LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND THE NEGATION OF THE PATRIARCHAL PARADIGM:
Neutering the fathers. The sooner you get to the wife and the children, the easier it is.
by
Dean Gotcher
"One of the most fascinating aspects of group therapy is that everyone is born again, born again in the group." Irvin Yalom, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy
Liberation Theology is the use of theology for a humanist agenda—"group hug."
Liberation Theology is religion under the influence of the dialectical process—anti-Christ (a humanistic Christ: a user friendly, non-offensive, readily adaptable to change, "group hug" Christ).
Liberation Theology, built upon the dialectical process, practices "Bypassing the traditional channels of top-down decision making ..." Irvin Laszlo A Strategy for the Future: The Systems Approach to World Order This is the man who compiled the data to justify the ideology of environmentalism and all the social regulations which come with it, the use of environment control to subjugate every man, woman, and child under the "New World Order."
"Once the earthly family is discovered to be the secret of the heavenly family, the former must be annihilated, both in theory and in practice." Karl Marx Feuerbach Thesis #4
The dialectical process (Liberation Theology) is the circumventing of God's authority.
The dialectical process (Liberation Theology) is the circumventing of parental authority
Liberation Theology (The dialectical process in praxis) is not telling authority that it is "wrong," per se, but rather treating authority as insignificant—if it insists upon keeping itself in the way of "progress" (social harmony) it must be removed i.e. annihilated.
Once parental authority is discovered to be the secret of Godly authority, parental authority must be treated as irrelevant, both in the thoughts of the individual and in the practice of the community. paraphrase of Karl Marx's Feuerbach Thesis #4
"It is not individualism that fulfills the individual, ... Society is the necessary framework ...." Karl Marx
"... once you can identify a community, you have discovered the primary unity of society above the individual and the family that can be mobilized ... to bring about positive social change." Robert Trojanowicz
"A theology of the Church in the world should be complemented by a theology of the world in the Church." Gutierrez
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John 2:15-17
According to the dialectical paradigm, the essence of Liberation Theology, the social unit just above the patriarchal family is the collective voice of the community (the rebellious child in all the citizens in the community, "the child within" wanting freedom from restraint: "Impulse, the primary fact, back of which, psychically we cannot go." John Dewey, "Social Psychology," Psychological Review, I, p. 404). This collective voice of discontent, (impulse restrained) from which all social change can be made (utilization of dissatisfaction), is a heresiarchal paradigm—a paradigm or way of thinking which can not know (realize) "truth" ("Truth is a moment in correct praxis." Antonio Gramsci) without the use of a "neo-Marxist lens." A lens which requires the materialization of all issues and all resolutions, a lens which filters out all objective truth, a lens negating any voice (the eyes are stronger than the ears) which obstructs man's human internal desire to unite with his own nature seeking unity with the environment around him, any voice causing a self-environmental dialectical rift, a lens implanted in every citizen for the sake of liberating and uniting universal subjective "truth." Therefore sensuousness, both individual sensuousness of worldly pleasure, experienced through the senses of touch, taste, sight, smell, and sound, and social sensuousness, which desires personal worth in the eyes of the others (human relationship—respect of men), must become the basis of reality. A "quality" or feeling of oneness or wholeness is its quest. Using social issues as its platform, such as poverty i.e. the poor, it builds upon sympathy (the affective domain) for those under any condition of restraint (the "have not's") to promote a hate for any condition which promotes restraint, including those who use, support, and therefore sustain the process of restraint (the "haves") i.e. the patriarchal paradigm. "Zweckmässigkeit ohne Zweck; Gesetzmässigkeit ohne Gesetz" ('purposiveness without purpose' — i.e. beauty, 'lawfulness without law' — i.e. freedom).'' "Whatever the object may be (thing or flower, animal or man), it is represented and judged not in terms of its usefulness, not according to any purpose it may possible serve, and also not in view of it ‘internal' finality and completeness." Herbert Marcuse Eros and Civilization In this way, the sense of social oneness, commonly called "group think," becomes the guiding "light" for all individuals, thereby usurping any extrinsic behavior (teachings and thoughts) contrary to social relationships, countering social progress.
