Author: Richard R. Tryon, Sr.
Ever since the earliest of historic times, Man has continued to hope for some religion to acquire and disseminate a perfected structure of dialectical and evidential proof that would end forever all doubts and controversy concerning the two most perturbing of all theological questions:
l) Whether there actually exists a God of the Universe in possession of any conscious concern or potency relating to the World we live in?
2) Whether there is actually available any process which can provide a second life for human beings to follow the death they encounter on Earth?
In addition, vast numbers of people have relied on sundry religious organizations to teach the basic principles of morality with the intent that secular society would thereby be enabled and impelled to devise and attain the economic-social-political conditions of universal happiness and peace.
Nevertheless, as even the most obvious of evidence will show, it was
clear that no religion had succeeded by the final decades of the 20th century in responding adequately to either of Man's moral or theological hopes.
Thus, humanity's need for improved assistance to escape from continued morality confusion and error was evident in the existence of a multiplicity of painful and increasingly hazardous World conditions. In the first place, Mankind had become exposed to the possibility of a nuclear war capable of destroying all life on Earth -- simply because no way had been found to prove to everyone which of two opposite concepts of morality is actually correct in relation to all forms of economic-social-political conduct. At the opposite extreme, the same World was being confronted simultaneously by an unchecked population explosion capable of causing a disastrous condition simply of too many people.
Likewise, humanity's need for a perfected response to its quest for freedom from theological uncertainty was also profoundly apparent. It was evident, first of all, in the fact that the modern World contained a veritable jungle of differing and even hostile religions -- whereas, if any one of them had possessed a theology that left no room for doubts, denials, or even derision, all of the others would have been abandoned by their members in favor of the one which offered a persuasive sufficiency of incontrovertible truth. Collaterally, it was also manifest in an increasing distrust or apathy toward all religions concerning their respective theological positions.
Thus, because -- on behalf of all religions -- the Christian religion will be our frame of reference in the following chapters, we now must note that Christianity has not been an exception; that it also has been inadequately persuasive in responding to Mankind's need for theological certainties and moral imperatives. In particular, this has been shown by the fact that despite more than l9 centuries in which the Christian Church has sought to win universal acceptance of its basic theological structure this has continued to be rejected by at least two-thirds of humanity as unimportant, dubious, or false. In addition, the Church's lack of optimum persuasiveness has been attested by the existence of more than three hundred different Christian denominations, each differing from the others in some of their respective theological positions. Hence, it is obvious that if even one of these many bodies had possessed a theology that was supremely persuasive all of the other denominations would have ceased to exist; they would have been abandoned by their members in favor of the one that had become wholly convincing (even as also would have been the case among the members of the non-Christian religions.) Similarly significant has been the fact that among all Christian bodies there have continued to be many members who disbelieve or are unhappily doubtful about some of the most fundamental doctrines which they have superficially professed to accept.
As for Christianity's inadequate moral impact on secular society, this has been attested in such a nation as America not only by vast confusion and turmoil in the ordinary categories of economic-social-political dealings but also by a breakdown of law and order to the extent that, at the time these words were written, the American people were experiencing a murder every hour, a rape every 23 minutes, and a burglary every 27 seconds -- not to mention such other crimes as rioting, arson, and the selling of narcotics and pornography even to small children. Indeed, so great was the disregard for moral principles that a condition had arrived at which no life was reasonably safe, even in the nation's capital.
Thus, it will be because all religions in their traditional forms have obviously lacked certain elements requisite for correct and total persuasiveness that the following chapters herein will have a two-fold objective: (l) To discover and set forth new facts and new logic for meeting Mankind's need of theological certainty. (2) To deal to a point of conclusive detail with one of the greatest matters of Christianity's economic-social-political confusion.
The nature of the past inadequacy of all religions to fulfill Man's combination of moral and theological needs has been illustrated in the case of Christianity.
