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Ticket to Heaven Daily Dose

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Hrvatski Noahid:
Throughout her address to West Point’s graduating class of 1974, the Russian-American philosopher Ayn Rand emphasized the importance of philosophy to daily living, pointing out that the things that people believe to be true will dictate what they think should be done, and of course will influence how they behave. The beliefs people hold also dictate the kinds of public policies they will support, the kinds of politicians they vote for, and the kinds of corporations they do business with. One modern-day example of the hidden influence of philosophy is the metaphysical belief in climate change, which has influenced Western nations to spend tremendous amounts of time, money, and effort on things like electric vehicles, solar power, wind turbines, and other fossil fuel alternatives.

A more historical example of philosophy’s tremendous influence on Western society is the Declaration of Independence, which makes three metaphysical claims in its preamble that can be seen to form the justification for the entire American project. Indeed, the “self-evident” and “inalienable” rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness enshrined in the Declaration have served as not only a constant point of reference for American leadership throughout the generations, but as guiding principles for the living of American life and the evolution of American society. Even if different groups within the country’s body politic differ on how best to facilitate these rights, to question any of them is tantamount to sacrilege and heresy in American discourse.

Unfortunately for Western civilization, although the metaphysical claims made by the Declaration of Independence are decidedly more realistic than the Soviet perspective, bubbling beneath the surface of Western thought, and therefore beneath America’s founding documents, are a series of misconceptions, delusions, theories, and outright lies that, as can be plainly seen by the current series of catastrophes, are threatening the integrity of the entire utopian endeavor.

Beyond incorrect metaphysical claims made about human life and the universe, the West’s epistemology, or way of knowing, is also corrupted. While governments and institutions within Western nations claim to be operating according to the best scientific knowledge available, the reality is that much of what is “known” about the universe is a matter of scientific conjecture or expert consensus, not provable fact, and that a great deal of our “knowledge” is fraudulent, misrepresented, or based on information taken out of context. This means that for any Westerner to gain a proper appreciation of the world they live in, it becomes necessary to not only question the West’s metaphysical claims themselves, but how that body of knowledge was acquired in the first place.

Thus, to meaningfully address the crisis faced by Western civilization, it becomes necessary to critically review the entirety of the Western intellectual project, the metaphysical assumptions it has made, how it arrived at those assumptions, and what amendments must be made to rectify the worsening catastrophe. However, with reference to scholarship in many disciplines, including thermodynamics, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, media ecology, expertise studies, history, anthropology, and religious studies, it is possible to not only identify the root causes of the current crisis, but also the forms of the solutions that could salvage deeply troubled Western nations and ensure a genuinely utopian future. (Ticket to Heaven by Zachary R.J. Strong, PDF version, p 25-26)

Hrvatski Noahid:
Although this kind of radical juxtaposition of subjects might seem unorthodox or overambitious, the synthesis of the West’s vast stores of accumulated knowledge is both a long-awaited development and necessary for continued advancement of the intellectual tradition. Following the fragmentation of Western scholastic effort into highly focused disciplines over the last several centuries, and the countless discoveries that have been made since, many luminaries have called for researchers to balance specialization with reconciliation by spending more time finding relationships and agreements between different fields of inquiry.

Among these voices are Cardinal John Henry Newman, the founder of University College Dublin, who emphasized the importance of cultivating learned minds that could systematize and reconcile new information with what is already known. They also include feminist scholar Camille Paglia, highly critical of the exclusion of biology from the field of women’s studies, and lawyer Brian Muraresku, whose investigation of psychedelic mushroom use in the ancient Near East involved a blend of archaeology, history, and chemistry that has since become known as archaeochemistry. Over the past couple of decades, other chimeric disciplines have emerged that blur lines between disciplines in much the same way as Muraresku’s efforts, among them the field of biophysics, popularized by Erwin Schrödinger, and biologist Edward O. Wilson’s controversial sociobiology.

