An Epitome of Evil: Crimes against Humanity

We are involved in a civil war that started in the heights of Heaven. And we are both, the participants and the prize. The forces of Good and Evil are arrayed on either side, each trying to prove that their perspective of humanity is the correct one. Our response may determine who is right.

Ever since the ancient prophet Zarathustra recognized the inherent duality in the human psyche, we have been obliged to make a choice of Whom we shall follow. Do we trust the directives of the God of Light,  who created and sustains us, or listen to the temptations of the Dark Enemy, who seeks our downfall and destruction?

Hate vs. Love
   diabolical, the one who scatters
Slavery vs. Freedom
   captor, the one who ensnares
Lies vs. Truth
   satanic, the one who accuses
Foolishness vs. Wisdom
  misleader, the one who betrays
Death vs. Life
   murderer, the one who violates

Part 1.
What is Evil: (the Opposition)
These are the tactics of the Devil.

1. Cruelty - intending to inflict pain or harm on another, simply to cause suffering, without regard for benefit.

2. Spite - malicious ill will, vindictive, seeking to repeatedly torment one's victim.

3. Unreason - illogical, irrational, excessively demanding, disregarding risk.

4. Apathy - indifferent, unfeeling, lacking care or concern for others.

5. Selfishness - concern only to fill one's own wants and desires, without regard for the needs or concerns of others.

6. Destruction - acting rashly, without regard for the preservation of value, damaging.

7. Violence - performing acts to cause pain, bodily harm or damage to personal property, especially for coercion.

8. Frightening - threatening violence, exposure to danger, or extreme stress leading to panic, confusion or submission.

9. Deceit - an intent to persuade or influence another by presenting false promises, bad advice, wrong information or confusing situations, so as to mislead, or cause unwise and mistaken responses.

10. Vengeful - seeking to respond to personal loss by causing reciprocal harm to another.

11. Pandering - offering to serve the basic bodily or psychological desires of someone, in a fashion likely to cause vice or addiction.

12. Alluring - seeking to attract another for purposes of taking immoral advantage.

13. Temptation - presenting a suggestion or situation likely to draw a response from one's victim that follows his/her fleshly, animal nature; encouraging one to indulge in a sinful act.

Seven Deadly Sins: Lust, Greed, Gluttony,
Pride, Sloth, Wrath, Envy

Part 2.
Who is the Devil?
A Rebel Against God, and the Enemy of Humanity. The angelic being who protests that humanity is not, and never shall be worthy of Heaven. Also known as Shaitan, Thuggee and Ahriman.

The Devil was once an archangel known as Lucifer, meaning, the Light of Fiery Zeal for God. He was a trusted servant of God before the "Great Rebellion and Fall" from Heaven.  As a close adviser, he shared in discussions and plans, even acting as Viceroy, delegated in some cases with the power to decide the fates of nations on other worlds. But he eventually gained so much in influence that he began to think himself the equal of the One True King. Thus he was deeply offended when his advice was disregarded, and God decided to uplift the apes on Earth to create humans. That was six million years ago.

In an attempt to thwart the gradual process of raising our chimp-like ancestors through the several intermediate steps toward full humanity, Lucifer determined to interfere. At each step in transforming the genome, he arranged that bits of our former animal nature would be left in, especially those which strengthened the propensity for violence or sexual excess. We still see those today in the two species of chimpanzees. And in the process of raising our meager intelligence, and then domesticating the few breeds that improved, he insinuated an even stronger impulse for selfishness. But his cleverness was eventually revealed, and he was denounced as an Enemy. Still, the damage was done, and our emergence from the state of natural bliss was marred by a consciousness of sin.

As the latest breeds of our now human ancestors spread across the world, we tried to retain a semblance of living with nature as we always had. Our stone and bone and wooden tools, and our knowledge of how to transform our environment to suit our needs, were generally adequate ... until the catastrophe struck. And then the whole world changed. Many of our people, around the world, died of cold or starvation, and whole communities were cut off from each other. In our efforts to survive, we had to turn to actually cultivating the earth to produce our food. Then we had to gather and defend it from beasts and bandits, so we built cities. The rest is known.

