I focus this thought on the churches because Fundamentalists are threatening to overthrow our democratic pluralistic constitution to turn our country into a Christian Theocracy.
Christian religion (and Muslim among a few others) Have "holy texts" that demand of followers... that they convert the world.. To convert the world ,Think about it *this is an all or nothing proposition*.
Either the world is converted or it isn't.
Converting the world means the religions adherents must go convince others to believe as they do,by hook, crook or gun..It MEANS literally for Believers in One God to go out and destroy every other religion that believes differently by conversion to THEIR own kind of religion and god. It's also about stealing sheep from other"shepherd's flocks" if those shepherds are not like YOUR beliefs. Converting the world,Propagating the faith MEANS literally there can be no other religion in the world ,no other gods but their own kind.There can be no other gods before me kind of stuff..
This is what converting the world IS. Lets not mince words.
Commandment number 1
I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Jesus said for Christians to go out and convert himself..There is no way to water this message down and be a Christian at the same time..Jesus said Take over the world and force it to convert to him..
Matt. 28:19-20, Jesus gave us the command to go into the whole world and make disciples.
Making a disciple of Jesus is basically is making a non Christian convert to a Christian.If you do it with a stage show, by bribe,soft sell,hard sell,force or manipulating persuasion the result is the same.
Here is how many verses in that*book*(bible) relate to proseletyzing..It's a hard sell...handbook with very clear orders.
http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/biblical.htmThis is WHY religionists that seek to convert proselytize,really.This is a dangerous belief to have because it will not permit a live and let live attitude twords diverse beliefs.Christianity is NOT pluralistic_at all_. It is INTOLERANT of pluralism because it demands others must conform to Christian beliefs or die,ultimately.It says the same thing as the faith of Islam.The dark ages and crusades is where controlling custodial beliefs like these lead humanity.It creates cultural imperatives for coercion and conformity in the non believer by default.It is NON democratic non pluralistic and intolerant.Religions that do not proselytize/recruit fish for "disciples" or sell their beliefs do not have this covert the world.
edict in their religion texts.
So Given the command to create disciples..and the intolerance of other gods... in an ever more conscious world,where people are onto the selling of the "word"..and they are more aware of what they want to believe for themselves...
What types of "tools" do you think would people commanded by their god to convert you use? Manipulation, Hypnosis,bribes, Politics,Threats,beatings, Guns,wars, torture, good food,coffee, nice music,compassion,friendship when you feel down,the ol'love bomb?
All of these things have been used before to convert the world to Christianity.They will be used again if the game of proselytizing is not challenged by Christians and non Christians alike.And it's NOT only Christians who Proselytize alot of BUSINESSES and Politicians do it too.We need to ask WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE?
For now I focus on the churches because Fundamentalists are threatening to overthrow our Democratic pluralistic constitution to turn our country into a Christian Theocracy.
Missionaries are supposed to be as gentle as doves but wise as serpents..which is a DECEPTIVE image .A consummate salesperson,winning souls..Like a wolf in sheep's clothing basically..Christians accuse the WORLD of being deceptive, yet they admit they are too....And the Bible Says this..
"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." (Matthew 10:5-8, 11-16)
And remember the so called prince of peace is indeed a harmless dove with a venomous bite and reptilian heart.
10:34 "Don't think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn't come to send peace, but a sword.
How persuasive are you?
http://www.persuasion-skills.co.uk/ShowArticles.asp?ANU...Think about it if a hypnotist can curb a phobias in their patients ,even temporarily,Why wouldn't Christians use these effective tools of persuasion too?
http://www.goodtapes.com /
http://www.hypnos.info/cds/cd04.htmlttp://www.infinityinst.com/articles/hypnosis_religion.html
http://www.durbinhypnosis.com/hypnosis_and_religion_vol...Imagine what going to a mass hypnosis session EVERY WEEK to a church that uses hypnosis and auto suggestion techniques can do for skewing your thinking and generating blind spots in how you pay attention to issues.
http://www.skeptictank.org/bfymind.htmWhen I was in AoG the way the music was done the lighting the order of the sermon the way they spoke was a very sophisticated hypnotic induction.
http://www.piney.com/BrainWsh.htmlI felt the changes in myself. It's scary
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/13767.htmscary that people would want to do this..
http://www.applyhypnosis.com/?hop=norbizI think that church hypnosis effects people to varying degrees.. depending on personality types and situations in life ,but it certainly has slowed their ability to open their mind and wake up.
The church hypnosis does not have to be perfectly seamless obedience to EFFECT people sometimes,some way. And despite what others might say,I think these mega churches have done Rightwing America one hell of a con job. Something in them prompts them , to close the mind at hearing certain ideas, it closes the mind not slowly but like a steel jaw trap..
It uncannily looks to me like a hypnotic negative auto suggestion is at work is triggering the reaction and reinforcing "new behavior".
Something Like a how under hypnosis a compulsive smoker gets an auto suggestion to feel nausea when he wants a cigarette to help himself not want to smoke. likewise a fundie RWer triggers off on certain words and they close their mind because they don't want to become a liberal.
All this fundie belief system ties to very primal things in human beings lives and unconscious.Things like love acceptance, trauma,avoiding suffering,elitism and status,powerlessness, winning and not have to struggle for survival.All these topics are fertile ground for some serious auto suggestions and NLP. RW gatherings audiences do similar stuff in response to leadership..
Just observe them for yourself..Go observe people in a fundie church (get out if you feel trance or urges you can't explain like to sing or raise hands and do what the crowd is doing)and then later go watch a stage hypnosis act and watch the audience it's creepy how they act.
The Birth of Conversion
CONVERSION is a "nice" word for BRAINWASHING . . . and any study of
brainwashing has to begin with a study of Christian revivalism in eighteenth century America. Apparently, Jonathan Edwards accidentally discovered the techniques during a religious crusade in 1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts.By inducing guilt and acute apprehension and by increasing the tension, the "sinners" attending his revival meetings would break down and completely submit. Technically, what Edwards was doing was creating conditions that wipe the brain slate clean so that the mind accepts new programming.
http://www.mindspring.com/~toxiccow/9_0039.htmWhich if you think about it is downright Straussian...And you know where that kind of thinking leads It gets us all Cheneyed!
http://www.peuplesmonde.com/article.php3?id_article=159
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