"Alienation has a long history. Its most radical sense already appears in the biblical expulsion from Eden." Stephen Eric Bronner Of Critical Theory and its Theorists (The Institute of Social Research aka "The Frankfurt School")
Children "have not acquired that sense of shame which, according to the Biblical story, expelled mankind from Paradise, and which, presumably, would be discarded if Paradise were regained." "Freud commented that only through the solidarity of all the participants could the sense of guilt be assuaged." "In the words of Thoreau: ‘We need pray for no higher heaven than the pure senses can furnish, a purely sensuous life. Our present senses are but rudiments of what they are destined to become.'" "Whitehead and Needham are calling for a science based on an erotic sense of reality." Norman O. Brown Life Against Death
Any condition which alienates man from his own nature and his social worth must be annihilated for the purpose of universal harmony—the realization of self worth. A condition must be initiated and sustained where theory, our thoughts which challenge the existing order, is allowed freedom of expression, emotionally and "rationally," and action or praxis (practice) must result in social revolution, the overthrow of the existing order i.e. the negation of the establishment with its patriarchal paradigm of "There is the only way, so do it this way or else." In Liberation Theology objective truth does not lie above man, it lies within man, it is mankind united with his senses, through the praxis of overthrowing anything which insists upon "non-sense" i.e. religion. "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." Karl Marx MEGA I/1/1
"Feuerbach does not understand human activity itself as objective activity, as human sense activity, as practical activity, subjectively. He therefore does not grasp the significance of ‘revolutionary,' ‘practical-critical' activity. " Karl Marx, Feuerbach Thesis #1
"Empirical observation is the sensible world as practical, human sense activity." Karl Marx Feuerbach Thesis #1
"Sense experience must be the basis of all science." "Science is only genuine science when it proceeds from sense experience, in the two forms of sense perception and sensuous need, that is, only when it proceeds from Nature." Karl Marx, MEGA I/3, p. 123
"Under the conditions of repression the essence of being lies in the unconscious." "If society imposes repression, and repression causes the universal neurosis of man, . . . there is an intrinsic connection between social organization and neurosis." "The bondage of all cultures to their cultural heritage is a neurotic construction." "The core of the neurosis of individuals lay in the ‘memory-traces of the experiences of former generations.'" "Our repressed desires are the desires we had, unrepressed, in childhood; and they are sexual desires." "Man's sexual organization and social organization are interconnected." (Brown)
Liberation Theology is the quest of emancipation from repression. Repression being seen as any authority who suppresses the quest of human nature to unite with itself and with the environment (as a father disciplining his child for his rebellious nature, for his desire to do things his way, to do what he wants to do despite the father's commands not to, or not do what the father commands him to do). Spiritual atonement, the reconciliation of man with God—the creator above man, is replaced with spirit of temporal atonement, the reconciliation of man with his own nature, preparing his own pathway, common to all mankind, towards a reconciliation with the cosmos—mankind united with his "creative" nature of questioning established truth so he can discovering "truth" for himself within the creation. While reconciliation with that which is above alienates that which is below, reconciliation with that which is below alienated that which is above.
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:13, 14
Liberation theology is based upon the dialectical praxis of adolescence ("adults" acting as a society of children) seeking and JUSTIFYING freedom from the father's control (freedom from a patriarch paradigm, a top down system)—a system seen as repressive, an external control of human nature via the use of physical force and emotional force, the use of the removal of parental love and separation from objects of personal interest, resulting in the aberrant development of internal control—the conscience, resulting in asocial or antisocial behavior. As society grows industrially, typically the middle class maintains stability to the system of top-down control. Thus the middle class is seen by the lower class as the support of the system of "haves against have not's." It is the middle class, the Bourgeoisie (the resisters to change), who must be annihilated if the oppressor-oppressed syndrome is to be vanquished. It is up to the oppressed, the Proletariat (the grass-roots united in thought and action—"in theory and practice"—seeking change i.e. truth seekers: "Truth is a moment in correct praxis" Gramsci), conscious of the source of their suffering, to either physically remove the middle-class, the sustainer of laws and standards, or convert them through bringing them into dialogue, through the use of crisis (in the home or the community or the world or the environment) and then unite them in common action on common cause—praxis. If the latter can not be accomplished through appeal, then force must be employed.
Such action (praxis) is justified by dialectical reasoning, reasoning which recognizes environmental conditions as the source of the neurosis "good and evil." Any environment which inhibits social interaction (seen as evil), must be changed. Thus any condition, such as practiced by the middle class, which maintains the status quo of a system of repression must be changed either through dialogue or if necessary through force (violence). In this way, the middle-class, with its emphasis upon a strong father figure who insists upon obedience to his will, is seen as the source of inequality. It is up to the children, the Proletariat, the repressed, the oppressed, to overcome their own acceptance of and respect for the father paradigm.