In time, humans began to realize how powers greater than nature were subtly influencing them. They began to tell stories about gods, placing humane or monstrous personalities in a parallel spirit world. Eventually, by the practice of meditation and the occasional use of psychedelic drugs, they discovered that they might learn to open their minds to speak with those powerful beings. Thus emerged the role of prophet.

Zarathustra was one of the first prophets to learn of the War in Heaven, of the two forces contesting whether humanity will ever be allowed to enter into Heaven. The good says that we can overcome sin, while the bad says that we will never be good enough. Our part in this is to show which side is right.

The prophets through the ages have tried to clarify this situation by bringing us the message entrusted to them by God. After Zarathustra, then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then Moses and the prophets of the Bible. Then Jesus brought us the word directly, in Himself, to tell us about the plan of God's salvation and forgiveness, and begin the transformation of the world through us.

Part 3. Our Victory
Christ, by his sacrifice and resurrection, has conquered the powers of evil. Up until His self-sacrifice, we were under the power of Satan's lies. We were captive to the idea that there is no way for us to be free of sin, and that we are already condemned for it. The argument stood on the grounds that we are merely smart animals, flawed from birth - too selfish, violent and lustful to be able to be transformed into good citizens of Heaven, and that our nature cannot be overcome. But the God of Light sent his Son, miraculously born to a human mother, to take on a human nature and human flesh and prove that we are redeemable. By His power and example, we know that we are no longer subjected to the chains of sin and Satan's claim upon our souls.

We now can claim victory over them, but first, we have to believe the good news, and give our allegiance to Jesus Christ as the Son of God. We must read the Gospels, to hear and understand his teachings, and be stirred to faith. We must decide to believe in Him.

I'm going to sound "preachy" here for a moment (as if I don't already). You need to repent of the "worldly ways" that we all pursue when we don't understand, when we think it's the way to "get ahead." Then find a church and be baptized, pray and receive the sacraments. In this way we treat the wounds inflicted by the evil in this world.

Then it becomes our task to become transformed by the renewal of our minds, avoiding darkness and temptation, and contemplating things of the light. By continual prayer and occasional fasting, we can discipline ourselves and train our characters to follow God's grace and strive for virtue and holiness. We must make it a habit to try to be continually aware of His Presence, dwelling with us, speaking silently to our hearts, prompting us to acts of mercy, kindness and service.

Thus we defy the Enemy who seeks our ruin. We stand armed with the battle gear of Faith, the sword of scripture in hand, girded with our helmet,  breastplate, shield and boots, ready to withstand his attacks, and call for the aid of heavenly hosts whenever needed. (Galatians)

When we know his tactics, the Enemy can not surprise us. He tries to trip us into making the mistake of falling short of our Lord's expectations, distracting us from His direction and prompting. The Enemy puts roadblocks, and ferociously attacks us when we are most vulnerable, trying to force us from the path of faith. But if we can stand firm, and disengage from these troublesome temptations, we can find refuge in prayer and meditation.

For our own part, we should work to be of service to those people whom the Lord has put in our lives. The more we can be helpful, and show the way, how God has influenced our character, then they too will become open to that influence in their own lives.

This is the battle of Good against Evil, retaking the ground lost, claiming again and again the victory and changing the world, one person at a time. We start with ourselves.

The Landing Protocol

When we humans finally get free of our confinement to Earth and its nearby orbital space, of course we will be setting our sights on other obvious destinations. We naturally think that a place must be designated by some object, and the larger the better, since bigger objects are more easily seen. So, we have paid the most attention to traveling to our Moon, or to Mars. Yes, we also send probes to Venus and Jupiter, and the rest -- but notice that we have a bias: planets, big ones! Moons are nice, but we go there because of the planets. Indeed, even the "minor planets" got delayed interest, despite the fact that they were easy enough to reach. True, it took years to get to Pluto, but anywhere in the solar system is likely to take years to reach. The Dawn mission to Ceres and Vesta needed the added interest of a special ion propulsion engine, and a double rendezvous to make it a prioritized project.

