THE FIRST CONSPIRACY: Hermeneutic Analysis

Paul Whelmer Alforque, Departamento de Filosofia, 1997, Camara de Pensador.

The Honorable Magistrates, before this dignified institution, I submit the structure of my thesis anchored on the third chapter in the book of Genesis, focused on the Fall of Man, which says:

Genesis 3

The Fall of Man

 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ “

 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
      The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

It is my stand, as could be inferred from the text, that the first great conspiracy took place in the Garden of Eden. I based this perspective on the following circumstances:

One, it is in the book of Genesis wherein Adam and Eve committed the first sin that engraved in human soul.

Two, the Garden of Eden was supposed to be a safe place designed by God for the prime pure human beings and their offsprings.

Three, the Garden of Eden is a paradise for Adam and Eve where God communicate directly to man.

Four, that God being the supreme being has absolute control over the paradise which is designed for the sinless being such as Adam and Eve.

Five, that Adam and Eve were totally innocent before they ate the fruit, having no knowledge of any foolishness nor of any sin of any kind.

Six, that the fruit of the tree of knowledge, when taken, shall give them the malice which capacitates them to discern what is right and what is wrong.

Seven, that prior to the taking of the fruit, Adam and Eve is essentially ignorant on the concept of good and evil, because their minds are supposed to be opened at the time they will be tempted to eat the fruit.

Based on these premises, Honorable Magistrates, I come to an honest yet logical perspectives, that:

One, God is not intending man to exercise their freedom because they have no freedom of choice between right and wrong considering their lack of knowledge on what is right and what is wrong. Adam and Eve were really destined to FALL because they cannot use their good judgment on the pretext of their innocence.

Two, the unfortunate fate of Adam and Eve was really God’s plan. God being the supreme being has an absolute control over the entire paradise, it is within his power to drive off and disperse the Serpent who made the temptation.

Three, with the preordained knowledge that the minds of Adam and Eve were NO MATCH to the shrewdness of the Serpent, yet God allowed the Serpent to occupy a particular place in the paradise and authorized it to communicate with Adam and Eve.

Four, by these virtue, it is my contention that the First Great Conspiracy in human history may have been taken place in the Garden of Eden; Adam and Eve being the victims of the whims and caprices of God and the Serpent, and God and the Serpent being the conspirators and partners of their game out of their own boredom.

PUBLIC DEBATE: RELIABILITY OF CREATION

1999, Somewhere else in this globe.

Pastor: Yes, everything is created by the Supreme God.

Barrister79: How certain are you about it?

Pastor: Very certain. It is in the Bible, in Genesis.

Barrister79: I am not asking you if it is in the Bible or not. How true is it?

Pastor: It is the word of God. It is true, of course.

Barrister79: You seemed to have no understanding of the question, Pastor. Alright, since you are talking about Genesis, I think it is proper to start at the beginning. Can you please read Genesis 1:1?

Pastor: [stated the verse with his memory] “In the beginning the God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Genesis:1:1-2

Barrister79: Is that what you call proof word of god?

Pastor: Yes.

Barrister79: Is it not a direct declaration of the writer?

Pastor: God instructed him.

Barrister79: Where in the Genesis that god instructed his or her writer to write something for him?

Pastor: What do you mean?

Barrister79: Authority. The authority of the writer to write for god.

Pastor: It is a matter of Theology.

Barrister79: No answer. How did the writer know the earth has no form and it was void?

Pastor: It is a matter of Theology.

Barrister79: No answer. How did the writer know it was the spirit of god that moved in the face of the waters?

Pastor: It is a matter of Theology.

Barrister79: No answer. Was the writer a real witness of creation?

Pastor: It is a matter of Theology.

Barrister79: Was the writer present while god is in the process of creation and witnessed the entire incidents?

Pastor: It is a matter of Theology.

Barrister79: Why can’t you just tell all of us that the entire tales of  creation is a matter of theology? No need to answer this question, I think we are not interested with your theology.

