religion, and entertainment cross-over. However even back in ancient Athens people would say “Why are you asking me these stupid questions? I’ve got business to do, excuse me, but get away.” Socrates would insist on asking people what they knew about their business, life in general, and whether that applied to politics.

Socrates was getting people thinking, and the plutocratic military establishment did not appreciate it. Their industrial complex may not have been like factories with our modern mechanized technology; but there were workshops making weapons and leaders of armies who wanted to boss soldiers around, conquer other people, and get rich as an official leader. Athens had been at war with its neighbors, and had seen massive defeats. Ironically during a period that had despotism and imperialism, it was their democracy that put Socrates to death (see Plato’s writings).

One of the perennial problems of democracy is that it gets tricked by the oligarchy into voting against worker interests, to favor conservative benefits for the few. There will always be some people that want to hurt and bully others to extract resources and wealth from them, and selfishly take it as their personal property. War culture is part of male patriarchy for sure, and the ethics of that ‘might is right’ domination is now being questioned more than ever before by progressives. It took a long time for women to have civil rights in civilization. It took thousands of years for large countries to grant women the same power and influence that men were legally allowed. I am not sure why it took so long to recognize women as adults officially in public, they say it has to do with babies, muscles, and testosterone but this is not an essay on gender issues. My point is that many of us hope that democratic society is slowly becoming more compassionate every century, with a few massive steps back in some ways, some decades.

The problems of society were addressed by Socrates, Jesus, and MLK; and they were punished as enemies of the state. Socrates, Jesus, and MLK may have been peaceful, but they also threatened the establishment by wanting individuals to ask questions within the society. Philosophical questions threaten authoritarian control. Socrates bothering people in the market was stirring up the pot and getting people wondering “What is best? What do I know? What can I know?” We want to usually have will-power and self-esteem and confidence. We want to know that we have answers to problems. It was frightening for Greeks to think that they might not actually know how best to vote. They did not want to be blamed when they invaded somebody else; even when they got their asses handed to them and their soldiers maimed, crippled, and killed. Their most important leaders had told them that war was justified, so it must have been right; right? Who was this old foolish man to harass them with questions? So they put him on trial and sentenced him to death. 

Later Jesus came along from Galilee, Israel. So Jesus was Jewish, but he was questioning the laws defended by conservative Pharisees, Sadducees, King Herod, and of course the Imperial Roman overlords. These popular stories of Jesus are perhaps the most common myths in society today, although no remaining period records noticed him while he was alive. We certainly have Jesus around us almost every day, with churches on every road. We are constantly reminded of Jesus probably more than the other figures, but yet if we go into a church and ask Christians what it means to be Christian, it is really hard for them to answer.

Most Christians do not give up their wealth and follow the holy spirit. Jesus never said we should go to Church and worship him, instead his example was to live communally with friends and practice religious compassion. Modern Christians want their property and their capitalist profit; that’s how most of us live our lives. Most Christians would not ‘turn over tables’ even in metaphoric churches, because Fox News and other corporate media conditions them in their homes as consumers. Commercial propaganda keeps people silent about politicians who keep spending our money on weapons and taking us to war. What would Jesus do? Would Jesus spend more on the military than all other countries? I don’t think conservatives have asked that question enough; if they want to spend so liberally on authoritarian budgets, they are not progressive on social issues like Jesus was. My New Testament understanding of Jesus is that he was profoundly anti-establishment in mostly passive ways. Now yes he did proclaim (according to the Bible) that he was the ‘son of God’, but he also said that we are all the ‘children of God’. Jesus also didn’t put much stock into earthly class systems or elite nobility. Our ability to love each-other was most important to him, which meant loving our enemies as well as our neighbors, as well as our family, as well as ourselves.

The Emperor of Rome (coincidentally also son of a god) would have considered accounts of early christians much like how Nixon reacted to hippies, but with less interest or subtlety. The Kent State shooting and the MK-Ultra project were sensitive compared to the more formal crucifixions and arena events; although I expect there were many undocumented tactics used unofficially in the streets by Roman soldiers too. Sharing wealth of property and goods was crucial for Jesus and gang, in between healing the poor and not chasing profit. Authorities mocked that hippy rebel and his proclamations of peace and love as the king of the Jews, with the crown of thorns on his head and the procession of pain carrying the cross.