Without outside assistance, helping them to become aware of the reason for their internal tension, consciousness (Conscientization), and giving them training, equipping them in the methods they will need in challenging the system (confidence in being "risk takers"), they can not unite in proper action to "capture the moment" of the crisis and change the home environment into an environment of change—producing equality in a "just society." Put another way, this detachment from the status quo, "this is the way we have always done it," produces chaos (uncertainty: "The irrational doubt has not disappeared and cannot disappear as long as man has not progressed from negative freedom [fear of the parent and his laws] to positive freedom [love of the group and its cause]." Erick Fromm Escape from Freedom) which most likely can not be overcome without assistance from the "professional managerial class," people trained in the facilitation process of mediation (masters of ambiguity for the sake of unity), formerly known in the Soviet Union as the "vanguard party."
"When we have determined the nature of forces which are affecting the present state of affairs we can think more clearly in selecting the forces or factors which should be modified if the conditions are to change in the direction we desire . . . our task then becomes either to increase the total strength of the driving forces for change or to decrease the total strength of forces opposing change or both." Kurt Lewin
In simple terms this is the three options of Kurt Lewin's Force Field analysis: 1) eliminate the negative forces, 2) add to the positive forces, or 3) convert the negative forces into positive forces. Either remove from power or influence, by force if necessary, the patriarchal figures in society (in meetings of policy), increase in number those who are in opposition to the negative forces, overwhelming the environment in favor of positive outcome, or help the negative forces, those who practice and support the patriarchal paradigm, to see the "evil" in their way of thinking and to therefore change their way of thinking. "The component forces can be modified in the following way: (1) reducing or removing the forces; (2) strengthening or adding forces; (3) changing the direction of the forces." Kurt Lewin
Getting people on the same page is the key to initiating the process. Bringing and utilizing crisis in the environment is the key ingredient to justifying change—creating a situation where problems can not be solved in "the accustomed way."
"critical reflection on praxis in the light of the word of God."
"critical reflection on historical praxis."
Gustavo Gutiérrez
The "logical outgrowth" (chaos theory) of "critical reflection on praxis" is "change." In this way the "light of the word of God" becomes captive to the "light of the human experience," ("on historical praxis") the crisis caused by inequality, "liberating" the word of God from its "rigidity" antithesis of above vs. below, right vs. wrong, light vs. dark, etc. and converting it into a tool for social change (the desire for brotherly love, "Can't we all just get along.") for the sake of survival i.e. self preservation—this is Liberation Theology, this is anti-Christ. The word of God, spiritual, in this way becomes temporal. It is not that man in a position of authority is good, he is not, it is that man apart from Godly restraint will use that office for himself, become a tyrant. This does not justify the annihilation of the office of authority, it does justify the limiting of the power of the man in authority, bringing him into accountability and responsibility within the office, under God.
The "historical praxis" of man has been the abuse of the office of authority, the exploitation of a top-down paradigm, the use of the office for personal gain, this is true for presidents, governors, mayors, legislators, judges, sheriffs, educators, ministers, bosses, parents, as well as children (refusing to practice self-control). The abuse of the office of authority can not become the justification of the negation of the office of authority. To do so is to make man and his nature the basis of civil society, this always leads to tyranny and oppression to all the citizens, especially those who desire to continue to praxis the office of authority, under God, which is his intent. History reveals the heart of man in the office and the necessity of the changing of the heart of men if the office is to function properly, both civically and spiritually i.e. in the spiritual domain (over the soul of man, that which is internal) as well as in the secular domain (over the body of man, that which is external).
"All this means that the life of faith is not only a starting point, it is also the goal of theological reflection. To believe (life) and to understand (reflection) are always part of a circular relationship … orthopraxis and orthodoxy need one another, and each is adversely affected when sight is lost of the other." Gutiérrez
Liberation Theology, by uniting secular and sacred, (above and below) undermines the office of authority, under God, and makes it dependent upon the "wisdom" of man , human reflection upon the relevance of God's word in light of the current setting, concerning the "felt" needs of mankind, his flesh. In this way it is not the heart of man which must be changed by God and his word, it is the environment or "right and wrong," which reveals the wickedness of the heart of man, which must be changed. Therefore, according to this way of thinking, according to this paradigm, it is the theory of man, his thoughts (his opinions in discourse, internally to himself and external with the comm-unity) in the light of the need for change, in the midst of crisis, which leads to correct praxis, and no longer the world of God, taken as is (spiritual) which judges mans praxis, which directs mans steps in the face of the crisis. Man no longer meditates upon the word of God, but reflects upon "the word of God" in the "light" of social needs. Individual salvation (from above) is replaced (united with) with social salvation (from below). This is the praxis of Communism and the One World Order seeking "world peace" by the negation of the patriarchal paradigm. In the way, the goal i.e. world peace, justifies the action (praxis).