Thus, the fact that no Christian denomination has been able to offer a theology sufficiently persuasive to end denominationalism or even to be wholly convincing to all of its own members testifies that the lack of such persuasiveness has been due to the fact that no part of Christianity has possessed a theology free from critical voids and embarrassing errors. Accordingly, we shall presently identify a number of such theological defects.
Of course, some Christians have erroneously assumed that denominational disunity has been almost wholly a product of disagreements concerning what the ideal organizational structure of a united Church would be, or concerning an ideal form for its so-called "worship" methods. Actually, however, the more fundamental causes of the disunity have been differences among the various bodies concerning their respective theological doctrines. Moreover, many of the disputed questions concerning worship practices and organizational patterns have been primary offshoots of unresolved controversies relating to theological fundamentals.
As for Christianity's inadequate moral impact on secular society, the following chapters herein will amplify that this has been due to a two-fold set of causes. On one hand, it will be shown that this impact has been damaged by an inadequate exposition of the content and basic importance of the morality fundamentals. On the other hand, it will be shown that the prestige of the Church as a factor of influential potency has been injured by the public's awareness that many of the Christian clergy have taken opposite positions concerning many complex matters of economic-social-political conduct. Moreover, the potency of the Church has suffered from a long record of blunders by segments of the clergy who, from time to time, have attempted to stretch the proper teaching of the moral basics into invasions by Clericalism into secular society's own bailiwick of public affairs.
It is apparent, therefore, that modern society's two greatest needs are respectively in the theological and moral categories. Thus, one of these is for the discovery and dissemination of a perfected dialectical explanation of morality in all phases of economic-social-political conduct. The other of these needs is for the discovery and dissemination of whatever the new truths may be to give Christianity and all other present religions an identically correct -- and unifying -- theological structure.
As between the fulfilling of those two needs, however, some precedence will be desirable for the indicated theological enlightenment. This will be chiefly because of the importance of Man to acquire a certainty of knowledge concerning the questioned existence and relevance of a Supreme Deity and concerning Man's instinctive hope for a second life to follow earthly death. Such precedence will also be opportune, however, because as little as a single year may need to pass before secular society can be provided with the needed parallel enlightenment concerning morality in the complexities of the World's economic-social-political conduct. Thirdly, such minimal precedence will be deserved on behalf of theology because even if all spokesmen for all religions became unanimously correct in their understanding of such complexities of conduct their impact on secular morality would remain inadequate if, at the same time, they continued to lack credibility in their theological positions.
The crucial theological problems of the Christian Church, as of the final decades of the 20th century, were far more profound than most of its members had ever taken the trouble to analyze.
We observe, of course, that the Church was teaching that a God of the Universe, possessing a direct concern and potency in relation to Mankind, does surely exist, and that under certain conditions a second life is provided in a place called Heaven subsequent to the death of human beings on Earth. Also, the same religion was teaching that a Son of God was "begotten" in Heaven but subsequently was born in human form on Earth where, known as Jesus Christ, he suffered death by crucifixion, was then resurrected, and later ascended bodily from Earth in a return to Heaven. Further, the same theology asserts there is a Holy Spirit "who proceedeth from the Father and from the Son." The Church also accepts the Old Testament's accounts of God (i..e., the "Father") repeatedly visiting Earth and conducting vast interventions in earthly affairs. Significantly, the same theology holds that additionally God intended Mankind to be morally perfect but that a certain Adam and Eve committed an "Original Sin" which forestalled the Deity's intention.
The Christian dialectical formula almost invariably begins, however, by reciting the New Testament's account of Jesus' life on Earth. That sequence is employed for the purpose of depicting him as having been proven divine -- so that all other elements of the related theology confirmed by the teachings and acts of Jesus himself and as though they needed no explanations to be wholly persuasive even in a science-minded modern World.
