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You'll be stunned as you hear high-level Mormons describe how their god lives on a faraway planet, busily engaged in perpetual sexual relations with his many wives to produce millions of spirit babies to inhabit the bodies of humans. You will listen with disbelief as they describe that this is the future godhood they hope to attain to as well.
Greetings, More and more our culture is being exposed to and subject to what is often seen as evil or demonic activity. From intense films and productions that elaborate on satanic power, to media hype around a merciless killer who is a vessel of evil. And it seems there might be less to those stories than we have been told. The past dozen years have had me answering questions about Satan and Hell that many have stopped asking. Some of these are; What if there is no Devil? Is it possible there is no Satan and no demons to possess a soul? What if there is only ONE supernatural cosmic entity? How would things change? Why did the God of the Bible say He makes peace and creates evil? Many have stopped asking questions such as these and you may ask, “Why have they stopped asking?” Excellent question! I believe many have stopped asking because of the fatigue from not getting sensible answers. When we take Satan off the pages of the Bible and assess all the varied ideas about who he is and what he does, well frankly, Satan just doesn’t make sense in so many ways. Truth is, it is just less of a challenge to adhere to a lifelong belief that has been traditionally taught for centuries than to explore this belief with critical thought. For centuries, theologians have propounded the same answers but now there is another option. Is it possible, I asked, that Satan is not real? The Surprising Value of Dismantling Satan In my books, I put forth a compelling examination of Satanic thought, theology, and theory. Without recapping all four volumes in a brief letter, I find there is no better way to introduce my work than to simply say, I think you will be surprised at how it can be shown Satan is not real. Moreover, many are even more surprised at how this is evidenced by the Bible. The surprises continue for most when they realize that in proving Satan is not real, we actually strengthen the argument for the value of the Bible. This work has delighted even traditional believers as they find it supports the efficacy, historicity, and accuracy of the Bible as I mentioned above. While showing the devil to be absent from reality; the work of the Messiah and the fact there is only One God in the entire universe, is completely affirmed. For the typical seeker, the epiphany comes in realizing that yet again, the Bible is true and accurate/ There is no fault with the Scriptures, rather, it is the common interpretation of the biblical idea of Satan that has been mistaken in many ways. It has been man’s ideas of a second cosmic entity of evil that have propelled man to fill many terms and words of the Bible with mystic meaning. Meaning that was not intended by the original author. So, as challenging as it is to enter a theological and historical dialogue on who and what Satan is, I respectfully ask you to consider doing so, with me or with others who have tapped into the truth about Satan. I assure you, a discussion on this most polarizing topic will leave your listeners demanding to hear more. The evidence against Satan is mountainous and if you decide to examine even the fringes of this ideology, the liberation that begins in the oft-indoctrinated mind, is only one of the amazing benefits that begin to manifest. Of the many emails I get thanking me for my efforts, I find those from ministers of the Gospel to be enlightening at a different level. I quote a recent one from a missionary in the Philippines below. Hello James, I literally just discovered your work about 2 hours ago on the Tentmaker facebook page. Once I clicked on one video, it just led me to the next one and so on. I just want to say that I really appreciate what you're doing. My wife and I are both missionaries and have been questioning the reality of "Satan"/devil for quite some time now but have been wanting to learn how to understand it better. Even these past couple of weeks we've been having this discussion with friends and family...not necessarily having the answers...but simply challenging people with questions. I'd love to get a hold of your book somehow. PDF or Kindle. I actually live here in the Philippines doing missionary work. Thank you for your work. Like you, I have been told that I'll be going to hell and will be leading others there with me because of my message of grace and love. You're not alone. Thanks for what you do. Joshua Tongol Sept 4,2012 I look forward to hearing from you. Today we have a chance to step into something that just may be a revolution in human freedom. You don’t want to miss this.
BYU Studies Quarterly, 2014
According to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Heavenly Father is a resurrected and glorified man who has a corporeal body. In “the Corporeal God of Mormonism” the notion of God having a body of flesh and bones is carefully evaluated in light of the Bible, the Early Church, and Philosophy.
The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements, 2012
“Satanism” connotes a range of different things: a belief in and worship of Satan; the practice of nonconformity; a tragic resistance to oppression; or even bloody sacrificial rituals. What is meant by the use of Satan, Satanism and Satanist is therefore in large part determined by practices of ascription – and it is very important whether these words are ascribed to oneself or someone else. What we offer in this chapter is a framework for studying modern Satanism rather than a study of the phenomenon itself. After briefly surveying the history of modern religious Satanism in relation to other cultural narratives, this chapter will propose a typology of Satanism, present selected groups and influential formulations in the wider territory of what we call the “satanic milieu”, and discuss identity construction and recruitment through various gateways to and from popular culture.
2010
he conflict between the God of religious worship and the god of philosophical inquiry has plagued Judeo-Christian theology since the union of Greek philosophy with Hebrew religion in the first centuries of the Christian era. The conflict in this union arises from the most basic religious needs. In response to our finitude, we refuse to worship anything less than the absolute, yet we employ modes of worship such as prayer that presuppose a personal, finite being as the object of our devotion. Understandably, this conflict remains even in Mormon thought. For while Mormonism espouses an unrefined finitist theology, it is tempted to return to the Catholic/Protestant understanding of an absolute God, against which it rebelled in its origins. The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that such an absolutist concept of God entails insuperable difficulties while the finitist concept of God avoids these problems and is more adequate to the Judeo-Christian understanding in general and essen...
The official publication date is 2007, but it actually came out in May, 2009.
After a brief introduction to the specific kind of "satanism" I am writing about I discuss why evangelicals have often misunderstood satanism. I then provide a philosophical critique of an ethical tension within The Satanic Bible.
European Review of Latin American and Carribean Studies, 2024
Historia Urbana, 22 (2014)
Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes
Anarkobufón o la esencia del humor, 2023
Quest Journals Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, 2024
Journal of pediatric hematology/oncology, 2018
Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals, 2009
Revista Historia de la Educación Latinoamericana, 2021
Acta Endoscopica, 1999
2003 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.03CH37422)