Thus the word of God can not take on "purpose" apart from "reflection" upon common human experience. The church built upon "purpose" can then be used for social change (participatory democracy). In this way revelation and salvation become relevant only to social needs. Sin is one's refusal to recognize this unity of God's word with human needs and the refusal to participate in the theology (theory) and praxis (practice) of liberation from the source of social oppression—caused by obedience to higher authority i.e. God, parents, etc. The "light of the word of God" of Liberation Theology is not the light of God: "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." 2 Corinthians 11:14, 15 "But he [Jesus] turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Matthew 16:23
"The eclipse of a way thinking cannot take place without a crisis." Antonio Gramsci
When crisis leads to mediation, the patriarchal system is relinquished in hope of "social harmony." Thus social instability (chaos in family relationships) justifies the need for change, caused by the source of the chaos in the home, the source of chaos being not the children in rebellion to the father's commands but rather the father himself with his repressive rules against change, against spontaneity, against innovation, against "social mobility," etc. The twist being, if an environment of human relationship, of fraternity, of brotherhood, is the "justified" outcome, then anyone, including the father of the home, insisting on the status quo, who resists change, because he believes "right is right and wrong is wrong," must acknowledge his rigidity as due his "evil" perception of the necessity of the office of an "authoritarian personality," must abdicate his office, and must unite with the children, the wife and the community in creating and sustaining an environment of discursive ambiguity, an environment of "continuous improvement" i.e. continuous change, overthrown all "categorical imperatives" which cause social disharmony. In this way sin became corporal, between men, and, through the works of social activism, they could be overcome.
"The guilty conscience is formed in childhood by the incorporation of the parents." (Brown)
"The most important symptom of the defeat in the fight for oneself is the guilty conscience." Erich Fromm Escape From Freedom
According to Liberation theology, by circumventing the conscience, through the praxis of social justification (finding common "felt" needs of others in agreement with your own "felt" needs, uniting upon a common dissatisfaction towards authority of restraint, developing a consensus of "ought's"; "We have to study the conditions which maximize ought-perceptiveness." Abraham Maslow The Further Reaches of Human Nature) through dialogue, by uniting in mind (theory), by uniting on common interests (temporal), man is able "to break free from the locked family role he once occupied. … [i.e.] change the past by reconstituting it." Irvin Yalom Theory and Practice and Group Psychotherapy. "Ought" changes the religion of "must" (obedience and social stability) into the humanistic religion of social change.
"If there is a universal neurosis, it is reasonable to suppose that its core is religion." (Brown)
"Universal Reconciliation - where reconciliation includes the interaction of human beings with nature, with animals, plants, and minerals." J. Habermas The Theory of Communicative Action.
Uniting on common interests results in the uniting of minds, where the mind is cleared of any internal emotional control (fear) of all external "elements" causing social disharmony, a priori with its categorical imperatives is negated and certainty is replaced with uncertainty. In this way the collective mind, the mind of all present, washed of a patriarchal paradigm, united in the praxis of patricide and incest—the negation of the voice of human restraint and the liberating of human desires—is freed of restraints of any voice above its own nature, both internally and externally. In this way love is no longer associated with the voice above man, a voice to be obeyed, but instead is found in the voice of the social man, to be shared. Love is no longer to be sought and found within the "other" above man, but instead to be sought and found within the brotherhood of mankind itself, "the one," and "the other" united as one in the "aesthetic dimension." Society is therefore purely human, free of social neurosis, the "neurosis of history" (trying to please God and parents by suppressing one's desires), free to remove all elements from the environment which "interfere" with peace and harmony i.e. free from a personal conscience and the fear of God. "Freedom, as Fromm argued in Escape from Freedom meant ‘freedom to,' not merely ‘freedom from.'" Martin Jay The Dialectical Imagination
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Colossians 3:1, 2
Liberation Theology redefines Jesus as emancipating us from the oppressor (the establishment: the God of ridged law). The father, as seen through human eyes, is perceived as the source of repression, the cause of limitations (experiential oppression) and alienation. As Marx wrote in Critique of 'Hegel's Philosophy of Right' "Laws must not fetter human life; but yield to it; they must change as the needs and capacities of the people change." Liberation Theology must overthrow any system which establishes law's which interfere with human nature. An example of this perverted way of thinking can be found in the work of Lissa