CROSS-EXAMINATION ON THE THEOLOGY OF SPIRIT

On the later part of the direct examination, Bishop Shrewd strategically managed to propound his last two questions:

Bishop Shrewd: Considering all those presentations, can you please tell us your educational qualifications and studies in relation with your thesis on the existence of the spirit?

Rev. Swindler: I obtained my Bachelor of Christian Ministry in 1970; Bachelor of Theology in 1973; Master of Arts in Theology in 1975; and Doctor of Theology in 1979. All from Harvard University.

Bishop Shrewd: Now, can you categorically state that spirit exists in reality?

Rev. Swindler: Affirmative.

Bishop Shrewd: Thank you, Reverend.

Arbiter: Cross-examination, any?

Barrister79: Reverend, in all years of your studies, have you come to directly observe spirits?

Rev. Swindler: Yes, in many ways.

Barrister79: I am not asking about the “many ways”, Reverend. Did you understand the question?

Bishop Shrewd: Is that a sort of an insult, sir?

Barrister79: You have the right to take it as such, Bishop. I was asking about the direct observation on spirits based on the assertion of its real existence. Was it difficult to understand?

Arbiter: Are you asking of an observation based on physical contact?

Barrister79: I want to know if that is what he meant with his statement that spirit exists in reality.

Bishop Shrewd: That is preposterous, Your Honor. Spirits does not have physical bodies. Its reality is not based on material substance as what is established in the direct examination, this Holy Tribunal has the record.

Barrister79: That is the reason why I am asking, Your Honor, about the Reverend’s direct observation to check whether the reality he is talking is excusively a product of his studies or something which we could possibly know by virtue of the object which could be directly observed.

Bishop Shrewd: I am requesting for an order, Your Honor. I recommend to aim his examination on the term “reality” as the foundation which is ought to be laid.

Arbiter: Comment from the cross-examiner.

Barrsiter79: That is improper, Your Honor. It is my understanding that there is no reality other than the observable reality. If the purpose of the Bishop’s obstruction is to prevent me from asking any further question, then I will yield should they admit that the reality they are talking are mere concepts and not the objective reality. Now, if I may proceed, Your Honor?

Arbiter: Please proceed.

Barrister79: Thank you! Reverend, do you know that every real object has a component?

Rev. Swindler: Yes, I am aware of it.

Barrister79: Are you also aware that only nothing is composed of nothing?

Rev. Swindler: Ahhh… Yes.

Barrister79: Do you know that there is no reality when there is no composition which makes it real?

Bishop Shrewd: Your Honor, the examiner was just playing the semantics of language.

Barrister79: We can stop playing, Bishop, if the reality of your spirits will be established. Allow me to proceed, Your Honor!

Arbiter: Answer the question.

Rev. Swindler: Yes, of course. No composition – No reality.

Barrsiter79: Good. [smiling] Now, can you tell us what composed the spirit you have directly observed?

Rev. Swindler: You mean the composition that makes spirit real?

Barrister79: Never mind, Reverend. Just don’t bother yourself about it. 

THE BODY, THE SPIRIT

According to our major religions, that:

1. The necessities of the body is not the necessities of the spirit; and

2. The food for the spirit is not the food for the body.

The premises offered above are based on their distinct and separate existence of being.

Religions further argued that the body is a material property while the spirit belongs to the spiritual property which strengthened their argument for the difference in the state of being between the body and the spirit.

In fine, the spirit is not the body and the body is not the spirit. This stand is confirmed by almost all religions.

Now, the problem is on the other theological principle which deals with the condemnation of the body/spirit.

Why is the spirit punished for the misdemeanor of the body when it is settled that they were separate entities?

Why is the body obliged to seek the salvation of the spirit when it is already settled that they were separate entities having different necessities and state of existence?

Why can’t the body be freed from all spiritual businesses and just allow the spiritual beings to act for themselves?

Why can’t the spirit search for its own salvation which in the first place is its concern?