His lessons were about helping those less fortunate, rather than giving wealth to the rich who ‘earned it’. Ask the Jesus in your heart “who deserves help the most; those greedy hoarding wealth already, or those who could use some and will spend it?” Collective compassion flies in the face of corporate assholes like Trump and those who want to be selfishly ignorant because “god damn it we don’t give a f@ck.” Everyone knows that making martyrs who people later worship defeats the purpose of killing them; but cultural ignorance is perennial even among elites. Reflecting on past mistakes is weird while still doing them. We might feel it was stupid and cruel that those people in the past killed Socrates, Jesus, and MLK; and we’ve come such a long way like when the FBI says MLK was such a great guy historically, although we know their boss wrote that death threat to MLK and probably had him assassinated (if it wasn’t some other covert militant agency that most don’t hear about because they redact most of their official public documents when they actually do release information).

• to be continued…

 

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Muslim Islam, Arabic Abrahamic

Islam means “whole peace” and refers to the religion of Muslims. A Muslim is “one who submits to Allah”. Allāh (God) has no gender in Arabic. Most Muslims are of two denominations, Sunni (majority) or Shia (minority). Islam’s strict patriarchal monotheism is called tawhid. Like Christianity, Islam began as a small radical Abrahamic sect that worshiped another male prophet as the Messiah. Islam is like Judaism Part Three, because they accept Jesus, and added another main savior prophet of their own. Like the previous two Abrahamic religions, Islam is from the deserts of the Middle-East. The Quran (Muslim Bible) is the verbatim word of Allah, as revealed to prophet Muhammad through the arch-angel Gabriel. Muhammad is their final prophet.

The cult of Islam began with Muhammad (Ahmad) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia (600 AD). Ahmad was considered by Arabs to be another prophet in the Hebrew tradition that began with Adam of Eden. Although Abrahamic prophets preach to the times of their audience, they all agree on the Ten Commandments of Moses in respect to Sin, Armageddon, and the Resurrection Apocalypse. Ahmad unified Arabia under Abrahamic Islam.

Ahmad was a religious, political, and military leader who was adopted as an orphan by a wealthy merchant tribe. As an adult, Ahmad married, but would often spend time at a mountain cave in the country. By 40 Ahmad was was having severe mystical experiences, proclaiming that “Allah is One”, and that everyone should completely surrender to Him. Soon the arch-angel Gabriel appeared and commanded Muhammad to recite verses. Ahmad was also deeply distressed and resolved to commit suicide, partly because of claims he was possessed by demonic djinn. To him it was clear he was Divinely inspired because he was hearing bells, angelic voices, seeing visions, having seizures, fevers, and fits of madness reciting prophetic proclamations of reward and punishment according to Allah. Ahmad may have had some “Satanic Verses” advocating the worship of three Meccan Goddess Daughters of Allah (Crane Story), but ended up condemning Pagan polytheism. Most Meccan tribes ignored, mocked, and threatened Ahmad and his cult. Some of his martyr followers were killed. Ahmad and his cult fled to Medina, where he slowly grew the membership to 10,000, and in eight years unified the tribes and conquered Mecca.

The name Muhammad (Praiseworthy) occurs in the Quran, but usually by other vague prophet titles (announcer, light-bringer, witness, messenger). Muslims should not distinguish between prophets in the Quran, and are to believe in them all. The Dome of the Rock is the symbolic spot from which Muhammad ascended to heaven. However Ahmad died from his feverish fits at the age of 63, in the house of his wife Aisha. Ahmad was buried where he died, in Medina.

Jinn (djinn or genies) are elemental spirits from native Arabic theology who inhabit natural hiding places.

Jesus (Isa) is the messiah prophet sent specifically to the Children of Israel, but was not crucified on the cross (an illusion), and he will come back to aid Mahdi, and fight the Islamic Anti-Christ (Masih ad-Dajjal) during Armageddon. Finally Jesus will unify Islam and dispel the false religions (including Christianity and Judaism). After 40 days of war, Jesus will destroy the Anti-Christ. All humanity will be judged on their goodness (faith) and bad deeds (sins), but might be forgiven by Allah if they repent.

