Religion sues Utah town to display '7 Aphorisms'

First Amendment Center ^ | 8.05.05 | Associated Press

[mugs99]

I thought the gnostics beleived the world was created by an evil god...

I thought the gnostics were the original Christians...the ones the Roman Christians persecuted to extinction.
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[AppyPappy]

I thought the gnostics were the original Christians...the ones the Roman Christians persecuted to extinction.

Negative. They fell out of favor with the Roman government which is never a good thing.

[kharaku]

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/gnosticism.html

Probably better not to poison the mind with their wacky thoughts though.

[Haru Hara Haruko]

everything has its pair of opposites

So, like everything must be infinte, man, like, because if everything has a pair of opposites that's like three things, and, like, that pair of opposites must each have a pair of opposites, so, that's like six things, and each of those three other opposites has, like, wait, I need a calculator... hold muh bong, man.

[Reaganesque]

Apparently they're not much of a threat as they are all at home "experiencing creation". Caution: the "experience" involves holy oil, your right hand and your happy place. Click here for the messy details.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

A special codicil for Minnesotans only: Subrule: "Your father had to get drunk out of his mind to catch those smelt, so now we're all going to eat them."

[dayglored]

> You're not to far off. Go to their website and go to the far right of the screen. You will see a link that says "Merh". Click on it. It will lead you to another link in blue. Click on it. On the left hand of the screen, there will be several links including "home", "Free e-book" and "The Magic of Mehr". You want the very next link. There you will find what they consider to be " the most Divine of all Metaphors". I do not repeat it here because it is so thoroughly objectionable. I provide the links to it only so I am not accused of making this up. These people are sick.

Having just followed your directions, I have only one thing to say.

"EE-EWWW-WW!!!"

You're right. These folks are twisted. They have a right to their beliefs. But at home. I wouldn't want to see this stuff in a public place.

[mugs99]

Probably better not to poison the mind with their wacky thoughts though.

Sounds like any other Christian to me.
"Gnostic belief that the soul suffers in this world and it is fate that man should have to endure it. In turn, living a righteous life leads to salvation"
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[Captain Rhino]

Clear as mud. Sounds like something God would have handed down - NOT!!

[kharaku]

o_o is that all you read on the page?

[mugs99]

Apparently they're not much of a threat as they are all at home "experiencing creation".

ROTFLMAO!!!
"The universe was created with a Big Bang through the Masturbation of God"
Beats Coroporal Mortification!
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[dayglored]

> Apparently they're not much of a threat as they are all at home "experiencing creation". Caution: the "experience" involves holy oil, your right hand and your happy place. Click here for the messy details.

I'm glad you didn't post their statue of God creating the universe directly into this thread. (CAUTION: IMAGE OF SEXUALLY EXPLICIT STATUE)

I repeat (concise version): "Ewww."

Not that most folks don't do this themselves from time to time. But to say that God having a yank was the Grand Principle of Creation is pretty over the top. I thought only old, obsolete religions worshipped genital functions directly. Oh, and maybe adolescent boys, but we won't go there today.

Let's ask these goofballs to please stay home.

[mugs99]

o_o is that all you read on the page?

No, but there are many beliefs of different Christian sects that I find more repulsive than the Gnostic texts. Corporal Mortification and Demonic Possession are mainstream Christian beliefs that I believe to be insane.
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[FormerLib]

Summum leaders believe these were initially passed only to a select few who could understand them...

Sounds oddly similar to the Gnostics.

[lilylangtree]

III. THE PRINCIPLE OF VIBRATION
"Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates."



A vibrator to women was a gift from God.

[spetznaz]

If those are the 7 Aphorisms for real then they follow certain Alchemical principles of magick. Had you not said they were some real faith I could have swore that you lifted them from some Grimoire, probably late 19th century. Interesting.

I did not know these guys still dabbled in the esoteric and occult. That stuff is basically lifted from the the older tradition, in many ways word for word. The only major differences is the wording of the principles, eg instead of the alchemical princinple of signatures the Aphorisms call it the principle of correspondence, and instead of the twin principles of thaumaturgy the Aphorisms have the principle of cause and effect).

The sad thing is these people spend so much time on principles that can be derived from a year old fortune cookie reading,looking for benefits that can be acquired from simply watching a sun set or making a child laugh. Really sad.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

VIII. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE BAH-BAH-BEE-BEE
"What is… is. What was… will be. What will be *was*, but will be again."

[KC_for_Freedom]

While this case seems pretty clear, what about similar claims by more established religions? What if Muslims, or Hindus or Buddhists for example, ask for a monument - especially if they have a significant presence in the area, giving credibility to a claim of historical significance?

I don't see it as clear at all, the Supreme Court gave conflicting findings and pushed the question you ask further down the road, but did nothing to settle the question of whether a community can put religious symbols on the public property in their community. (The statue of Brigham Young in Salt Lake City for example.)

The Constitutional ban of "establisnment of a religion" means the compelling of citizens to join a religion or suffer consequences of some kind from the government. Putting monuments in a public place should not require evidence that the monument was historical or art or anything else, it could in fact be a recognization that many people in the community adhere to certain beliefs.

To answer the question about Hindus or Islamics, or some other recognized religions monument, I would say it depends on whether the local community (and not some offended individual) wants or does not want the monument.

[frankenMonkey]

Actually, Summum is a couple of winos living in a wooden pyramid, all left over from the 60s.

[Tree of Liberty]

That last phrase is the crux of the issue. Christians DON'T believe that living righteously will get you into heaven. Only faith in Christ can do that.