2013 Reprint of 1925 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "The Hermetic Marriage" explains certain alchemical symbols in the nature of all things. Taking the chemistry of human relationships as the basis, this essay describes the true preparation of a Philosopher's Stone and Elixir of Life, according to the fundamentals laid down by Hermes and the ancient Egyptian priest craft. Manly P. Hall (1901-1990) founded the Philosophical Research Society in 1934, a non-profit organization dedicated to the dissemination of useful knowledge in the fields of philosophy, comparative religion and psychology. In his long career, spanning more than 70 years of dynamic public activity, Mr. Hall delivered over 8000 lectures in the United States and abroad, authored over 150 books and essays, and wrote countless magazine articles.

With a mix of serious rational analysis and hilarious observations Holy Unbelievable looks at why so many people still believe in the existence of a divine being. The biblical text is examined and its many contradictions and absurdities laid bare. Is The Bible the source of human morality? Did Noah really build an ark? It is fair to say that PC Dixon is not convinced. Whether you are a believer or not this book offers much food for thought and plenty of amusement. 'This book is intended to make you think: That's a good point and also laugh from time to time. Hopefully simultaneously in many cases.' - PC Dixon

The remarkable discussions in this volume took place between Rudolf Steiner and workers at the Goetheanum, Switzerland. The varied subject-matter was chosen by his audience at Rudolf Steiner's instigation. Steiner took their questions and usually gave immediate answers. The astonishing nature of these responses - their insight, knowledge and spiritual depth - is testimony to his outstanding ability as a spiritual initiate and profound thinker. Accessible, entertaining and stimulating, the records of these sessions will be a delight to anybody with an open mind. In this particular collection, Rudolf Steiner deals with topics ranging from limestone to Lucifer! He discusses, among other things, technology; the living earth; natural healing powers; colour and sickness; rainbows; whooping cough and pleurisy; seances; sleep and sleeplessness; dreams; reincarnation; life after death; the physical, ether and astral bodies and the 'I'; the two Jesus children; Ahriman and Lucifer; the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ; Dante and Copernicus.

A Secular Humanist's tour de force, Don Libey's second novel offers Christian believers rare insight into the true fallacy of God's Church and a Life in the Lord. Set in Small Town, America, it is the story of how people of blind faith plant their seed, nurture their beliefs, and harvest their rewards with their unquestioning reliance on the mythical divine and revealed Word of God and the moral rectitude and disaster of Christian teaching. For those for whom "Jesus is enough" this is a story that reveals the "old-timey Gospel" as essentially hypocrisy and a simple life with God on your heart as the primary ingredient for the church to make money and keep its "believers" enslaved.

If you've considered leaving your religion, you are not alone. Each year over two million adults in the United States decide to no longer identify themselves with a specific religion. In 2012, according to the annual Pew Forum American Religious Identity Survey, over 45 million (20%) of the adults in the United States no longer claimed a religious tradition. For a variety of reasons, many are discovering religion doesn't work for them any longer. Unfortunately, for those becoming post-religious, there is very little being written by them or for them. In this book, James Mulholland - a former Christian minister and author of several best-selling religious books - offers practical advice to those struggling to make the shift from a religious to a non-religious life. Regardless of your religious background, there are common challenges in this transition. Understanding your losses, obstacles and opportunities can ease your pain and speed your development as a post-religious person. Leaving Your Religion guides those leaving a religious tradition through the process of leaving home, walking away and moving forward. When you think about your religious life or your understanding of God, if you struggle with persistent doubts, growing discomfort and feelings of sadness or anger, Leaving Your Religion may be for you. If you're already journeying away from religion, it may be a helpful travel guide. The book provides direction for those on the cusp of leaving, those who've walked away and those who - though they've left their religion - still struggle with sadness or anger. There are questionnaires, reflection questions, exercises, quotes and advice for the journey away from religion. Leaving Your Religion offers a gentle word of encouragement and hope for those seeking to create a non-religious life.

