Psychopaths and hypocrites blend well together and aim for money

Congealed Church-mongers and Jesus

A monger is someone who spreads something, for example rumours, a trader or dealer, trader or dealer, a promoter of something unpleasant, the Oxford and Collins dictionaries say.

A church in the sense it is used here, is "one of the groups of people within mainframe of Christian religion, for example Catholics or Methodists, that have their own beliefs, clergy, and forms of worship." (Collins)

Jesus and Other New Testament Stands on Divorce

Four gospels and letters of the New Testament tell about Jesus and put words in his mouth. However, there is no good evidence so far that Jesus is quoted verbatim in any of them, says Dr Geza Vermes in The Authentic Gospel of Jesus (2005). The religion editor Rupert Shortt fills in:

Nearly all scholars now believe that Mark's gospel (which ignores Jesus's birth and early life entirely) was the first to be written, and that it was expanded by Matthew and Luke . . .

[Vermes'] book is essentially a commentary on every word ascribed to Jesus by Matthew, Mark and Luke. It reaffirms . . . that Christianity rests on a colossal mistake. The carpenter's son from Nazareth performed exorcisms, healed the sick and preached the coming of the Kingdom of God. But he had no message for the Gentiles, still less any urge to found a universal church. He belonged solidly within his Jewish milieu, and his downfall resulted only from an act of prophetic zeal. "He caused a fracas in the merchants' quarter in the Temple a few days before Passover." (Rupert Shortt. "A question of faith (Review)". The Guardian, 20 December 2003).

So far, there are no good indication that any fisher and follower took down notes on the spot. Small wonder the sayings ascribed to Jesus are not exactly similar from gospel to gospel, even after much editing work in the early church. The earliest gospel, that of "Mark" were written decades after Jesus was crucified as a blasphemer, and it was not the apostle Mark who wrote it either. The same goes for the other three gospels in the Bible. Bible scholars agree on that. For more, see for example Dr Bart D. Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. (2005). (Several annotated Ehrman books)

Things Jesus stood for

From Mark.

Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

What God has joined together, let man not separate . . . Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery . . . And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery." (Mark 10:2-12)

"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (Luke 16:18)

Anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. (Matthew 5:32)

Anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." (Matthew 19:9)

Comment

The gospels differ both in how much they write on divorce, and in their "Jesus quotations", which are at best renderings:

1. In Mark there are no reservations: remarrying after divorce is adultery, and adultery is something severe in this context, and not abolished by the Holy Ghost and all the apostles in Acts 15 either.

2. In Luke is is just as unqualified.

3. In Matthew you can remarry if the other has been unfaithful. And according to the Law, your could do that all the time. Jesus humps along and says the Law is valid. On this too there is a cleaved tongue of teaching somewhere, and such things can make a man or woman a bit confused. [Matthew 5:17-20]

But as all the apostles and the Holy Spirit would have it, no special commands of Jesus entered the Great Deal for Christians (Acts 15). The Deal is in the Bible, and has not been annulled from above -

Granted that, suppose you have to counsel a Christian in matters of remarrying. On the horns of such a dilemma you may first find that the weight of Mark and Luke is twice as heavy as the weight of Matthew - supposedly, in that they are 2:1. Still, do not forget to ask about authenticity, and also take in all for a good grasp: In Romans and New Testament letters remarriage is permitted after a husband or wife dies: it is even encouraged in some cases [Romans 7:1-3, 1 Corinthians 7:8-9, 7:39, 1 Timothy 5:14]. Such passages further confirm the One Deal for Gentile followers - non-Jewish Christians that is laid bare in Acts 15 and 21:25)

Take heed: Feel free to cast away dross teachings and irrelevant teachings for non-Jews, to avoid being made puerile.

Buddhist Teachings on Marriage and Divorce

Take sensible counsel in the matter before divorcing.