"The 'more divine', in other words, the more inhuman, something is, the less we shall be able to admire it. The more 'godly' they are, the more inhuman, Our liberation from the present Christian state of the world and the liberation of the world from it are ultimately our sole occupation;" "The question has previously always been: what is God? and German philosophy has answered the question in this sense: God is man." Frederick Engels The Condition of England A review of Past and Present
Thus, according to dialectical "reasoning," (Liberation Theology) by holding to the father's "in-human" (above human) will, the son separates himself from his own human nature, a nature common to all others i.e. he negates his own nature by capitulation to the will of his father. His praxis of obedience to the father triggers an internal desire for liberation (a sense of resentment towards authority), a condition in which he has not yet found a pathway to praxis. The son's obedience to the father's commands, for the sake of the father's love and recognition, causes alienation between his own "human" nature, his personal-social (common to all mankind) human desires, as well as initiates and sustains separation from the world around him (with which he also desires to relate) i.e. the father and his commands "victimizes" the son by separating him from his own nature and nature itself (the environment). Under these conditions, his desire for belonging (what he has in common with all in the "village") can only be satisfied through obedience to authority—a negation of humanism.
"... civilization is founded on relations between large groups of persons. ... to combine organic substances into ever larger unities,' to ‘establish ever greater unities and to preserve them thus―in short, to bind together?'" Freud Civilization and Its Discontents (Marcuse). Freud then reveals his true sexual bias: "‘In no other case does Eros so plainly betray the core of his being, his aim of making one out of many; but when he has achieved it in the proverbial way through the love of two human beings, he is not willing to go further.'" ibid. bold added
According to Liberation Theology, theology, instead of being the study of God's will, is the study of an oppressed community seeking liberation (Gustavo Gutierrez) from a Godly figure, a patriarchal paradigm. The "shift" of focus is from the individual before a holy, pure, and righteous God and authority (conscience) to the focus of the group—individual-social "felt" needs ("people group" and super-ego). The focus is no longer on the individual—liberation from his sinful nature, the control of the flesh, through contrition, repentance, reconciliation, sanctification—but instead the focus is upon the human institution in which he wishes to belong—its quest to liberate itself from any restraints to its own growth i.e. its desire for social approval. Personal sin before God is replaced with the social sins of the "have's" against the "have not's."
"Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." 2 Timothy 2:22-26
This focus upon mans "felt" needs (youthful lusts) results in the redefinition of Jesus' "despising the shame of the cross" as a social cause i.e. Jesus despised the social rejection, the result of siding with the repressed, standing in defiance against the establishment and their religious laws—in this dialectical way Jesus shows us how to free ourselves from religious leadership and their oppressive laws (oppressive to human nature that is), by non-cooperation, even to death. This dialectical twisted reading of scripture thus shifts the focus from Jesus' obedience to his Heavenly father, Jesus dying for our sins (our disobedience to God) to his living and dying to free us from the social evils of the establishment. Therefore truth, and thus salvation, is not objective but rather subjective, based upon what I do for the human cause—for the social institution, for the cause of humanity, for the sake of social peace and harmony.
"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them." Colossian 3:5-7
According to Liberation Theology alienation between Jesus and his Father was caused by inequality of ownership—the son having to obey the father's commands and yet not acquiring his kingdom on earth (despite Jesus' desires, his feelings and thoughts of love and peace, he found only rejection and oppression from the establishment, resulting in dissatisfaction). This circumventing of the Father's will takes place once a person focuses upon the command to love one another apart from the fathers command, through Jesus, to die daily of our personal-social lusts, and to obey him in all things. The Jesus of Liberation Theology is not the Jesus we find in the Bible, who said willingly "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." "Never the less, thy will be done."—resulting in alienation between him and his human nature and the nature of those in the world—God the father's law alienates us from our own human nature and the our earthly human village's nature, individually and collectively. The error made by those caught up in the euphoric, "cathartic," rhetoric of Liberation Theology can be clearly understood as in the following statements by the Transformational Marxist, Theodor Adorno. By turning God's word from a sin issue to a social (race-economic/oppressed-oppressor) issue, by turning the scriptures from vertical thought in action to horizontal thought in action Marxists were able to redefine God with human eyes and with human ears, making him and his word socially usable in the quest for world peace.