Considering these questions, why are we given the burden of management on the spiritual affairs which could be undertaken by the spirits themselves?

Is it not unfair that the body will waste its time for the salvation of the uncertain spirit while it has its own business to manage?

Why can’t we just leave the spirits and allow them to govern themselves rather than prying on to their affairs through religious mediums which could possibly be maneuvered fraudulently [?]

THE SIN

Indubitably, sin is the most powerful tool of religion; it is the only religious machine which authorized religion to raise funds, to redeem, to condemn and to persecute a person.

The thing called “sin” was institutionalized by the ancient religion to ensure its perpetual existence. All religions successfully gained from “sin” in the manner that:

1. They offer a solution to eliminate sin by introducing salvation

2. They instituted the fear of sin in exchange for a financial consideration in the guise of faith.

The concept of “sin” is compared to a stain which cannot be removed without the aid of religious recommendations; the believers mind are injected with “sin” such that they cannot anymore do away with their religion. This is the primary reason of the members to establish good relationship with their god through religion to minimize the psychological burdens of carrying the guilt caused by SIN DELUSION.

Members are going to their respective religion for particular rituals pertaining with the abortion of their fears on the institutionalized “sin”.

On every “sin” related ritual, religion shall always profit at the expense of their believers’ ignorance.

The most ridiculous part is that this system is still prevailing in the shores of modern civilization.

The Thinkers’ God

According to the ancient fabulous tales, they say that God is the supreme creator of everything.

The language is declarative enough which leaves no choice to any lazy mind to think but to accept it as a fact appears to be the simpliest formula.

In fact, no one really knows whether god or a God created something; or whether there is a god/God; or whether everything is to be made as a requisite for existence.

Now, let us examine what that god/God really is. The most popular presentation of proof for god/God was the ancient premise “Air, water, soil, fire, etc.. could not be created by man, therefore, it is created by God.”  For any lazy mind, this premise is true.

The premise “…could not be created by man, therefore, it is created by God.” shows how god is made. This kind of faulty reasoning hastily manufactured god at the end of the statement as the direct conclusion of the first line “…could not be created by man…”

It becomes clear that the god in the premise came out with the use of an indicator of reasoning “therefore”, by this virtue a prudent thinking mind could spot the nature of god as the result of an unfounded conclusion.

The concept of god surfaced upon the making of the reasoning “therefore, it is created by God.” The term “therefore” is an indicator of reasoning which is believed to justify the arguer’s supposition.

This pattern of reasoning always produced the necessity of god’s existence. When we say “…therefore, it is created by God.” is a reasoning of the arguer proving the existence of god. It is fair to conclude from this methodology of faulty reasoning that god was just a result, production and creation of reasoning for without the “therefore” which presuppose its existence, there could be no other way to prove that god. Meaning, this kind of reasoning made and created god. God being the product of the conclusion “…therefore, it is created by God.”

Only Nothing is Composed of Nothing

Reality is something determined by its composition. This is to say that when a thing is without component, that thing is a piece of nothing which is only found in our imaginations, hence, an imaginary thing that has no reality in terms of components is nothing and cannot be verified, cannot be checked, cannot be ascertained, and cannot be made to appear.

When an object is neither composed of any thing nor having an element of existence is something which is not real. Only real component can make thing exist. Hence, when a spirit, god or devil has no real component, indubitably those characters cannot be considered real.

What does god, spirit or devil composed of? What real elements that made those characters real? If their composition is not one of those real elements, then a sound conclusiuon of their absence would only be the logical deduction.

Is there a possibility that there is another real elements that could have composed these characters? THERE IS NONE. A question of possibility is one only confirmed by its reality, in the absence of reality there is no possibility. And every thinker must be aware that a possibility should and shall not be answered with a pure speculation, otherwise, it capacitates us to invent anything we believed as existent. Great lies begin with speculations.