But really, the moons and asteroids, along with the minor planets, are where the actual expansion of humanity into space is going to happen. Those are where we will learn how to gather resources and live in space. Humanity needs "earthlike" conditions in order to thrive -- gravity, day length, soils for growing plants, protection from radiation, etc. Even Mars is not going to fit the bill well enough. So, we will have to undertake massive construction projects to create benign habitats for our future colonization goals anywhere we want to go. Thus the question arises: why would we want to go back down into a gravity well after we have spent so much effort to get out of one? Yes, Mars may have all of the resources that we need to build a technological civilization in space, but so do the smaller bodies out there.

We still have a lot to learn about living in space. We have barely scratched the surface. And we know almost nothing about gathering and refining resources in situ beyond the Earth. While it is true that even the Moon's gravity is probably too low for people to live there permanently and raise families, we don't know if Mars is adequate either. Maybe Venus, ... okay, probably Venus, but trying to fix everything else that's wrong with it will delay our efforts there perhaps indefinitely. Mars may be worth a try, at least until we learn how resource extraction can work there. But raising those resources up to orbit will still require a major effort.

We can prove out the same technology working on the Moon. We can also build rotating habitats in Lunar orbit from lunar materials. And we can do this by remote teleoperation, with rotating maintenance schedules on the surface to supervise the mining operations. We can do all of this without having to go millions of miles and many months away from any assistance from Earth. And what we learn closer to home can still be applied on Mars, and out in the Asteroids and beyond.

In particular, learning to mine the Moon for metals, oxygen and fuel, so that we can build a livable outpost on the surface will allow prospectors to explore the craters and lava tubes for a wider variety of resources. Extended habitability will allow us to refine materials and build factories there. Then we can prefabricate a few types of basic materials and modules and launch them by magnetic railway, for use in constructing a rotating space station. This too, would become a permanent workplace with a rotating crew of hundreds. A second one could be used as a large shuttle to go to Mars, back and forth, to begin work there too. Eventually, we could take on the really huge projects of building O'Neill Cylinder colonies. At each step, we will learn something crucial to our future plans to move out into the solar system.

As soon as we reach the point where we build space stations, and have jobs that need skilled workers, either on the Moon or in orbit, the economics will become self-sustaining, as lots of people will want to go. But our space programs until then will have to be aggressively funded and supported by governments and large corporations. The cost may rival the military budget of a nascent superpower, but with the verbal and moral support of the citizens here on the ground. We will do what we can to help with funding, but we don't expect profit-minded investors to build this from scratch. The return on investment might be too slow. But lots of people would buy a home in space, if jobs were available too. At that point, migrating to Mars, or the asteroid belt, will be just another assignment. The frontier will be open to the new wagon trains.

So then, where will we go? To Mars, of course! But also to the Asteroids, big and small, and to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, to Venus to live in the cloud-tops, and anywhere else we may choose.

Eventually, we will learn enough about living in closed ecosystems aboard our rotating habitats that we may decide to try an interstellar voyage. Hopefully, we may have the capability to fly at more than a few percent of the speed of light. A hundred years would be a really long trip, but we would already be accustomed to living in habitats our whole lives. And when we get there, we probably won't have the planetary bias that we are starting out with. We'll know that resources are better found in bite-sized chunks, and minor planets are big enough.

Plus, if we have already found life that doesn't originate on Earth, we may know to be wary of earth-like planets in their own habitable zones. Any truly alien life forms probably won't be compatible with our own biology. The chances of accidental cross-contamination are just too great, and the consequences likely fatal, including the risk of contagion. So any interstellar colonists would be wise to avoid medium-sized, warm and wet planets, and stick to the moons, minor planets, asteroids and comets. Staking a claim on a Mercury size planet, and a few moons is easy enough, and if you use them up building lots of habitat ships, you can move on. Nomadic lifestyles have been common in our early history, and there is nothing wrong with repeating that.