"The Christian doctrine of universal love and the idea of ‘Christian Humanism' is opposed to prejudice. . . . On the other hand, Christianity as the religion of the ‘Son' contains an implicit antagonism against the religion of the ‘Father' and its surviving witnesses, the Jews. This antagonism, continuous since St. Paul, is enhanced by the fact that the Jews, by clinging to their own religious culture, rejected the religion of the Son and by the fact that the New Testament puts upon them the blame for Christ's death." "many of the usual rationalizations of anti‑Semitism originate within Christianity or at least have been amalgamated with Christian motives. . . . unconscious trends such as expressed in the idea of the crucifix and the sacrifice of blood. Although these latter ideas have been more or less successfully replaced by ‘Christian Humanism,' their deeper psychological roots have still to be reckoned with." "In attempting to evaluate the influence of such elements of religion upon the existence or absence of prejudice today, one has to take into consideration the position in which Christianity presently finds itself: it is faced with an "indifference" which often seems to make it altogether unimportant. The Christian religion has been deeply affected by the process of Enlightenment and the conquest of the scientific spirit. The ‘magical' elements of Christianity as well as the factual basis of Christian belief in biblical history have been profoundly shaken. . . ."has largely become neutralized. . . . This neutralization of religious beliefs is strikingly exemplified by the following statement of a high‑scoring Roman Catholic who attends church regularly. . . . he considers religion a ‘thoroughly important part of existence, perhaps it should occupy 2 to 5 percent of leisure time.'" "some of the formal properties of religion, such as the rigid antithesis of good and evil, ascetic ideals, emphasis upon unlimited effort on the part of the individual, still exercise considerable power. Severed from their roots and often devoid of any specific content, . . . they assume an aspect of rigidity and intolerance such as we expect to find in the prejudiced person." It would then be more understandable why the German family, with its long history of authoritarian, threatening father figures, could become susceptible to a fascist ideology. The son of such a father figure can apparently never quite establish his personal and masculine identity; he thus has to look for it in a collective system where there is opportunity both for submission to the powerful and for retaliation upon the powerless." Theodor Adorno The Authoritarian Personality
Adorno's "logic" was proven wrong decades ago yet it is still being used today (by the United Nations and leftists' around the world today) to justify a global-social engineering project. In this way Liberation theology negates the 'Father', seen as the "oppressor," with his "Evil company corrupts good morals." Individualistic," attitude. By putting emphasis upon our human nature (individually and collectively) and its rebellion against the father (the patriarch) the room of people involved in religious studies drop their eyes from above to those things below, i.e. to our "ought to," as in "I ought to be able to go out and play with my friends," the individual seeking fellowship with the community, seeking identity with world around him. The "shift" of emphasis is from our sinful nature, individually—common to all mankind (for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God)—to collective i.e. to social-economic, where our family standards, under the patriarch, is the source of the prejudice, sin of alienation (isolationism) and repression (the establishment of "Have's" against "have not's) towards others.
"Sin is the estrangement of man from man." Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich's Dialectical Humanism by Leonard Wheat
Because our human nature—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life i.e. the "affective" domain, our "felt" needs: that which we all have in common—becomes the basis of our discussion (our starting point for dialogue), Jesus must be portrayed as the one freeing us from the father's judgment (the fathers wrath) upon these attributes of our human nature which go against his will for us to love one another. Thus, freed from the external law of the father (oppressive to our common human nature), the desire for acceptance, for harmony, and for peace can now be utilized in the praxis of creating a "better" world. In this way alienation becomes temporal (social)—sin is redefined as the alienation of man from man—with its emphasis upon relationship (Love-Eros) between Jesus and man (after all Jesus died for us, standing against the establishment, showing us how much he loved us, showing us the pathway of resistance to the status quo) and between man and man (what we have in common, the desire for acceptance and approval, i.e. a world with equality of opportunity with no "have and have not's"—the affective domain "negating contrast:" ("I'm from above and you are from below." is replaced with "We are one." "As above, so below." the way is to unity is Gnostic built upon an occult verse).