Five Pillars (Practices): Shahadah, Salat (daily prayers), Sawm (fasting) , Zakat (giving), and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca).

The Shahadah (declaration of faith) is a public promise :

“I testify that there is no god except for Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger.”

Monotheist immortal spirits in Islam: God, Jesus, Muhammad, angels, jinn, prophets, kings, faithful, sinners

* my favorite Muslim is Nasir the Saracen

Christianity

Christianity began as a small radical Jewish sect that worshiped the prophet Jesus as the Son of God. The secretive cult of Christianity grew as a religious passive-resistance movement within the Pagan Roman Empire. Among many other messiah prophets, Jesus (0-32 AD) was claimed to be the Christ Messiah mentioned in Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament), and brought a New Testament by supposedly identifying himself as the loving Son of God the Father. His main messages were to give away or share most of your possessions, live in humble communes, worship only God, love all, and give your money to the government (Caesar unto Caesar). Like other political-religious rebel leaders, he was crucified by the Romans; but his followers were fanatical, and they created quite a story around him, even after he was dead. The main books of the New Testament were written by disciples of apostles: Paul (60 AD letters – never met Jesus), Mark (70 AD gospel- not an apostle, but was disciple of Peter), Matthew (85 AD gospel- actual apostle’s disciples), Luke (90 AD gospel- not an apostle, but friend of Paul), John (100 AD gospel- claims to be son of Zebedee but would have been about 100). Some missing gospels are included towards the end of this summary.*

The story and parables of Jesus were dictated by apostles, to their disciples, and proselytized until there was a cult following. The most influential apostle was a critical convert named Paul, even though he never met Jesus when he was alive. Peter was closest to Jesus, but the apostles that knew Jesus did not have books recorded until generations after Jesus died. This gap gave them time to get their stories straight, and get more fans. Some of the apostles wanted others to believe that Jesus was the physical incarnation of God. The Holy Spirit of God works with God (the only true god), who was the Father of Jesus Christ, and this forms the Divine Trinity. If you did not believe the New Testament, they wanted to make it clear that you would go to Hell and burn forever. Salvation for your sins was now only possible through Christian prayer, under the direction of Church Basilica leaders.

The cult of Christ made it big when Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. In the Dark Ages the Roman Church doctrines were made to centralize authority. Apostles’ Creed: (200 AD) The mandatory paradoxical literal belief in selected testaments, primarily the Trinity, the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, the divine authority of the holy Church, Christ’s second coming, Day of Judgment and Salvation of the faithful. Even worship of saints. Nicene Creed: (400 AD) wanted to emphasize some additional points: Jesus was born from Virgin Mary, and only one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. King Charlemagne was one of the first on record to kill in the name of Christ. By the Middle-Ages the Church, its priests, and nobles became the judges of sin, and were well on their way to murdering millions in the name of Christ. The Crusades, the Inquisition, mission conversion, the burning times, the hanging times, and Manifest Destiny all became important parts of the Christian legacy.

The three largest worldwide systems of Christianity are the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Protestant denominations. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox split during the East–West Schism of 1054 AD. The Protestant Reformation, led by Martin Luther, split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. Christianity continues to evolve and remain popular, as it struggles to adapt to modern times. New Age ethics, scientific discoveries, and technologies challenge the existence of religions with stagnant traditional moral doctrines; and despite Christianity being one of the newer religions, even it has as hard a time seeing the writing on the walls as any of the older religions sometimes.

Christian Biblical Commandments

The Greatest Commandment for Christians is the Golden Rule, it is referenced by Jesus in the New Testament several times:

“Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” – Leviticus 19:18 Torah

Jesus was saying that to Love God is to love your neighbor. In a way the Golden Rule sums up the 10 Commandments:

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you; for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 7:12

In fact Jesus expanded the definition of neighbor to mean all of humanity, even your enemy. Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, making it clear that “your neighbor” means any other person. It is important to note that Samaritans were despised by the story’s target audience, the Jews. The Samaritans were also largely taught to hate Jews. Thus the parable, as told originally, had a significant theme of non-discrimination and interracial harmony.