The logical theory established herein is that when a thing is not composed of anything which makes it existent, it follows that such a thing can never exist in reality. It is my thesis that any god, spirit (theological and rhetorical spirit) or devil cannot exist in the absence of any composition that made it real.

Thereby, there is truth in the language “only nothing is composed of nothing”.

Man: The Creator of Divinity

MAN: The Creator of Divinity

Paul WD Alforque, Ph.B.,LL.B.,M.Ph.

05 March 2004

INTRODUCTION

              Aside from the imaginary characters of famous tales, man is definitely the only specie known for his brilliance; he is the most brilliant of all animals.

No one and nobody can disregard the fact that man has authored enormous ideas, concepts, theories, findings and conclusions; man had also transformed his ideas into tangible objects in the form of discoveries, technologies and inventions.

               The ingenuity of this specie is undeniable. Man’s capability to transform and create could not be suppressed. The ability of man’s understanding does not limit only into the visible and verifiable things, it even extended to the sphere beyond the perception of his senses – which he himself called it the “SPIRITUAL”.

                This is to say that the intelligence of man penetrates thru his spirituality.

And by virtue of the so-called “spiritual” concepts, it goes further by saying that “spirituality is the medium of divinity”.

                 Thereby, using the same standard, divinity becomes the subject of man’s craftsmanship.

                                                                 

THE DIVINE AND THE SUPERNATURAL

Nowadays, the concern of the “divine” and the “supernatural” becomes less popular than of the olden days. However, the terms “divine” and “supernatural” are somehow related in the sense that these terms have spiritual connotations. Meaning, spirituality is the common denominator of the “divine” and the “supernatural”.

Now, let us examine the logic of the term “supernatural”.

Before anything else, it should be remembered that the term “supernatural” is composed of two combined terms – the SUPER which means “beyond”, and the NATURAL which implies “innate or not created”.

The term “natural” refers to a system which operates by itself.

The concept of  “naturality” excludes any form of creator, designer or even a god. To magnify the point of the idea, if man adheres to the strict concept of the term “natural”, there is no way for him to bring his deity, spirit or divinity into the scene of human understanding. Therefore, it is necessary and a sound human decision to invent the term SUPERNATURAL to nourish the imagination that there are things beyond naturality and would make the projection of spirituality and divinity possible.

The term “supernatural” is declarative enough to presuppose its real occurrence. There is no supernatural, it exists only in the world of terms and language. It is just an invention of man to bring about the concept that could not be possible if not through the term “supernatural”.

MAN AS A SUPERSTITIOUS BEING

The intelligence of man is proven by the fact that he has the ability to project ideas beyond reality. Meaning, he thinks, he argues, he reasons and he believes. In this era of civilization, no one prohibits man to believe whatever he wanted to believe, and since he invented the term “supernatural” to justify everything beyond natural processes including superstition, he is not restricted to be a superstitious being.

Because of this, superstition becomes a part of man’s culture and civilization.

It should also be considered that man’s superstition fertilized his ideas on divinity, superstition being a belief in the works of the divine. Sometimes or oftentimes, man becomes tired of thinking on every piece of cause and effect, he thereby resorts to superstition to explain some occurrences, and then, pretends to know the knowings of the divine.

                                                              

THE ANCHOR OF DIVINITY – SUPERSTITION

The theory of divinity could not have been possible without superstition. It is superstition which introduced “divinity” into human understanding – for without the believing mind, there is no conforming mind.

An inference could be drawn that superstition comes before divinity, divinity being the total sum of supernatural systems. By reasoning alone we can determine that superstition is the anchor of divinity. It is also inconceivable to imagine whether divinity could be possible without bringing supernaturality into the scene of concepts.

DIVINITY: THE FICTION OF SUPERNATURAL

It is but natural for a human mind to infer that the supernatural is authored or driven by the divine, otherwise, the theory of supernatural could just be a wingless bird.

We will try to classify this thing:

When a system diverts from its natural process, it must have been moved by some-being which is the divine. After which, when a system was diverted from its natural process because of the intervention of the divine, it is safe to say that it is the supernatural order.