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12
Alienation is instead spiritual—sin is the alienation of man from God the father due to man's disobedience to the fathers will (sin is what we all have in common while contrast is between those who do the fathers will—patriarch, and those who do not—heresiarch). The patriarchal paradigm is never abdicated by the Father, his Son, his Holy Spirit. Therefore, in the guile of "religion," Liberation Theology uses social eyes and social ears (reasoning based upon human relationship "felt" needs), through human stories which capture your heart of hearts, redefines that which is spiritual as social—that which is above, i.e. God's word is evaluated according to man's feelings and his way of thinking (by what we have in common). Christians look through spiritual eyes and spiritual ears, define that which is social by that which is spiritual—that which is below, i.e. man's behavior is evaluated according to God the father's will, his way of thinking revealed to us by the law and the profits and though the life and death of his Son Jesus Christ i.e. the law and the prophets fulfilled (by contrast). In this way (adding our human feelings to God's word) Liberation Theologians are able to align both secular (common) and sacred (contrast) producing confusion (cognitive dissonance) to all who enter there. Thus God's word becomes blurred. But in this way, by this paradigm they are able to prepare the broad pathway to spiritual-temporal cosmic unity. Note: the mother's heart (through the affective domain; a matriarchal paradigm) can not rule the home or a people, to attempt to do so will only end up a society of children as oppressors—a dialectical praxis, a heresiarchal paradigm.
It has always amazed me how quickly men and women, as well as the young ("people groups"), in bible studies have been turned into social activists, in many places in the world some have eventually turned to killing landlords (annihilating the patriarchal paradigm, the oppressor), all on the basis of social justice, done in the name of Jesus. It all happens with a shift in focus from the father's will for reconciliation under God's conditions, obedience and repentance (spiritual), towards man's will for reconciliation under man's conditions, "tolerance of ambiguity"—"Its not an issue of who is right and who is wrong, it is an issue of acceptance." (temporal).
Contrition, repentance, and obedience is the concern of the creator toward the created, i.e. God, the parent. "Tolerance of ambiguity" is the concern of the created, the children. The former is based upon contrast, "I'm from above and you are from below," the latter is based upon similar, "Love one another," "Can't we all just get along?" The confusion comes when we negate the former while focusing upon the latter, finding the common in the contrast (love-belonging, desire for acceptance, "felt" needs) and focusing upon the common to negate the contrast (righteousness-doing right not wrong, spiritual). God the father loves man—his creation, but not his sin. God does not love sinners, he loves you. If you praxis sin, his wrath is upon you, unless you repent (quit justifying it with "Boys will be boys"). Those who are his do not tolerate sin but instead repent of their sin—confessing it as evil, exposing it as wicked, proclaiming truth and righteousness, that which is of the father, expressed in his Son Jesus Christ, who is the Way, Truth, and Life. No man can come to the Father but through Jesus Christ, the obedient Son, in him (his righteousness imputed unto us) becoming obedient children before God as well.
Looking through God's eyes with human eyes.
Turning contrast into common.
Turning the Sacred-Secular dichotomy into a Sacred-Secular partnership
The humanizing of God and the making of anti-Christ.
Exchanging a community of believers with believers in community.
In Liberation Theology the biblical message of contrast (antithesis or dualism): Heaven - Hell, Light - Dark, Sheep - Goats, Saved - Lost, Above - Below, Spirit - Flesh, Creator - Created, Agape - Eros, Sacred - Secular (mine - yours) is exchanged with the human message of similar (ours), our common need for identity, belonging, and purpose (completeness, wholeness, etc. requiring, according to humanist terminology, a "significant" other in this world): Let us love (Eros) one another (tolerate human nature, instead of exposing darkness—which God has called us to do—we tolerate it as "More good than evil": desiring and promoting a "Don't curse the darkness, light a candle" mindset—an ideology of ambiguity which results in confusion; fusing flesh and spirit (secular and sacred), flesh being the individual in his thoughts—like all other individuals, and "spirit" being our common desire to relate with one anther—communal, community, not a community of believers but rather believers of community).
In Liberation Theology, seeking equality (quality) through human relationship replaces obedience to our heavenly father, which will cost you human relationship. The word "witness" means martyr in the Greek (martyrdom at the hands of those who love this world, by the hands of those who seek world peace through "love").