Why am I an agnostic? Because I don't believe some of the things that other people say they believe. Where do you get your religion, anyway? I won't bother to discuss just what religion is, but I think a fair definition of religion could take account of two things, at least, immortality and God, and that both of them are based on some book, so practically all of it is a book. As I have neither the time nor the learning to discuss every religious book on earth, and as I live in Chicago, I am interested in the Christian religion. So I will discuss the book that deals with the Christian religion. Is the Bible the work of anything but man? Of course, there is no such book as the Bible. The Bible to made up of 66 books, some of them written by various authors at various times, covering a period of about 1,000 years -- all the literature that they could find over a period longer than the time that has elapsed since the discovery of America down to the present time. Is the Bible anything but a human book? Of course those who are believers take both sides of it. If there is anything that troubles them, "We don't believe this." Anything that doesn't trouble them they do believe.

Infinity and God have been close bedfellows over the recent millennia of human thought. But this is James A. Lindsay's point. These two ideas are thought, mere concepts. Lindsay shows in a concise and readable manner that infinity is an abstraction, and shows that, in all likelihood, so is God, particularly if he has infinite properties. This book is about math. It is about God. It is about stressing the importance of not confusing these two ideas with reality. Never the twain shall meet. "A short and engaging read on the meeting of two huge ideas, infinity and God, that leaves us seeing both as abstract ideas that may have nothing to do with reality. Honest and accessible, Dot, Dot, Dot is a great little book to stretch your thinking." - Peter Boghossian, author of A Manual for Creating Atheists "Timely, important and very readable, this book pulls the rug from under theists' feet." - Jonathan MS Pearce, The Little Book of Unholy Questions "Read this to avoid making any more cardinal sins and learn how much math is an amazing human endeavor." - Aaron Adair, PhD, The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View

While I can make various arguments for the harm that religion does in the world, and the dangers represented by a faith mentality, the primary issue that I remain passionate about is that religion is false. The underlying premise is untrue, which means that everything that is built upon that premise is also untrue. The staggering amount of time, money, emotional energy and bloodshed expended in the name of something completely fictitious is a crime against humanity. So while there are debates about religion's place in society, whether the charitable works they do add value, whether they should have tax exemptions and access to power in government, whether the comfort some people seem to derive from their faith is worthwhile and should be left unchallenged, I will focus on one thing: To show that the God of Abraham, from which the three great monotheisms were spawned, does not exist. I have read many books on the subject of gods, religions and belief in the supernatural. I've watched many debates on the matter as well, and one particularly vexing issue comes up frequently and leaves me feeling dissatisfied. That issue is the one of disproving the existence of God. Scientists will often stop well short of even making a claim about the existence of God, answering instead that one cannot prove a negative, i.e. we cannot prove that God doesn't exist. Many debates about the existence of God are often mired down in that esoteric point and the natural progression from there to debates regarding who carries the burden of proof. Arguments are presented and then countered and in the end, people must decide for themselves if they heard anything that impacted their thinking on the subject. I began to think that I could build a compelling argument for the non-existence of God, but I wanted more than just arguments: I wanted proof. What you will find in this book is a combination of both. Part I features arguments supporting my statement that the god of monotheism; the God of Jews, Christians and Muslims featured prominently in the Holy Bible and the Quran, does not actually exist. In Part II of the book, I will use evidence, or more precisely, the lack of evidence where evidence should exist, to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the Biblical God is a mythical figure no more real than Zeus, the King of Gods from Greek Mythology.

Atheism's leading lights have long been intellectuals raised in the secular and academic worlds: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens. By contrast, Jerry DeWitt was born and bred into the church and was in fact a Pentecostal preacher before arriving at atheism through an extraordinary dialogue with faith that spanned more than a quarter of a century. "Hope After Faith" is his account of that journey.
DeWitt was a pastor in the town of DeRidder, Louisiana, and was a fixture of the community. In private, however, he'd begun to question his faith. Late one night in May 2011, a member of his flock called seeking prayer for her brother who had been in a serious accident. As DeWitt searched for the right words to console her, speech failed him, and he found that the faith which once had formed the cornerstone of his life had finally crumbled to dust. When it became public knowledge that DeWitt was now an atheist, he found himself shunned by much of DeRidder's highly religious community, losing nearly everything he'd known.
DeWitt's struggle for identity and meaning mirrors the one currently facing millions of people around the world. With both agnosticism and atheism entering the mainstream--one in five Americans now claim no religious affiliation, according to a recent study--the moment has arrived for a new atheist voice, one that is respectful of faith and religious traditions yet warmly embraces a life free of religion, finding not skepticism and cold doubt but rather profound meaning and hope. "Hope After Faith" is the story of one man's evolution toward a committed and considered atheism, one driven by humanism, a profound moral dimension, and a happiness and self-confidence obtained through living free of fear.

