Great article. I'd say the modern mix of hermeticism, gnosticism and theosophy that infects our academia and is one of the culprits behind the more recenct blindness of scientists to what science is and what it can do is more akin to Jim Jones's cult following and structure than to what the ancient roman and greek elites believed. Also, for some reason the unkown physics reminded me of a crackpot theory that my sister told me about 20 odd years ago: ghosts could go through walls because they were made of much denser material than matter.
1. With regards to Cicero's, 'On the Nature of the Gods.'
His thought reminds me of Alvin Plantinga's philosophical premise of a properly basic belief. In short, there are epistemic beliefs about reality that are basic, or pre-logical to all humans that are rational to hold. Belief in God, that reality is 'there,' and many more function as basic beliefs. In this sense, while the atheist is often the one who assumes that the Christian is the one who needs to justify their beliefs, in fact, it is the opposite, that the atheist needs to provide some sort of justification or belief for why or how God does not exist.
2. The intelligence of the Rome: Moderns, blinded by their pride, are in effect retards compared to the ancients in many ways.
3. On Magic. I wrote a paper entitled, 'The Similar Function of Magic and Science,' which, as the title suggests, argues modern science is the 'new' magic of our present age. Both science and magic seek to change the natural world according to personal desire and will; the same effect, except perhaps different causes.
5. The interaction of Peter and SImon Magus blew my mind. It reminded me of a story a Christian missionary to the Philippians told us at church one time.
At one of the villages, there was a well known sorcerer that people gave a lot of money to. The witch would publicly kill himself, usually by cutting. The body of the witch would lay dead in the middle of the street for three days, until, on the third day (see?) he would pop back up, fully alive. The witch had a lot of power, but the missionaries had enough with his blasphemy. The missionaries collectively prayed at the man for a week until, one day, the witch had an encounter with Yeshua. God met the witch and told him, 'you no longer have any power.'
The witch became a normal pleb, and, so amazed and terrified by his encounter with the Lord, he repented, and became a fellow missionary of the people who prayed for him.
Pretty cool and wild story, to which I have no reason to doubt it to be false.
Anyways, great article Mark. Looking forward to more soon.
There are tons of stories like the last one and Peter/Simon Magus's amidst the Nigerian priests I've gotten to know. Spiritual warfare is a normal part of reality for them.
You are an excellent teacher and should be welcome at any seminary. Anyone who can slide MKUltra in on a discussion of magic is someone I can appreciate. BTW, the shark god is real. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0531098/
> superstitio did not correspond to our modern definition of “superstition” (e.g. a false belief based on ignorance and/or tradition). It was rather used as a contrast to religio, referring to the official state religion
Great article. I'd say the modern mix of hermeticism, gnosticism and theosophy that infects our academia and is one of the culprits behind the more recenct blindness of scientists to what science is and what it can do is more akin to Jim Jones's cult following and structure than to what the ancient roman and greek elites believed. Also, for some reason the unkown physics reminded me of a crackpot theory that my sister told me about 20 odd years ago: ghosts could go through walls because they were made of much denser material than matter.
Have you listened to Darryl Cooper's Jim Jones series? While most of Jones' "miracles" were complete frauds, things kept on happening during his healing sessions that even he and his cult couldn't explain: https://www.martyrmade.com/featured-podcasts/gods-socialist-the-rise-and-fall-of-peoples-temple
Thoughts.
1. With regards to Cicero's, 'On the Nature of the Gods.'
His thought reminds me of Alvin Plantinga's philosophical premise of a properly basic belief. In short, there are epistemic beliefs about reality that are basic, or pre-logical to all humans that are rational to hold. Belief in God, that reality is 'there,' and many more function as basic beliefs. In this sense, while the atheist is often the one who assumes that the Christian is the one who needs to justify their beliefs, in fact, it is the opposite, that the atheist needs to provide some sort of justification or belief for why or how God does not exist.
2. The intelligence of the Rome: Moderns, blinded by their pride, are in effect retards compared to the ancients in many ways.
3. On Magic. I wrote a paper entitled, 'The Similar Function of Magic and Science,' which, as the title suggests, argues modern science is the 'new' magic of our present age. Both science and magic seek to change the natural world according to personal desire and will; the same effect, except perhaps different causes.
For anyone interested:
https://open.substack.com/pub/pjbuys/p/the-similar-function-of-modern-science?r=1ljcm3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
4. You insulted Kūkaʻilimoku. How dare you.
5. The interaction of Peter and SImon Magus blew my mind. It reminded me of a story a Christian missionary to the Philippians told us at church one time.
At one of the villages, there was a well known sorcerer that people gave a lot of money to. The witch would publicly kill himself, usually by cutting. The body of the witch would lay dead in the middle of the street for three days, until, on the third day (see?) he would pop back up, fully alive. The witch had a lot of power, but the missionaries had enough with his blasphemy. The missionaries collectively prayed at the man for a week until, one day, the witch had an encounter with Yeshua. God met the witch and told him, 'you no longer have any power.'
The witch became a normal pleb, and, so amazed and terrified by his encounter with the Lord, he repented, and became a fellow missionary of the people who prayed for him.
Pretty cool and wild story, to which I have no reason to doubt it to be false.
Anyways, great article Mark. Looking forward to more soon.
There are tons of stories like the last one and Peter/Simon Magus's amidst the Nigerian priests I've gotten to know. Spiritual warfare is a normal part of reality for them.
My birthday came early. I NEED to be the first one to comment. I’ve been waiting for part 2 a long time.
You are an excellent teacher and should be welcome at any seminary. Anyone who can slide MKUltra in on a discussion of magic is someone I can appreciate. BTW, the shark god is real. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0531098/
> superstitio did not correspond to our modern definition of “superstition” (e.g. a false belief based on ignorance and/or tradition). It was rather used as a contrast to religio, referring to the official state religion
I think this in fact the same definition.