Marriage. To understand what Buddhism refers to, one has to understand that in Buddhism, marriage is regarded as entirely a personal concern. Buddhism allows each individual the freedom to decide for herself or himself all the issues pertaining to marriage. Buddhist texts are silent on the subject of monogamy or polygamy, yet the Buddhist laity is advised to limit themselves to one wife. That does not mean it could be good or better to have more than one if all things go well, but how often do they?

Buddhism gives good advice on how to live a happily married life by what roles to fill to get the best out of it. It is wise and advisable to be faithful to one mate and not to to chase others, since effects of sexual misconduct include getting many enemies, being hated, and union with undesirable wives and husbands (cf. Dhammapada 309-10).

Marriage is a fine basis for individuals to be nurtured. In marriage, each partner develops a complementary role with appreciative recognition of the other's favours and skills. It may become a gentle partnership of equality.

Divorce. Separation or divorce is not prohibited in handed-over Buddhism. Separation is preferable to avoid miserable family life for a long period of time. One guiding principle is not to do harm to others or to oneself. Buddha further advises old men not to have young wives, as the old and young are unlikely to be compatible, which soon enough creates undue problems.

The Essence of the Foregoing

Being sound is better than going for being a follower of Jesus, says Jesus (Mark 2:17; Matthew 9:11-12; Luke 5:32). It is regularly better to be healthy than mentally ill or a flock animal (sheep, conformist).

When you suspect psychopathy in some sect leader or adamant, incoherent freak and cult monger, reduce your involvement and then leave if you are allowed to. A hardened psychopath cannot get well.

Many religious people may be dangerously limiting and prohibiting people. Each year some hundred thousands get kidnapped by a parent in the United States, and some of them end up in various sects and cults.

Along the way, at one point in your life you could realise that your mom is a sect monger - what then? Disentangle yourself first and value yourself also.

Face It

Traditional Western Christianity has hardly been following the commands of Jesus for many, many centuries.

• The communal sharing of property and wealth of the first followers - gone for most part.

• When the church saw it was served by non-evangelically baptising tender children, it found it fit to doctrinate young ones and baptise infantes without their consent. The church sought to dominate and used warfare, torture (the Great Inquisition) and pervert-faith and living against the common practice in earlier Christianity.

• The Hail Mary cult of Catholicism has no firm basis in the New Testament in that neither the apostles nor the Holy Ghost succumbed to it at the time. It is likely an antecended of the ancient Egyptian Isis cult, which has the forerunner of "Madonna and Child" iconology too. [More]

• The use of icons: When the church saw itself served by regular worship of pictures and sculptures against one of the Ten Commandment, it was that Commandments that gave way, not the common practice. Even Martin Luther took away the commandment against graven images in his little catechism, because of the widespread practice of icons and crosses etc. - things the Old Testament does not say are valuable. Iconoclasm was and is a long-standing counter-movement to this "holy profanement" in the Church History. There is not agreement about allowing pictures of Mary and other deified persons. Denominations differ in their views on it.

• Where are the signs of true discipleship, such as throwing mountains into the sea? The feats are never heard of. It is not enough to be ardent. One has to qualify for doing miracles on the words of Jesus for Jews -

The Boss

The Boss in Christianity has many marks of an insane, totalitarian fellow. It could be good to leave no room for "meta-cannibalistic" rituals and ceremonialism, or for ripping your eyes out for seeing interesting things with pleasure. There is much traditional ritualism and ceremonialism in traditional Christianity since a lot of it was copied from other religions in the Roman Empire. [Much more]

Sectarians may get the willingness to forego next to everything in the gospels to be served by the cult and sect and abide by the leader(s) on top. It is "goupism" with group adherence at work. So many sectarians find it profitable or convenient to limit young ones - controlling and manipulating others. Besides, some psychopaths are excellent in psyching out victims.

Further, salvation crooks play on the easily aroused emotions of youths, against what the Holy Ghost wanted non-Jewish converts to adhere to (Acts 15; 21:25). The teachings of Jesus for Jews only are pretty much out of the question for non-Jews, in the opinion of Dr Geza Vermes.

Crank indoctrination is widespread.

Top-dog Ridden

"Three equals one, and is there room for one more - for four?"