Rudolf Steiner discovered that, in addition to "ordinary" space, negative space, or "counterspace," also exists, leading to a more holistic worldview. Steiner suggested that it was important to understand counterspace as a necessary supplement to the conventional approach. The author relates the phenomena of our world to both space and counterspace, which leads to a new scientific understanding. If counterspace actually exists, then the resulting interplay between counterspace and "ordinary" space must be significant. This concept is applied to gravity, liquids, gases, heat, light, chemistry, and life. Each aspect involves a separate investigation, whereas the various threads begin to interweave and become a unified whole. A new concept of time, and indications for a new approach to relativity and quantum physics begin to emerge. Note: Science between Space and Counterspace contains advanced mathematical and scientific proofs that the nonspecialist, general reader might find difficult.

Religions evolve, not metaphorically, but in a very real way. By applying survival-of-the-fittest principles to religion, we can finally understand how religion became incredibly infectious to the average human. Religion is perfectly adapted to its environment: your brain. In The Religion Virus, you will learn how infectious ideas like the loving father-figure God, the promise that death is not the end, the attraction of heaven, the threat of hell, and many others evolved from prehistoric to modern times. You will finally understand why today's religions survived while thousands of other religions and sects died out. The world's religions have amazing parallels to biological life: they reproduce, mutate, and compete with each other in an ongoing battle for survival of the fittest. Like biological life, over ninety-nine percenty of the world's religions are extinct, but the ones that remain are quite remarkable. They are the strongest and best. More importantly, survival of the fittest does not necessarily mean survival of the truth, but rather the survival of the things people want to believe, whether true or not.

Jabez from the book of Chronicles was a blessed man but was selfish. This book will encourage us to go beyond Jabez. Dr. T Charles Brantley is married to Jackie Brantley for over 27 years with three children. He has also earned a double Doctorate and Masters Degrees from Newburgh Seminary. In addition, he has authored 12 national published books. He is also senior pastor of Restoration Springs Interdenominational Church in Waterbury, Connecticut. (www.rest.org)

The remarkable discussions in this book took place between Rudolf Steiner and workers at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. The varied subject matter was chosen by the audience at Steiner's instigation. Steiner took questions and generally offered immediate answers. The astonishing nature of his responses -- their insight, knowledge, and spiritual depth -- testifies to his outstanding ability as a spiritual initiate and profound thinker. Accessible, entertaining and stimulating, the records of these sessions will be a delight to any open-minded reader.

Here Steiner covers topics ranging from elephants to Einstein. Among other things, he discusses ants, bees, shells, skeletons, animal and plant poisons, bodily secretions, protein and fats, potatoes, the human eye, water, animal migration, clothing, opium and alcohol, and thinking.

An uncommon look on how religion affects our lives, how we accept limits on our freedom and how we can do better for our children. The author is an immigrant from Holland and has expirienced living in a socialist environment before coming to the USA. Acknowledging that the USA is by far the envy of many in the world, it would be unrealistic to claim there is no room for improvement. The world will never be perfect for everyone, but it never hurts to exchange opinions on how we're doing and how we might improve.