In the face of such laws of nature as have been known to modern society, however, it has not sufficed -- for example -- that many miracles were reportedly performed by Jesus. To skeptics, such reports have been taken simply to reflect gullibility on the part of his principal followers. Thus, the reported miracles of healing have been described by disbelievers as having been, at most, merely psychosomatic cures. As for the claims of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, the skeptics have held either that he survived his ordeal on the Cross alive or that some other person was substituted to make it appear that he had experienced a recovery from death. Hence, among the most critical voids of Christian theology has been the lack of any scientific explanation to show how the purported miracles including the claimed resurrection could have been, or actually were, accomplished.
Moreover, even though we defer to the first of the following chapters the "Jumbo Question" of all theology, we can immediately identify a host of other Christian puzzlements in need of fully explanatory answers for the Church to supply if it is possible to do so.
For example: Can it be shown that a Heaven or a Hell are places in the same sense as the Earth, the Moon, or Mars? Is God a person-with-body, an unembodied "spirit," or just a word to denote some combination of inanimate cosmic forces? Was there really an Adam and Eve and any "Original Sin" for which an inherited guilt is shared among modern Mankind? How could Jesus have been "begotten" as God's Son in a distant Heaven? If Jesus had already lived in Heaven, how could he have been born as an infant on Earth? If there is a human "soul," what is the composition of it that it could link our lives on Earth to a subsequent life in Heaven? Can a "Holy Spirit" be known to exist by any definition in the physical terms of modern science? If billions of personal prayers are uttered daily, how can it be possible for them to be actually "received" or actually "answered"?
In turn, let us note that the many questions pertaining to the basic theological structure of Christianity have been paralleled by still others pertaining to the Church itself. Thus, our following chapters will need to deal fully with these also.
Again for example: What specific functions, if any, can the Church correctly contend it was divinely authorized to perform? What boundary lines, if any, were divinely intended to separate the functions of the Church from those of the State? What purpose, if any, is served by the procedures wherein Christians assemble to participate in the so-called "worship" of God? To what extent are ritual and liturgy desirable elements in the performing of the Church's functions? Have there been some hidden meanings in the Christian sacraments? Was infallibility or any form of "super-wisdom" ever divinely conferred on the Apostles or on any subsequent Christian clergy? What kind of organizational structure would be needed for a reunited Church to function correctly as well as efficiently?
Thus, having perceived the tremendous scope and importance of Mankind's need for added enlightenment concerning theology in general and concerning the Christian Church in particular, and having perceived the paralleling tremendous scope and importance of Mankind's need for added enlightenment concerning morality in all forms of economic-social-political relationships, let us realize it will be necessary for these huge subjects to be chiefly dealt with in wholly separated studies.
Hence, the following chapters herein will be primarily concerned with the expanding of human knowledge relating to theological and ecclesiastical matters and will leave the need for a bedrock analysis of morality in economic-social-political conduct to be provided in some subsequent study -- probably as a sequel or companion to the present volume.
Nevertheless, in addition to providing many startling new concepts strictly concerning theology, the present study will probe to the point of correct conclusions all aspects of the question of adequate birth control measures for the prevention of a World calamity of too-many-people. Likewise, we shall examine in appropriate detail the slavery experiences of the ancient Hebrews in Egypt as of major significance in modern humanity's moral confusion concerning so-called "Capitalism" and so-called "Communism." Also, we shall deeply analyze herein certain ancient and modern invasions of Clericalism into the provinces of secular society, in repetitive collisions of Church and State.
Let us proceed, therefore, in the following chapters to the discovery of new facts and to the corroboration of many already existing facts chiefly in response to Mankind's age-old theological and ecclesiastical puzzlements, using the Christian religion as a frame of reference on behalf not only of itself but also of all other religions.