“Love Your Enemies. If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also. And if anyone takes your coat, don’t hold back your shirt. Give to everyone who asks from you, and takes away your things; don’t ask for them back. Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.” – Luke 6:27

Although Christianity introduced more peaceful teachings than those in the Old Testament, God became a triple god (son-youth, father-adulthood, ghost-death), and added more about Satan, which created even more of schizophrenic dualism. In Christianity Jesus was good, and evil was blamed on the Devil Satan. God continues to allow both good and evil to happen to humans, because of the free-will and sin that he created.

The Book of Revelation (John of Patmos) is an apocalyptic description of a complex series of prophetic events, divined from psychedelic visions. Armageddon, the Four Horsemen, and 340 other apocalyptic metaphors come from 24 books of the Tenak. For example the Beast combines body traits from four beasts mentioned in Daniel 7. John was obsessed with the number 7: 7 churches, 7 spirits, 7 horns, 7 eyes, 7 seals, 7 trumpet blasts…

“To our knowledge Jesus left no written records. … Whatever else the gospels are, they are certainly not the writings of Jesus. It is equally clear that the gospels are not the result of Jesus’ dictation found in the written notes from his disciples.” – Spong, Sins of Scripture

* There were many gospels by other disciples that were omitted for political reasons within the early Church. Many of the rejected gospels contradict the Peter, Paul, and Matthew conspired versions, but were discredited by using slander (as was common practice). The fact that the accepted gospels are similar about the same key points, does not mean that those points are at all historical, in fact the only thing it actually means is that they were pushing a religious-political agenda that they agreed upon, whether it was true or not. It is these other period texts that ask us to rethink the basis for Church authority.

The West Bank Essene Dead Sea Scrolls and other Gnostic Gospels are perhaps more valid than the Bible for understanding the real Jesus. The earliest Gospels of Thomas and Mary show that some apostles did not consider Jesus to be Son of God, they did not witness miracles or resurrection, and they introduce the profound revelation that salvation was an inner spiritual journey. Bishop Marcion rejected the Old Testament God as an inferior deity (circa 150 AD). The later Gospels of Mani (Manichaeism) influenced Christianity, but have since been largely forgotten, labeled heresy, and even considered Satanic.

Satanism – Devil Worship

Originally Satan was the Jewish word for an adversary, so satan was used to refer to any accusers that challenge the heroes in the Torah (God, Eve, Job). Ha-Satan was an arch-angel of the Angelic Council, “Sons of God” who, by the time of Jesus and the Essenes, had been revealed as Lucifer (Morning Star). Lucifer Satan fell from God’s grace, and was condemned to rule over Hell as a devil with god-like powers. Pagan gods were branded as the image of Satan, but ironically Satanism is a product of Christianity. In fact most depictions of Satanism come directly from Christian sources. There are some actual Satanists that exist, and they are divided into theist and atheist churches. Satanists basically believe that God is evil and Satan is good, and so the Bible is a lie.

Monotheist immortal spirits in Christianity: God, Jesus, Satan, angels, demons, prophets, kings, apostles, disciples, sinners

• Christian Crusades (1098-2017)

Conservative Christian Environmentalists

Christians For Latter-Day Justitude

A Suggestion for Anyone Famous or Rich

Take the Success Pledge !

 

If I am very famous, popular, or rich I promise to make a public declaration. I will publicly announce that such extreme fame, popularity, or wealth is very undemocratic, and in contradiction with civil notions of equal rights, and it is also against certain ethical and wise teachings like that of Jesus and Buddha. I will say “In the modern age, such medieval trappings are an offense to enlightened thinking. Therefore by the power invested in me, I will use most of my newly found resources to improve humanity, to protect and preserve local environment and history, and I will begin introducing to the masses, other artists and authors formerly unknown; and insisting if you like me or my works, then you should also give them a chance for success.” This is an official record, and I will be honor bound to execute this will, should I ever have such insane luck.