Aside from founding new fields of inquiry in biology, Edward O. Wilson enjoys credit for the reintroduction of consilience into the modern academic lexicon. This word, with etymological connotations of parts jumping together or unifying, was invented by British polymath William Whewell in the 1800s to refer to circumstances where multiple lines of independent inquiry all converge on the same answer. The concept was revisited to great acclaim by Wilson in his 1998 work Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, which introduced many readers to the value and potential of interdisciplinary inquiry for the first time.

Although it is not a word or concept most people are familiar with, the truth is that much of the physical sciences operates, at least implicitly, on consilience. For example, the Darwinian observations which gave rise to evolutionary theory are compatible with Gregor Mendel’s work on gene transmission, which itself is compatible with what is known about chemistry and basic biological processes, which in turn seems compatible with many laws of physics. Yet, while the sciences all enjoy a great deal of mutual compatibility, Wilson observes in his work that the relationship between the sciences and humanities is almost nonexistent. He further observes that many of the world’s most pressing problems, such as ecological, all require deep collaboration between the arts and sciences – and therefore the unification of all human knowledge.

While such a lofty goal may seem like something to be accomplished by luminaries and geniuses in the far-flung future, it is proving to be an urgent and necessary project given the fumbling, stumbling, and crumbling that has become endemic in Western nations. Thankfully, while a comprehensive revision of the West’s accumulated knowledge reveals that some inconvenient and painful corrections will have to be made, it also demonstrates that the information, tools, technologies, processes, and wisdom required to facilitate utopia have already been discovered. (Ticket to Heaven by Zachary R.J. Strong, PDF version, p 27-28)

Hrvatski Noahid:
Although the roots of Western civilization stretch back to Athens and Jerusalem, modern Western society sits on the branch that begins with the Council of Nicaea. This convention of early Christian leaders was held to decide, among many other controversies, on the divine nature of Jesus and the date of Easter.

The Council of Nicaea was one of the key events that set into motion the Holy Roman Empire, which dominated European culture and intellectual activity until the Renaissance over one thousand years later. Because of its position as the seat of European religious belief, Christianity’s influence on the West has been profound, from inspiring artistic works like Dante Aligheri’s Inferno and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, spurring the construction of architectural marvels like La Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, and perhaps most importantly, giving the Western world its metaphysical and ethical foundations.

The importance of the Christian worldview to the West cannot be understated. Aside from its many vectors of cultural and spiritual influence, Christian ethics can be found littered throughout Western jurisprudence, including laws named after the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the criminalization of homosexuality as an abomination, as well as implicit value judgements surrounding crime, guilt, and punishment. Even developments within the Church, such as the Protestant Reformation, spawned contributions like legal positivism, or the view of legal systems as a means, not an end.

Unfortunately for the West, and as many Christians are now discovering thanks to the internet, Christianity is a violently fraudulent and incoherent mess that has bamboozled and terrified generations of well-meaning people. Ever since Bruno and Galileo challenged the Christian cosmology, the world’s largest religion has been forced to make a series of compromises with European science, and particularly since the advent of Darwin’s theories, has been under outright assault by atheist philosophers like Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.

The rise of science, combined with the ongoing failure of Christian apologists to justify the existence of evil and suffering, the confusing nature of their Trinitarian deity, and other metaphysical and theological quandaries have caused one in four Christians to begin doubting their faith. Christian affiliation in the younger generations most subjected to these influences has plummeted, with the last few decades seeing the rise of a demographic who define themselves as spiritual, but not religious. (Ticket to Heaven by Zachary R.J. Strong, PDF version, p 29)

Hrvatski Noahid:
Despite these growing insecurities, also marked by the rise of alternative church aesthetics, secretly agnostic pastors, and an openly atheist Canadian pastor, the Christian populations of many nations such as Poland, Canada, and the United States still represent one of the largest political and social influences in the West. The partial collapse of Christian faith over the last two decades has activated some of the evangelical and activist wings of the faith, and street preachers have begun appearing on the corners of many cities as Christian rapper Bryson Gray conquers the Billboard charts with a grassroots Christian fanbase.