"Santo Daime: A New World Religion" deals with a young, exotic and controversial religious movement. Emerging in the Brazilian Amazon in the 1930s, Santo Daime has since spread to many of the world's major cities. Santo Daime is a mixture of indigenous, popular Catholic, Afro-Brazilian, esoteric, Spiritist, and new age beliefs and activities. Ritual practice is centred on the consumption of a psychotropic beverage called 'Daime' which members believe enhances their interaction with the supernatural world. Because Daime is treated as an illegal narcotic in many parts of the world, outside of its Brazilian homeland most Santo Daime rituals are practised clandestinely. This book unites extensive fieldwork experience with an established theoretical background and makes a significant contribution to understanding the contemporary interface of religion and late-modern society. Individualization and religious subjectivism, pluralization and religious hybridism, transformation and detraditionalization, globalization and religious identity, and commoditization and religious consumption are among the many issues engaged by this book. "Santo Daime: A New World Religion" is an accessible and multi-disciplinary book suitable for undergraduate students and researchers working in Religious Studies, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, Cultural Studies and Latin American Studies.

The Complete Heretics' Guide to Western Religion Book One: The Mormons The next time that squeaky clean pair of LDS elders comes knocking on your door, they're in for a surprise Find out the secrets the Mormon Church would rather you didn't know (and for which they paid plenty of money to keep hushed up - unsuccessfully ) In this first book of The Complete Heretic's Guide to World Religion series, historian and award-winning atheist author Dave Fitzgerald takes us behind the Salt Lake Curtain for a glimpse at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and answers your questions: Where did this multi-billion dollar tax-exempt corporation come from? Did Joseph Smith really sleep with all those women? Are the Mormons going to take over the whole world, and if so, is there any way to stop them? But that's not all Learn about the bizarre, oxymoronic world of Mormon Archeology and discover their strange beliefs, not just all the crazy stuff you already know, but all the truly twisted things you never even suspected - including the astounding shocking skeletons rattling around in the closet of the Mormon church hierarchy. Don't miss out on this fun, informative and painstakingly researched historical romp by the highly praised and award-winning author of Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed At All. So when the missionaries show up on your doorstep, you'll have plenty to discuss with them... Later days, Saints The Complete Heretic's Guide to Western Religion. Because Religion isn't just wrong. It's hilarious.

We are in the midst of a culture war between science and religion. In this struggle science portrays itself as the white knight of enlightenment truth defending humanity against the dark forces of religious fundamentalism, ignorance and gullibility that threaten free thinking and progress. But is there really the fundamental difference between science and religion that the culture warriors like us to believe? This book takes the reader on an inside journey through science showing how scientific beliefs are made. It will show science as a human activity that is shaped by power struggles, personal interests, cultural prejudices, beliefs and values...and yes, experimental data as well.

Two grandfathers. Each born in the same year. The story of their lives will shock you and delight you. The way their lives intersected will astound you. Michael Newman tells the story of his grandfathers and how the events of their lives led him to wrestle with the biggest questions of human existence. It started with a murder. It kept going because of a miracle. Be prepared to think, to ponder, and to observe. There are no easy answers when you look square in the face of reality. "There is No God, Or is There?" takes you on a journey you will never forget. It may even change your life forever. Discussion Guide included For more books by Michael W. Newman go to: www.mnewman.org

This book aims to help poor downtrodden atheists and agnostics understand, if not appreciate, religion. Explains why it's got such a grip on us all, and what you can do about it From creation to civilisation: the longest story ever told. It's all here- including the funny bits, because what could be funnier than religion?

The Bible is the largest book of war ever compiled; it should be called God's Evil Word. "Bible Propaganda II" is based on how the act of blindly following the Word of God invites charlatans to take advantages of others who would follow them credulously down a path of deception. Unlike the first part, "Bible Propaganda," this book only examined scriptures in the first four chapters. The greater part of this book "The War on Earth, from Satan's Eyes" is a sci-fi loosely based around the Battle of Armageddon, as Michael leads Yahweh's vast armies against any and all who would not bow down to tyranny. A terrorist group takes over the Mosque demanding that the Holy Temple be rebuilt: they are in control of seven nuclear bombs. This escalates into WWIII, which then turns into the Battle of Armageddon. The bottom-line is that in presenting this fictional story from a different point of view, we can clearly see how ridiculous the religious belief in blind faith, called Bible-Babble-Bull, truly is. Bible prophecy is nothing more than exciting Bible fantasy.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!