From: Charles
To: Thomas Lee Abshier
Saturday, December 26, 2009 10:21 PM
Subject: Christmas-Day Bomber

Merry Christmas, Tom,

Have you heard about the Christmas-Day Bomber?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/wealthy-quiet-unassuming-the-christmas-day-bomb-suspect-1851090.html

Maybe he was mentally unstable (Nidal Malik Hasan), or rejected by women (Naveed Haq), or taking an acne medication that has suicidal ideation as a side effect (Charles John Bishop/Bishara).

What do you think?
Charles


On Sun, 12/27/09,
From: Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
To: "Charles”

Charles, In response to your question about the Christmas-Day Bomber -- I believe he was misprogrammed by an erroneous gospel, and he acted out a rash and misguided spasm of rebellion against the seeming futility and meaninglessness of life. He had a history of privilege, which gave him a view of the outcome of the best that life had to offer. As such, he was not under the illusion that money, status, or accomplishment will provide a total peace and fulfillment of the soul. From his position, given to him without personal effort, he could easily interpret the ordinary track of life, and world of commerce, labor, relationship, pain, and death, as an incorrect method/path of life/soul fulfillment. Thus, when an erroneous gospel offers peace and Truth by destroying the current "erroneous" world system, a person with little investment in attaining pleasure (because all the world has to offer has been given to him), he follows that teacher/philosophy and does so with the vigor of the soldier for Truth. But, being misguided, he creates destruction and pain, and serves the demonic ends and forces that inspired the unGodly philosophy he embraced.

Each person has his own Achilles heel, a point of vulnerability to absorbing and adopting Error as a god that gives direction from the internal pantheon of philosophies, ideas, and spirits. Error seems to exploit a man's weakness and ignorance of Truth. Having not been exposed to and/or having not adopted the Truth (The Philosophy of life that properly orders a man's life in a Godly way), and having immersed and impregnated his mind in the philosophy of an erroneous/incomplete gospel, he acted according to the voices, urges, and ideas springing from the internal realm.

It only takes a moment of passion, with inhibitions suppressed, and the internal demons are given the vehicle of body/mind to make manifest their hellish possibilities.

The types of “cause” for terrorist ideation and action you mention are commonly represented as being the source of the individual acting out. Popular psychology often attributes medication, upbringing, and/or social/economic pain as the "reason" men engage in sociopathic outbursts, jihads, and criminal acts against society.

These of course are valid and important factors to consider, but we must ask if there is a deeper and more fundamental cause underlying the susceptibility to error.  

As a society, and government, we cannot fully defend against those who are committed to satisfying the various impulses of the flesh/mind.  Pathological ideation can arise from the spirit realm itself, as the demonic layer imposes vision and desire upon the nervous system.  

But, the ideas of evil will find no fertile ground unless there is a susceptibility to error in the philosophical structure of the soul.  There are potential irritants to the body/mind that may allow sociopathic ideation to generate more freely, such as a drug, head injury, or strong exposure to traumatic events.  The genetics and family spirits may likewise give the man susceptibility to reception and embrace of erroneous thought processes.  

Likewise, we can have circumstances that train us to think and expect a particular outcome.  We all face one or more of these soul irritants as we transit through the gauntlet of life-insults and influences.  We all are tempted to act out the dark side of the Force.  But, we are all not equal in our susceptibility to the seduction of the satanic temptation.  We do not all act out our demonic urges.

Acting out comes when deficient inhibition and excessive activation converge.  As a society, we should play defense as a society against people who are under strong influence of the warp produced by the various toxins, structural defects, and errors of social programming.  

But, defense will never be adequate by itself to protect the society and its individuals from the criminals and sociopaths.  To optimize societal safety, we must take the offensive and engage in a proactive embedding of right thought, and training in right speech, and action in every member of society.  But, we cannot expect, or trust, the State to train us in right thinking.  Nevertheless, the State should reflect and reinforce the right thinking of the people.  Such is the essence of representative democracy, and rule of law.

To engage in this societal embedding of righteousness, we must all take up the banner of Goodness and promote it in our own sphere of influence.  Only when righteousness is generally promoted on all levels, and between levels, and guided by an overarching Truth, will the society achieve its optimal health.

The solution to the excellent ordering of a society is always a Right direction of the mind.  But, the individual is incapable of perfectly, and always, divining Rightly the way of Truth.  The standard of Truth (the optimum action at each moment) is held by God.  We spend our days on this earth challenging our concepts of Truth against the evidence of life.

We must embrace a pattern of Truth, that is actually True, otherwise we will defend and rationalize our error, excluding from consideration and distorting data that contradicts our conception, and generalizing our erroneous concepts as though they were in fact Truth.