The cult and sect sees it fit to dupe the crew, and many leaders have been exposed as eager for money, influence and phoney prestige.

Teachings of Jesus seem quite ideal for thieves and vicious, brutal marauders or bullies, but not for nice and decent people. Those who live as Jesus commanded his sheep, they do their share in fostering a corrupt society, a den of robbers, thieves and bullies.

Against it, focus on giving to deserving, worthy ones. That is a Buddhist and Hindu perspective. There is also ample reason to choose good congenial company if you are a "plus deviant" as Abraham Maslow (1987, chap. 11) also calls those singular persons he identified as different from the average Joe's in positive ways. Choose your friends better: A very healthy individual may be branded as ill where the whole society is rotten, corrupt.

When the large society is inferior, good persons may suffer. The Scottish psychiatrist Ronald D. Laing holds that view: One has to consider the health of the larger frame and the larger society to. And take into account what the Canadian documentary "The Corporation" pinpoints about large, international corporations that many succumb to - the documentary say that not a few of them act largely as psychopaths. (WP, "The Corporation (film)").

Medard Boss

How to diagnose? Label and let others pay for it. That is a common method.

The Swiss psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Medard Boss:

Modern Western psychology is scarcely a century old. How should it already be in a position to make reliable statements concerning the actual ground and basis on which it takes its stand? After all, the immediate premiss underlying an the sciences is always the last one with which they expressly concern themselves. (Boss 1965:11)

The official Christian morality of the West ordinarily stamps man's bodily sensual nature as mainly guilt-laden, sinful or diabolical. It is something that ought not to be. (Boss 1965:60)

Christianity is largely a play on guilt in conform ways. You need to be a sinner to be accepted. Jesus said it first, if the gospels record his teachings faithfully, as they should. Guilt is is a subjective feeling. It stems from moral that is crossed, or from being harshly dealt with for long. The moral may either be in the form of parental injunctions, or pragmatic. Guilt may be felt anyway. Abraham Maslow adds to this that mature people feel guilt about falling short too, not only doing something ugly.

Hence, if you feel guilt, maybe you should try to check the reasons for it, and not just try to make it go away by a hectic lifestyle and drugs or frantic churchmonging or whatever. Some things need to be thought over, and the matters of the heart are heavyweight reasons, at least if heartfelt. Seek to remedy a wrong, make things good before deteriorations get worse.

The psychodynamically oriented Erik H. Erikson did the same with Martin Luther; he wrote an insightful book about him. A source of error to take into consideration is that of judging a writer by his or her outpourings and the opinions of bystanders. In some ways, judging a book by its cover and judging a stranger by his or her words is not ideal. (1993)

It is much the same with Jesus as described and in canonised and other gospels. There is a risk of wrong descriptions and not good sayings put in his mouth. We may talk about the gospels' Jesus and try to get to grips with that one, though. Or some may go by Acts 15 and 21:25 and refrain from wrangled chicken and black pudding, and the other parts of the deal for non-Jews - the four requirements. That Acts document made it to the canonised books of the Bible. But there are other Acts too that we could profit from reading into a little bit. If the Deal for Gentiles is confirmed there too, what more do I need to say? The other Acts are:

• The Acts of John
• The Acts of Paul
• The Acts of Thecla
• The Acts of Thomas
• The Acts of Peter

Dr Bart D. Ehrman writes "Only one account of the activities of the apostles of Jesus came to be included in the New Testament, the book of Acts, written by the author of the Gospel of Luke." What characterises the five other Acts who did not get canonised? What is left of them do not tell that the Spirit and all the apostles agreed, but do not talk against it either. The Acts of Thomas comes closest to it; the first chapters of the Acts of Peter are missing. These Acts are most of all tales from after that event.

