(urth) Wolfe as Heretic

brunians at brunians.org brunians at brunians.org
Wed May 19 17:31:48 PDT 2010


The term haSatan (The Accuser) is the title of an office.

In esoteric Judaism, you learn that this office is filled, aeon after
aeon, by various archangels, and that the archangel who was filling the
office in Job's time and is still fulfilling it in ours is Gabriel.

He performs this office twice that is recorded in the Bible, and of course
he performs this office every day. The two times in the Bible his client
is Job on the one hand and Jesus on the other.

Christians of various stripes and types have various other ideas which
they take from the common religion, or the religion of the World, or
Zoroastrianism or whatever.

This is all discussed in the various Mishnahs and Talmuds and so on,
copies of which I need to obtain at some point.

.


> The term "Satan" means accuser, and in most texts, the angel known as
> "Satan" (which can be a term of office as well as name, acts as "God's
> prosecutor," seeking to tempt man into sin.  Consider the book of Job:
>  Satan is given free reign to walk into heaven and make a challenge to
> God, basically betting on Job's life.  God ultimately wins (Job is
> found righteous through his trial) but it is Satan that puts him to
> the test.
>
> A lot of this gets obscured throughout the ages as words and terms are
> translated and Christianity begins to piggyback onto folk beliefs,
> plus every two-bit occultist throughout history who has muddied the
> waters with their ravings.  The difference between an Anton LaVey and
> a more "respectable" occultist like Albertus Magnus is one of age, not
> necessarily credibility.
>
> As I understand Catholic doctrine (again, not a Catholic myself), none
> of the angels that fell with Lucifer are able to take action directly
> against humans, because like all angels, they lack independent will.
> However, they are able to tempt humans and humans are free to enter
> into exchanges with them for supernatural efficacy, e.g., spells or
> magic.
>
> LH
>
> On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 6:26 PM,  <brunians at brunians.org> wrote:
>> Satan works for the Management.
>>
>> You're not supposed to have to do with him: better, if you are lucky he
>> won't have anything to do with you. You hope he doesn't have to do with
>> you.
>>
>> When he thinks someone is doing really well, he brings him to God's
>> attention. Everything after that is on God. God can choose not do test
>> you, and presumably does occasionally, since good people do ocasionally
>> do
>> well without the kinds of ups and downs Job had.
>>
>> It is not ever good to come to the attention of the powerful.
>>
>> But if you have to do with him professionally, or in the course of your
>> business, it's not necessarily a huge deal. It all depends on your
>> atttitude.
>>
>> .
>>
>>
>>> On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 3:50 PM, Lane Haygood <lhaygood at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Remember also that the several writers of Biblical texts came from
>>>> different stages along the evolution of the native Hebrew religion
>>>> from one essentially indistinguishable from the general polytheism of
>>>> the region to one of henotheism (in essence, a cult of Yahweh) to one
>>>> of monotheism.  The work of the scholars and priests of Judaism has
>>>> been to change the religion.  This could be a side effect of
>>>> standardization of practice and teachings, in essence, organizing the
>>>> religion from its tribal roots to one practiced by a priestly caste
>>>> and promulgated through the use of standard texts and "orthodox"
>>>> theology.
>>>>
>>>> The Bible (as well as early Church teachings based on it) represents
>>>> the cultural, social and theological evolution of a people.
>>>>
>>>> LH
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>> That's one theory, certainly, but it's not uncontroversial even among
>>> comparative religionists.  Judaism was constantly cheek-by-jowl with
>>> paganism, and there was a constant struggle to keep it free of the
>>> religious
>>> observances of "the nations".  There is an observable change from the
>>> Pentateuch's language concerning other gods (what Max Mueller termed
>>> "henotheistic") to that of the later Writings and Prophets, but that
>>> may
>>> not
>>> be as significant as Mueller thought it was.  And Mueller himself was
>>> far
>>> from an objective observer, since his teleology leads ultimately to a
>>> non-personal, transcendent God which is inseparable from
>>> Nature--familiar
>>> to
>>> those who have read widely in late 19th-century liberal Christianity.
>>>
>>> I will grumpily admit, however, that "henotheism" is a useful word.
>>>
>>> Just a brief comment on Antonio's point earlier : The position of the
>>> Vatican, as far as I'm aware, is that Satan indeed has objective
>>> existence,
>>> and power to tempt humanity.  Magic has always been forbidden (despite
>>> Renaissance speculations and hair-splitting), not because it doesn't
>>> work,
>>> but because one petitions the wrong forces in using it.  In James
>>> Blish's
>>> excellent novel *The Day After Judgment*, the black magician Theron
>>> Ware
>>> upbraids a Dominican who practices ritual magic and divination by
>>> saying
>>> something like "There is no such thing as 'white magic'.  It is all
>>> black,
>>> black, black as the ace of spades."  That's the official RC position as
>>> near
>>> as I can figure, and although to believe in the efficacy of sorcery
>>> might
>>> be
>>> old-fashioned, it ain't heretical.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Matt +
>>>
>>> I feel again a spark of that ancient flame.
>>> Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (70-19 B.C.), Aeneid, bk. IV, l. 23
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>>
>>
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