In so proceeding, however, let us keep in mind two especially relevant considerations. First, we shall need to perceive that Man's privilege and obligation to continue his religious advancement was not divinely frozen at some time in the distant past. Thus, the Bible itself is simply a record of successful stages of religious progress that had been achieved until some l9 centuries ago; indeed, there have already been numerous other advancements of theological and moral truth achieved long since the final books of the Scriptures were written. Second, we shall need to remind ourselves that new theological and ecclesiastical enlightenment has never been divinely restricted to contributions from clergy; for example, many of the most important forms of such advancement have come from men primarily of science such as Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein, and even from a great many men who never dreamed they were actually contributing to religious wisdom.
Accordingly, in the following chapters our new-promised discoveries of new truths and new logic for all religions will rely heavily on logical deductions from facts already established by modern science. Likewise, our analysis of the Christian Church will be strictly logical and objective. We shall proceed, therefore, in four stages. In the first stage, Chapters l, 2 and 3 will apply new logic to relevant facts of modern science to deduce the most fundamental truths of theology as though no religion already existed. In particular, we shall examine the evidence to be derived from science concerning not only the existence but also even the origin of a God and the question of whether such a Deity is a person-with-body or a "something" answerable to some other description. Likewise, without drawing upon Christian claims that there is also a Son of God, we shall respond to the question of whether -- by some explainable inevitability of cosmic nature -- there is not only a God but also at least one Son of that Deity. We shall also examine whether there is some explainable and inevitable means for bodily immortality in the so-called Heaven. Furthermore, we shall deduce the biological nature of the human soul, the physical substance of the Holy Spirit, and the nature even of an inevitable means of transport connecting our Earth with a distant Heaven.
In the second stage of our study, Chapters 4, 5 and 6 will apply the conclusions of the previous section with further new logic to discover numerous additional startling new truths concerning the theological and moral significance of such persons as Adam, Noah, and Moses. Likewise, we shall discover a previously hidden purpose of the "Great Flood" and examine the modern relevance of the slavery experience of the Hebrews in ancient Egypt. Also, we shall trace the dramatic and romantic stratagems of genetics that were used to mold a central core of the Hebrew people and we shall explode the concept of an "Original Sin."
In the third stage of our study, Chapters 7, 8, 9 and l0 will examine the status and significance of Jesus, the scientific evidence which relates to the claims of his virgin birth, his healing miracles, his crucifixion and resurrection, his founding of the Christian Church, and his departure from Earth by bodily ascension. We shall also examine his morality teachings and the events known to Christians as Pentecost and the Conversion of St. Paul.
The final stage of our study will have Chapters ll, l2, l3, and l4 examine: (A) God's purpose for the Church, the divinely-intended boundaries between Church and State, and the need for Christian ecclesiastical unity. (B) The functions of basic ecclesiastical pedagogy as in sermons; the significance of prayer and of the Christian sacraments. (C) The claims of infallibility or the postures of "super-wisdom" among some of the clergy. (D) How some sectors of the clergy have misled secular society concerning the World's population explosion and concerning certain other problems of economic-social-political conduct. Then, in Chapter l5 we shall examine what details of organizational structure would be needed to give a reunited Church an optimum of efficiency combined with a maximum conformity to its divinely-authorized purpose. Finally, in Chapter l6 we shall examine the prospects for an era of universal theological and moral accord.
Only two other preliminary mentions remain to be included in this introductory message.
The first of these concerns the fact that some of the findings of the first three chapters will initially seem to many readers to be so bizarre that, although we shall make juxtaposed references to conventional concepts of Christianity, there will surely be a number of cases in which the strangeness of our conclusions may prevent them from commanding acceptance until their accord with Biblical records is examined in the context of the subsequent chapters.
The final of our preliminary mentions concerns simply the use of the plural "we" at many points of our study. Thus, it should be noted that the plural style was chosen for two reasons. On one hand, it emphasizes that everyone is, in effect, a co-participant in this (or any other) sincere search for theological and ecclesiastical wisdom. On the other hand, the style so used is also a means of acknowledging a common debt of gratitude to many thousands of men whose earlier or contemporary contributions in the related fields of science and religion -- cosmology -- provided the foundations upon which this present work could follow.
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R.R.T.
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