While a casual observer might think that Christianity has at least several decades left before it eventually crumbles, the reality is that unlike many other world religions, it explicitly claims to be the continuation of another religion – Judaism. Indeed, whereas the Christian faith claims may be a matter of belief from any other perspective, whether Christianity’s doctrines are consilient with the so-called “Tanach” is something that can be objectively tested.

Most unfortunately for the many Christians who have spent their lives, and even life savings, in pursuit of Biblical knowledge, an honest review of the evidence reveals that the doctrines and texts crafted by the early Church fathers intentionally savaged, butchered, and corrupted Jewish scriptures. Moreover, they instantiated one of the first major corruptions found in modern Western thought by injecting Greek philosophy into Jewish spirituality, a desperate metaphysical fusion that has manifested in tremendous spiritual confusion amongst Christian laypeople and clergy alike.

One of the most famous verses in the entire Bible is the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of the Gospel of John:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Originally popularized decades ago by the unorthodox ministry of Rollen Stewart, a sports fan with a rainbow wig and a sign simply reading “John 3:16”, this verse elegantly sums up the most salient aspects of Christian faith and doctrine.

Although many of them may not realize the true source of their faith, Christians believe in the Jewish concept of the Messiah, an extraordinary Jewish man who will bring about an era of enlightenment and world peace. Specifically, they believe Jesus of Nazareth to be that Messiah – who, as said in John 3:16, they think is uniquely special as the “son of God”.

Christians relate to Jesus as their personal savior, as the central doctrine of their religion states that the only way to Heaven is to believe in the efficacy of the blood sacrifice allegedly performed by Jesus, who the Gospels depict as dying by crucifixion for the atonement of humanity’s sins. Failure to understand, believe in, and be thankful for this sacrifice, in the Christian worldview, means one will certainly be burning forever in the underworld. (Ticket to Heaven by Zachary R.J. Strong, PDF version, p 29-30)

Hrvatski Noahid:
Although a full refutation of Christianity can and does take many volumes, there are several obvious issues with these doctrines when the Jewish perspective on their own religious scriptures is concerned. By affirming the Tanakh as divine scripture by incorporating it into their own Bible, Christians have left themselves defenseless against the many contradictions to their doctrines found in their so-called Tanach. For example, John 3:16 specifically claims that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s “only begotten son”, which conflicts with verses from the Tanakh that precede Christianity:

“This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son…” (Exodus 4:22)

“The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” (Psalms 2:7)

Moving through the rest of John 3:16, there is the issue of God allegedly allowing this “only” son, Jesus of Nazareth, to become a human sacrifice to atone for the otherwise-unforgivable sins of humanity. Even a cursory reading of the Jewish scriptures will reveal that this is no route to salvation within the Jewish faith:

“Fathers shall not be put to death because of sons, nor shall sons be put to death because of fathers; each man shall be put to death for his own transgression.” (Deuteronomy 24:16)

“The soul that sins, it shall die; a son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and a father shall not bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” (Ezekiel 18:20)

As can be clearly seen, any religion that claims to be based on Jewish scriptures cannot also claim to be based on an act of human sacrifice, as Jewish principles hold that every human being is responsible for their own sins and cannot intercede on behalf of another. Indeed, this fundamental aspect of the Christian faith simply is unjustifiable given the religion’s self-stated roots in Jewish doctrine and prophecy. Moreover, even sacrifices of animals are even seen as only being conditionally acceptable in the Jewish faith, as reiterated throughout the Tanakh:

“Of what use are your many sacrifices to Me? says the Lord. I am sated with the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; and the blood of bulls and sheep and hegoats I do not want.” (Isaiah 1:11)

“For I desire loving-kindness, and not sacrifices...” (Hosea 6:6)

(Ticket to Heaven by Zachary R.J. Strong, PDF version, p 31)

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