The author is a decorated Korean War veteran and a graduate of the
University of Wisconsin, having earned a Bachelor of Business
Administration degree. He has devoted his career to the insurance
industry, serving in administration, marketing, and sales, and is
now retired and living on the Blue Ridge Mountains in West
Virginia.
"Renaissance II" represents a synthesis of Christianity; the
philosophy of Plato; deism, which holds that God allows us to
determine our own destiny without his interference (except for our
access to grace), a belief held by Founding Fathers Washington,
Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin, and also by Lincoln; and certain
discoveries in quantum physics - all of which tend to suggest a
rational explanation of human existence and, to a degree, what the
spiritual goal of mankind might be.
The author had not seriously explored Plato's philosophy until it
was mentioned by a speaker at a business seminar. Because of the
intriguing manner in which his teachings on reincarnation had been
presented, the author made an effort to determine what the Bible
may have revealed regarding this particular subject. The most
startling disclosure he found was an emphatic, unqualified, and
unambiguous statement by Jesus that "John the Baptist was the Old
Testament prophet Elijah." In addition, there appeared to be many
other indications that tended to support reincarnation - Jesus'
prolonged discussion with Nicodemus regarding rebirth, for example.
On the other hand, there appeared to be only one contrary
indication: the statement that "it is appointed for men to die
once," and it is primarily this statement on which Christianity's
opposition to reincarnation has been established. (Curiously,
however, the first humans were not appointed to die, rather they
were endowed with immortality.) Another unusual result was to
emerge from this scriptural investigation: the author had convinced
himself of the essential principles of seventeenth-century deism, a
concept of which he had no prior knowledge.
Surprises were to continue, with further research establishing that
Christian theology had not been based on the revelations of Jesus,
or otherwise on Scripture, but "primarily on the teachings of
Plato" - with one significant omission: Plato's central principle,
reincarnation, had been ignored. Strangely, however, early
Christian history illustrated that a belief in reincarnation had
been openly accepted and disseminated by virtually all of the Greek
Christian Church Fathers, including the illustrious Origen, by
several bishops, and even by some saints - and we must wonder how
their canonization processes overlooked their having embraced this
pagan belief. In addition, reincarnation was being taught
essentially as doctrine in prominent Christian schools located in
Athens and Alexandria.
Also of significance is St. Augustine's prediction that Platonism
would "unlock the treasures of the faith," and we must wonder why
Augustine believed that certain Christian truths remained locked
up? In fact, it now appears that reincarnation may have been
"locked out" of Christian doctrine - not because of the
determinations of religious authorities, but by Roman Emperor
Justinian, who held no ecclesiastical powers and who, by historical
evaluations, was a personal disgrace by Christian standards. His
initial hostile action regarding reincarnation was to close the two
schools that had been promoting the belief. Also, it has been
established that he opposed a group called "Origenists;" however,
at that point the record becomes unclear. The final irony is that
religious scholars cannot determine that reincarnation has ever
been officially condemned by a Church Council, even though two such
councils, having met in 1274 and 1439, apparently had assumed that
reincarnation "had previously been condemned "
Coincidentally, about the time that the author had undertaken this
researc
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