Which brings me at last to the Title given for this post. The Landing Protocol. If future colonists really want to try to build a new world on an "earth-like" planet, they had better hope that there is no previous life inhabiting it. First, if there is anything more advanced than microbes extant, it would be unethical and immoral to usurp their planet and prevent them from ever evolving intelligence and technology. Secondly, even the microbes would likely be inimical to terran life, which would be at a definite disadvantage from not having evolved there. Only a truly sterile planet would be a safe bet for colonizing. And it's hard to prove a negative. How do you know "there are no bugs" for certain?

So they are faced with a hard choice. To make landfall, or not. If you want to go down, are you willing to accept the equivalent of a life-long prison sentence? Your choice will be permanent. No one who goes down will ever come back. They will either succeed and live down there, or they will die there. Of course, they won't be isolated without any help. Supplies can be dropped, but it likely won't be trade in any real sense. Anything from the planet must be assumed to be contaminated, at least until the new world is fully certified to be completely SAFE. And who knows how long that might take?

It's a fool's gamble. You might get lucky, or you might die. Are you really so dissatisfied with life in your ship? No one is forcing you to go, unless of course, it's going to be a prison colony. And then ... NO. You are not coming back.

So we are not looking for earth-like planets. We want smaller worlds that are not likely  to be suitable for the origin of life. The only planets that are good for anything are gas giants, where we can refill our fuel tanks, and which usually have a retinue of small moons and irregular rocks. There we can park our ships in orbit, swap people between ships for the sake of genetic diversity, and replenish our feedstocks with all the elements we may need to repair and upgrade the ships. Then, we can ask, "do we stay awhile, or go forward to the next star down the line?" Nor do we all have to agree on the same choice. We will be free.

What is a Cult? 20 Discerning Criteria

Most of the world's great faiths share in a set of good characteristics by which we know to group them together and respect them as "Religion." However, they also share some characteristics that can allow unscrupulous leaders to mislead their followers and take advantage of them. All faiths involve teaching their members how to think, but when that function becomes an intentional limitation of freedom it can cross the line.

There are ways to discern a healthy religion from one that goes beyond the pale. Just because a group has a large number of members doesn't mean that it's not a cult. Rather, it's mostly a question of being allowed to think for yourself, to question authority and come to your own reasonable conclusions. If that is not allowed, or the authorities would take offense if they knew, then it's probably a cult. You are in an unhealthy situation which you should find a way to escape, as soon as you can.

A cult will have at least a few, if not many or most of these characteristics below. They can be used as the criteria to discern an unhealthy group or organization, which you should avoid.

1. A charismatic leader or prophet, who cannot be held accountable
2. Invalidates critical thinking or rational examination of facts and ideas
3. Claiming special revelations of Truth given only to the leader
4. Creates a new community, separate from unbelievers
5. Demands unwavering loyalty and unquestioning obedience to the prophet
6. Creates unique laws or rules concerning morality and/or holiness
7. Special privileges for the prophet, not allowed to followers
8. Penalties mandated for leaving the faith, often severe
9. Makes unrealistic, usually unverifiable promises
10. Calls competing faiths "corrupt" and ineffective
11. Promulgates unique doctrines which may be inconsistent or changeable
12. Economic, sexual or other exploitation practiced by the leader and cronies
13. Advocates violence to achieve the leader's aims
14. Pretends to be an offshoot or reform of traditional beliefs
15. Declares independence from traditional authority
16. Leader claims to know unverifiable or incorrect "facts"
17. Requires extravagant acts of sacrifice and/or offerings
18. Uses coercion to persuade conversion or obedience
19. Unreasonable fear of an impending catastrophe, like "the end of the world"
20. Followers left feeling that they can  never be good enough

The more of these criteria the group matches, the more likely it is that they are a cult, and possibly dangerous to the society around them. Be careful whenever you may encounter them, but try to help any who want to get out.

Did God have a wife?

