Human psychology evolved under in the social milieu of constrained complexity. Currently, humans live in unconstrained complexity. What has this done to our minds? These topics are addressed in various parts of An Archaeology of the Fall, particularly in chapters 8C and 11B.
[Why did modern historians believe the rhetoric of the Pagan Romans?
Traditional pagan Romans blamed Christianity for their decline.
Naive and self-absorbed modern intellectuals took their words at face value.]
[Before his conversion, Paul was not so different from other members of the Jewish elite. He yearned for recognition, not for material goods.
What type of recognition?
Paul wanted to be recognized as more righteous than his peers.
He was not covetous, like those other grasping elites.
Oh yes, he was better.
He enforced the Law.]
[Obligations went from responsibilities to words.
The words of the Law put the majority in bondage.
Common folk (the so-called “deplorables”) were required to meet traditional family and tribal obligations.
They were never adequate when it came to ritual purity. They were good people, but they were cast as losers
All they could hope for was to avoid accusations of thinkanti-object, that is, rumors that would ruin one’s life and relations.
Does that sound vaguely familiar for today’s (2017) America?]
Summary of text [comment] page 83
The New Testament develops this theme.
The Son of God invites us to the service of his Father.
The Son of God challenges our bondage to elites whose demands can never be satisfied.
Instead, our service to YHWH is presented as an exercise of freedom.
[In the graciousness of a Persian king, a remnant returned.
They built the second temple in Jerusalem.
Could this devotion be described as ‘bondage’?
No and yes.
No, the individual is ruled by YHWH.
Yes, the individual is ruled by an elite who claims to speak for God.]
[In Babylon, the exiles lost everything, except their values and their desires for YHWH.
In America, the exiles gained everything and lost their values and desires for YHWH.
What will happen now, once again, depends on Persia.]
Summary of text [comment] page 83
[Back to Schoonenberg’s text.]
We exercise our freedom in serving either God or Satan.
[A recommended electronic text in regards to the Progressive word-based mind:
James Ostrowski, Progressivism: A Primer on the Idea Destroying America, 2014, Buffalo, New York: Cazenovia Books, first edition, ISBN 978-0974253-87]
Summary of text [comment] page 83
[Schoonenberg moved to another facet of virtue and sin.]
According to Paul, sin rules in “man” and over “man” through concupiscence.
Schoonenberg quoted Paul’s Letter to the Romans 7:17. His sinful deeds “are not done by I, but by the sin that dwells in me.”
Paul is in bondage to a sinful attitude that renders him powerlessness.]
[So the question becomes: How do I redeem the spiritual spark that makes up my true self?
Redemption is promised through secret knowledge (gnosis) that guides the ascent of the soul.]