Liberation Theology must redefine the role of the son by no longer focusing upon the will of his heavenly father (the son's will to obey his father's will even when it led to his death—a patriarchal paradigm), but instead focusing upon the will of man seeking identity and purpose in this world—belonging (longing to be "somebody" important from mans perspective), seeking world peace and social harmony with the son setting us free from the paradigm of "blind" obedience to the father's will, to a will for the suffering in this world seeking freedom from their repressors. This calls for change: "The philosophers have all interpreted the world in different ways, the objective is to change it." Karl Marx Feuerbach Thesis #11 (a heresiarchal paradigm). In this way, the praxis of change "He who does my father's will in heaven, is my brother, sister, mother." is replaced with "He who does the cross-work of Jesus (sacrifices himself for others, for the village, to change the world we live in into a "better" world) is our brother, our sister, our mother." For the latter to prevail, the praxis of the father's will must be neutralized, marginalized and negated in the praxis of the love of the son for mankind. It is important to remember that the Father of Love, loves his creation, and sent his Son into the creation not to save it, but to provide a way, a propitiation for man's sins so man, already condemned, could be saved (John 3:16). Condemnation is what we all have in common, i.e. for not doing the father's will. Jesus came to redeem "whosoever," those individuals who recognize their sin—revealed by the preaching of the word: 1) man cursed under the law, 2) his best is as a filthy rage, 3) must believe upon the son of God, sent by the Father, that they might not perish (in a hell of torment made for Satan and his demons, i.e. a future place for the children of disobedience) but that he might have eternal life (in heaven, i.e. a future place for the children of obedience, children of conversion and repentance)—this is eternal contrast revealed to us from above.
In humanizing Christ, making him a social activists (changing society for the betterment of man) Liberation Theologians create a son of God who, instead of providing a way whereby we can fulfill the father's will—a patriarchal paradigm, delivers us from the father's will—a heresiarchal paradigm, which negates the praxis of a patriarchal paradigm, replacing it with a praxis of heresy where man, still in his unregenerate heart and his reprobate mind, can evaluate the word of God from his human social perspective, extrapolating from it those verses which fit his "felt" need for love and approval, redefining those verses which can be redefined, and ignoring or expunging those verses which expose our "sweet, caring, wonderful" hearts as evil. Thus the focus begins with human relationship, based upon feelings, and not upon spiritual relationship based upon faith and obedience. This resulting in the father's will as being labeled as the praxis of repression (repression to that which human relationship is built upon, our common human nature). While the father's will is toward perfection, perfection according to his standards, the human will is toward compromise, compromise according to human relationship. Thus any who follow the will of our Heavenly Father, who is above, i.e. whose will is unchanging, is now labeled as a Standard Bearer, a divider of families, villages, and nations, an obstruction to world peace, love and social harmony. This is the reasoning whereby believers were martyred in the early church, by the Gnostic church, by dialectical Christians.
Because the patriarch—the authoritarian personality—insists upon standards which interfere with human nature, and thus causes division in human relationships, the patriarch and his paradigm becomes taxonomized (classified, labeled) as a "resistor to change." For everyone in the village (including the home school group), willingness to change one's standard (a person's adaptability to change i.e. willingness to compromise for the sake of initiating and sustaining relationships in the family, the fellowship, the party, the community, etc.) is the necessary dynamo for building human relationships (with the phrase "spiritual growth" thrown in to cover all bases). When the message begins with and ends with a focus upon initiating and sustaining human relationship, that which is below, that which is temporal is redefined as "good" and that which is above, that which is spiritual, that which interferes with human relationships, causing social division, is redefined as "evil." Spiritual is that which unites, according to the praxis of dialectical thinking. The praxis of synthesis, to fit with that which is below, temporal, with that which is above, "spiritual," requires a redefining of that which is above as seeking social peace and harmony. In that way, what we have in common, our common interest, (the desire to be loved) can be used to unite us, in "Christian" love (Eros). In this way man is liberated from the patriarchal paradigm with its patriarchal God. The dialectical process is the praxis of circumventing (negating) parental authority and its patriarchal paradigm, with the intent of circumventing (negating/annihilating) the authority of God—as Adam and Eve attempted in the Garden in Eden. Genesis 3:1-6 was liberation theology in praxis. In this way the portions of God's word which causes division is not seen as "wrong," it's just irrelevant and will not be brought up unless you speak it; it is then that you well be seen as the source of dissension.
John 3: 9-11
"I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." emphasis added
"prating against use" fluarew phluareo floo-ar-eh'-o: 1) to utter nonsense, talk idly, prate; 2) to bring forward idle accusations, make empty charges; 3) to accuse one falsely with malicious words
"with malicious words", evil things ponhrov poneros pon-ay-ros': 1) full of labours, annoyances, hardships: 1a) pressed and harassed by labours, 1b) bringing toils, annoyances, perils; of a time full of peril to Christian faith and steadfastness; causing pain and trouble; 2) bad, of a bad nature or condition: 2a) in a physical sense: diseased or blind, 2b) in an ethical sense: evil wicked, bad.
© Institution for Authority Research, Dean Gotcher 2008-2015