Logically, what we refer to as supernatural is the effect caused by the divine. In other words, the divine is the nearest conclusion at the occurrence of the supernatural. There is a possibility, therefore, that the idea of divinity could just be a by-product of the supernatural theory. Because we infer the cause by its effect, this is to say that without the effect there could be no way of pointing at the divine as the cause.

When we say “Divinity: the fiction of supernatural”, it means “divinity being a creation arising from the theory of supernatural”.

THE ‘FATHER’ THEORY AND THE LOGIC OF COMPARISON

It is a phenomenon in every civilization to have a leader or in any institution to have a master.

In every home of every family in this globe, the image of a father signifies as that of a captain of a ship. This attitude becomes a part of human relations, it becomes a part in the sense that our mind would automatically register the symbol of a father without being told or without having been declared.

In like manner, man being a discontented animal, had successfully find a way to imagine a divine father which serves as his absolute protector and provider. Because of this mind set, man’s discontented mind begins to ease. Man then tries to minimize his fears of the unknown in a way that he finds an invisible shield of which he believed who created him, who protected him, who provided him everything, who loved him and who wouldn’t want him to be injured.

This show how powerful is the human mind.

By way of comparison, a divine being is just like a father of the family of which the intention is for the welfare of his children; a divine father is like a king of a nation which all the properties therein belongs to him, he has many angels as his servants and soldiers.

Since the divine being has been classified as spiritual or not belonging to the material kingdom, the human mind accommodates them in a divine territory as their residence which is what man called the “heavens”. As it is said, all the divine characters has their functions that is entirely similar to the functions of every person of good standing in our community.

In this wise, we can clearly visualize how the “father” theory had been influenced by the mind’s power to make a sound comparison. The ability of man reaches to the point where he could create things in his mind by the use of similitude and comparison.

Similitude and comparisons are powerful enough to produce the image of an idea the same as the thing compared upon.

THE CREATURES OF FEARS

Fear has always been a parcel of man’s consciousness. It is oftentimes an effect of reasonable thoughts and feelings. Fears had even caused man to think and to make a thorough reflections on matters feared upon. In fact, fear is a mystery of human mind. Perhaps, the origin of fear is the experience of man which brought him to a level of awareness.

There are so many things created by reflections out of fear. For instance, a fire-arm is invented in the name of protection and protection had been borne out of fears.

The same observation leads us to conclude that the fear of death creates the “eternal life”  and the “resurrection” theory in major religions; the fear of suppression creates the concept of a loving divine father; so on and so forth…

Needless to say that FEAR is one of the hidden powers of human mind which capacitates him to design a defense mechanism to protect himself from danger, may it be actual or imaginary.

                                                              

Wherefor, man invented objects to bust his fears – inventions even include the theory of divinity, these objects are the creatures of human fears.

THE PLEASURABLE FANTASY

Man wishes a lot of things, his wishes even extended the after-life.

Wishes produced a great effect to the lives of many; it brings  about prospect, happiness and purpose of his existence.

Man’s wishes create what he hopes, he hopes what he desired and he desires whatever it is that brings pleasure to him.

Man is really a mechanism of peculiarity. His mind is so complicated and equipped with so many abilities formed by its natural operation but capable of creating supernatural things. The mind is also a great machinery with a built-in power to fantasize.

The fantasy created by the mind is an expression of creativity, hence, the mind is capable of forming various abstracity thru fantasy.

SUMMATION

Man is, indeed, a prisoner of his own thoughts, an actor of his belief and a mechanism of peculiarity. He is a unique machine with an inherent strong power and innate ability of performing anything;

He is the only animal which has a great degree of necessities and desires.

Inspite of all this, he has a broad awareness and understanding which enables him to satisfy himself within his resources.

The greatest of all of his achievements is his inventive cleverness and creativity; he can form anything whatever his mind can conceive.

Within this line, there is no doubt on the fact that this specie, the man, is the creator of divinity.