Having chosen a standard of Truth, the milieu of society must provide the 1000 points of light, the points of accountability and feedback of error to the individual and group. This intense internal reflection will direct and correct thought, speech and action, but even the best intentioned society and leadership will embrace and teach error. Thus, each individual must take personal responsibility to oppose the social error taught by society and , and the ignorance and error embedded within the societal teachers. We are all students, and we are all teachers, and we should embrace both roles and seek perfection in both. Society has deeply drunk of error in the form of relativism and multiculturalism. The society as a group entity is directed strongly by the philosophy of its leaders, and the common knowledge of the masses. The philosophy of tolerance demands equal respect for all philosophies as equally good in their own sphere if no one is hurt and the participants consent. This philosophy emasculates the will and social authority to censure error, and allows it to proliferate unchecked in society. Rather than embrace the seduction of philosophical egalitarianism, we must all be vigilant in our pursuit of identifying Truth, and all should be courageous defenders of Truth, and points of accountability for those in our sphere. The question of what is "Truth" must ultimately be answered by each person, but it is my thesis that Truth can be found in the Holy Bible as a spirit that speaks the perfect Way to the heart in each moment. But, the voice of Error can be misidentified as the voice of Truth. Thus, the individual interpretation of Truth may or may not be the actual Truth that God speaks/intends/desires for a moment. We must engage in ongoing and hearty debate and defense of our perspective and view of Truth. Error will not stand up to rigorous debate and careful examination. No idea should be considered off limits for examination, and each axiomatic Truth should be examined for a deeper level of force and structure acting underneath it. Everyone, all individuals and groups, must remain vigilant in examining our hearts and minds, and attempting to program and rectify our thoughts and feelings to coincide with the Truth that is God's Truth. I believe this comes best by washing the mind with the Words of the Holy Bible, and engaging in hearty debate as to the meaning and applicability of those words to any given situation. Again, only a broad washing of the individual minds of those in a society with the words of Truth will bring to a minimum the environments that allow the breeding of unchecked spirits of Error. Until the Lord's Kingdom is established on Earth, local pockets of evil will emerge and act out their horrific dramas with their subsequent very real and painful outcomes. But, even in our current state of blindness to the fullness of Truth and eternity, such local cells of evil can be reduced to a minimum of intensity and frequency. The manifestation of evil in a truly Righteous Society will be largely confronted as errors of thought and speech by parents, friends, business, and social groups. The cause behind the behavior of the Christmas Bomber -- the lack of strong and effective accountability to those with a Right sense of Truth and behavior. The error of philosophy of those surrounding him, and the lack of a strong Right teaching and corrective force opposing his embraced Error allowed him to dwell on erroneous solutions to the problem of solving the questions of meaning, abiding pleasure, and life satisfaction.

T.

From:  Charles
To: Thomas

Well . . . that was a rather thoughtful reply to my rather flippant mail.

Frankly, I don't think one's personal circumstances make any difference whatever when he is motivated by a compelling redemptive myth. An honest reading of the Koran very clearly requires acts of terrorism against the United States and innocent civilians.  Yet, our political and governmental establishment bend over backwards trying to find other explanations for terrorist acts, no matter how implausible.  They have engaged in such rationalizations to explain away the Beltway Sniper to Zacharius Massoui, all so that we can say we haven't been hit again since 9/11.

Frankly, I have more respect for the suicide bombers than I do for CNN. At least they have some intellectual honesty and the courage of their convictions. Is that too harsh?

Charles

From: Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
To: Charles

Regarding the effect of personal circumstance on engaging in terrorist acts – the redemptive myth may be the compelling philosophy that drives action, but the issue I was addressing was susceptibility.  

Many are exposed to various redemptive myths, but not all adopt the mythology and act upon its life-directives.  Thus, the importance of susceptibility.  I believe that life circumstances provide a type of data that give the appearance of generalizable truth.  The metaphors of life experience are thus used to validate a particular life-possibility as True, and thus worthy of devoting one’s life to pursuing its ends.  

The fact that men can adopt error as Truth is by itself a notable observation  about life and humanity.  Clearly, the fact of a man’s full conviction about the truth of a perspective is insufficient to prove or disprove its Truth.  Men are clearly subject to the adoption of error, and once adopted can rationalize its maintenance.

Regarding the issue of the honor of the suicide bomber versus the CNN anchor who slants the news to give apologies to militant Islam, support for the foreign policy of appeasement, and applause for all socialist agendas.  

The man who stands for his convictions has a type of honor.  There is virtue in standing for one’s beliefs regardless of the consequences.  But, the amount of honor due the man who courageously expresses and espouses criminal, heretical, or erroneous beliefs is massively offset by the negative effect of his stands.  

There is honor in presenting a perspective well, in a sincere manner, with excellent diction and personal warmth.  But, if the message is corrosive – destructive of the society by seducing the populace into believing erroneous patterns of life, then the value of the presentation is again massively offset by the pernicious effect on the society.  

I give neither the suicide bomber, nor the lying newscaster, honor.  Both find a place on the gradient of evil.  Both serve the purposes of the forces that oppose God.  They deserve no credit for using virtue in the service of the evil.  In fact, that service may add a deeper level of damnation to the offense, since the patina of virtue may seduce the ignorant and naive to embrace and endorse the evil they would have normally rejected.

T.