The belief in many gods was deeply ingrained in the psychology of the people of the Fertile Crescent. At the start, YHWH did not insist on being the only God who exists, but rather to be the only God whom the Israelites could worship. He was the leader and protector, and the comforter of his chosen, supposedly loyal, people. In fact, the Bible clearly says He hated Baal, and the infant sacrifice that his people practiced, and totally disapproved of the temple prostitution used by the goddess worshippers. So, to associate YHWH with a divine consort would have been distasteful, to say the least.

YHWH and his Asherah?
That's why the Samaritans had a bad reputation for being unorthodox. They always had to do things their own way. They kept their standing stones & sacred groves on the hilltops long after the Jews banned those. And the offerings left there were in remembrance of El Shaddai, the God of the Mountains, and Asherah, the fertility goddess, old names for beloved gods. Yes, YHWH assumed "El Shaddai" as his own name, thus the association.

But then, some time later, Asherah's job to promote fertility and the family became absorbed into the One God's roles, as a feminine characteristic of a whole divine personality and power. In the Bible, this female aspect of God is imagined by analogy to a mother bird sheltering her chicks under her wings. And this safety, protecting her people, becomes the job of God's presence, the Shekinah, the feeling of holy imanence during worship. Thus, Shekinah is also another name for the Holy Spirit, whose coming and going is such a mystery, like a bird on the wind.

It can seem a bit strange saying that God's own presence is another person of a triune God, but think about how distant a creator God must be, so far off that He uses the entire planet for a footstool. So, you see how He needs to give us another aspect of Himself to get up close and personal, like the wind upon your face. And this female persona always was thought of as a loving mother, hovering nearby to offer support and wise advice. Advice, too, is another job of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to the prophets, and has been called Wisdom.

But by now, this feminine Shekinah is becoming more of a paragon of how women are meant to behave. She seems willing to stay in the background, though always present, and her voice is essential, speaking peace and wisdom, advising us on what is right. When you combine this with the ideal of the woman of valor, from Proverbs 31, who works hard to support her husband, you see how important a women's role is, even in ancient Judaea. Society would collapse without her. She leads by example and influence.

But the ancient Asherah is meant to be forgotten. Asherah was divorced because she consorted with Baal, and devalued the grace of marriage. That's why adultery and abortion are still forbidden, and are the only immediate grounds for divorce. Yet even so, the prophet Amos spoke of how he, and by reflection God, always loved his wife, despite her gad-about ways, and longed for the day she would return to be his loving partner. He would quickly forgive anything to have her back, contrite and behaving properly again. If only she would look into her conscience to see how she was shaming herself.

The evolution of a deity doesn't really have to make sense. It is no longer the goddess who is YHWH's beloved, but the people of Israel, whom He rescued from bondage and gave the Law, to set them free. He wants his people to love Him, and to care about keeping a clear conscience in moral righteousness. We shouldn't wander off, "whoring" after other gods or foreign ways and ideas.

By the way, Jesus rarely talks about the Holy Spirit, until he promises to send the Helper and Comforter. He said that She is never supposed to speak for Herself, but only about Jesus and the Father. She is the source of holy wisdom, teaching quietly in the background. Earlier passing mentions of the Spirit of the Lord are just referring to the influence and teachings of the Father prompting Jesus to speak. All of this mysterious doctrine of the Trinity is just Christian theologians trying to figure out how to maintain unity in the church, and hold on to their own authority to teach. Weeding out separatists, claiming to be inspired to make up their own doctrines, can get to be a messy business.

You can believe it if you want, as it most certainly helps to imagine God as a great mystery, away up in Heaven. He sends his Son to teach us how to please Him, to be an example of righteousness, and to be the bridge to help us get there. And the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts to guide us and help us to reform our own character. She helps us to understand, interpret and apply the Law and the ideals of morality (truth, freedom, love and wisdom) in our daily lives, now so far removed from antiquity.

And if it helps to put a personal face on the divine, Catholics have agreed that Mother Mary also ascended into Heaven, and is now the Queen of Heaven, just like the old title given to YHWH's Asherah. Full circle, except this time she is not a goddess. She was a simple, acceptably stainless human woman, suitable to be a paragon for other women to emulate.