Well, the five other Acts were not canonised. Ehrman, further:

The second century . . . saw the production of numerous legendary accounts of the missionary endeavors of the apostles . . . These narratives recount the apostles' heroic deeds in order to show that they were empowered by the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit to do God's will here on earth, as they heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead. [T]he apostles encountered [many obstacles] in their confrontations with advocates of "pagan" religions, whose temples are occasionally destroyed by a word from an apostle . . . Some of the stories involve miracleworking contests between the apostolic advocates of the truth and their heretical opponents . . . In addition to tales of the apostles who were known from the New Testament, there were lively accounts written about others as well – most notably a female apostle, a companion of Paul, named Thecla, whose miraculous exploits and supernatural escapes from death continue to enthrall readers . . . Throughout these accounts one ?nds . . . an ideological point, stressed time and again, relating to the need for true followers of Christ to abandon the trappings and pleasures of this world . . . in order to participate fully in . . . the world of God . . . urging their readers to abandon what might be otherwise thought of as wholesome activities of daily life . . . Scholars have long noted that this ascetic ideology stands at tension with . . . pagan romances [that] af?rm what today some might call "family values," [and] denounce these as worldly concerns to be overcome by the true believer. (Ehrman 2005:92)

"All right or normal "as a sick sheep or blood-food-enjoying Christians - shudder?

At any rate, Maslow's many words about adequate persons are there to look up. He wrote many books about his findings. [Link]

Psychopaths according to Sirnes

The Norwegian psychiatrist professor Tollak B. Sirnes has written books about mental health and psychopaths. They have no normal sense of shame. They lie shamelessly and disregard others, their property, their lives, their heart feelings, and what they own. They can be experts at feigning, and misusing the overbearance, kindness and goodness of others. Psychopaths may not be healed, and their deceptions may go on a long, long time. It is a mistake to try to help such cases. Staying away from them works better for most people. Hindering rascals from getting into prominence and power could be needed too.

Psychopaths are the dangerous loonies, making victims of mates, their family, and even children. [Sirnes 1968]

The Jesus as portrayed in the gospels

The gospel-announced Second Coming is a time for mourning. [Matthew 24:30]. Jesus said he would become a cause of hate [Matthew 10:22]. If you want to diagnose him more safely and properly, you could try to weigh the different scores on the measurement scales. [Diagnostic main points] He wanted others to be perfect as his Father, who sent him to the cross for the Jews, and in vain.

Jesus appears to have a wicked and not first-class sense of morality (cut off your hand if it offends you mentally and such things).

It might take a psychometrist from another culture than a Jesus-submissive or Jesus-hailing one to assess that if he scores on 7 out of 9 of the points of a good checklist of mental disorders, there is a need for further action. Consider how others who claim to be God, like he did, have been put away and given mind drugs in attempts to keep them manageable.

There is a long list. Much depends on

• Knowing the one investigated, or gospel statements. Be aware that faith is not knowledge, and often opposes it.
• The competence of the ones who study him, Branding is much likely not enough,
• What the test takers have been told about Jesus from others, and so on.

People differ; allow for it and see to sound precautions in time.

Main indicators of psychopathology need to be handled with care, be interpreted carefully. See if you find these and other hallmarks confirmed:

• Cruelty to pigs and other animals beyond an angry outburst. Voodooing evil spirits into pigs so that they drowned themselves is massive cruelty to animals.
• Fire setting and other vandalism - the deliberate setting of destructive fires with utter disregard for the property and lives of others. "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! [Luke 12:49]". He says he came to sow discord - the gospels clearly say.
• Lying and confusing double-talk that extends beyond a child's normal impulse to not be punished. Lies are so extensive that it is often impossible to know lies from truth. - The authorities found it fit to have him executed.
• Theft and truancy. He made disciples just take a colt that belonged to another.
• Aggression to peers can include getting others into trouble or a campaign of psychological torment.

Also beware of those who claim to represent Jesuism, also called "original Christianity of Jesus Christ". Some cheat and lie for getting followers, and take into account there is such thing as Christianity of Jesus. Get deft.

Mind a non-Jewish "original Christians" fakes and fakers make victims of innocents; it easily happens. You should take sides against massive signs of psychopathy. Psychopaths may tyrannise, hurt and derange others: study the history of the Church.