Trying Once More to Make the Google Blog Function Do Its Job

Trendy neo-pagans (including those who operate inside churches, pretending to be Christians) frequently insist on worshipping a female Deity -- either as a solitary female supreme being, or in a dualistic father-mother pairing. Marion Zimmer Bradley, in her pagan Arthurian fantasy "The Mists of Avalon," opted for the dualism, pretending that this promoted "tolerance" and "equality;" but she made sure that, in her story, _only_ the goddess really counted for anything. Christianity had nothing to offer. In real life, there is one result which this goddess-worship usually _does_ produce, and then there's a _claimed_ result which often _doesn't_ work out as advertised. Let me first identify the one which doesn't work out. It is the claim that if we worship a goddess, then women will be set free from patriarchal oppression. To refute this, we need look no farther than pre-modern Japan. In traditional Japanese mythology, a _goddess_ was the absolutely supreme head and unequalled ruler of the pantheon: Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, who had no male equal. But this theology did _not_ spare mortal Japanese women from being subordinated to a male-dominated social system in actual practice. In fact, it was not until Japan was conquered by the United States, a nation with a _Christian_ background, that Japanese _women_ became empowered to vote in elections. Now for the result which _does_ commonly occur where modern people reject the God of the Bible in favor of a goddess: PANTHEISM. In case anyone reading this doesn't understand the term, "pantheism" is the belief (with several variations possible) that everything is divine.... that all is one.... that everything is everything else.... that we never have to obey a God Who stands _above_ us, because "the light is within us all." Pantheism is one of the poisonous fruits of goddess-paganism. A pagan author has demonstrated this for me. In 2004, Hay House of California published a book titled "Mother God: the Feminine Principle to Our Creator." The author, Sylvia Browne, is known for books which publicize astrology and psychic powers. In "Mother God," Ms. Browne, like Ms. Zimmer-Bradley, opts for the dualism, the male-female cosmic couple. She credits a "spirit guide" with informing her that the goddess member of this couple goes by the name of Azna. _Again_ like Zimmer-Bradley, she uses this "equality" to _eliminate_ everything that makes Christianity what it is. On page 108 of "Mother God," Ms. Browne states, "If there is a God the Father who always was, there was also a Mother God. For that matter, there were also all of us.... WE ALL ALWAYS WERE." This is near enough to a flat-out proclamation of pantheism. If each of us has always existed from eternity past, then we didn't need to be really _created;_ thus we have to be divine in and of ourselves. Now, if we are _that_ self-sufficient, we are not likely to believe that we need _moral_ redemption; so the atoning work of Jesus must also be dispensed with. And sure enough, Ms. Browne dismisses it, very early in the book. On page 5, she demotes the Savior down to a trivial assignment: "the messenger Christ, who was the emissary to show that we cannot divide the intellect from the emotion." Fooey. Even when I was a teenage agnostic, I _already_ realized that we human beings have intellect and emotion both operating in our lives, both making us human. What kind of Christ is that, whose only achievement is to tell us what a teenager already knew? Well, actually, when Ms. Browne assigns Jesus to be a kindergarten teacher, she re-interpets His teaching to support her divine-feminine doctrine. This includes claiming that the Virgin Mary is identical with Azna (which was not _quite_ the intent of even the most Mary-obsessed Catholic). _Anything_ to deny that the Lord Jesus was and is WHAT HE SAID HE IS. Near the end of her book, Ms. Browne "generously" says that God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit still are entitled to attention. She can afford to say that, when she has _redefined_ the Father, Son and Holy Spirit beyond recognition. This whole occult-and-pantheistic mess (complete with New Age "visualization" exercises) boils down to what the _real_ Jesus warned about in John 5:43. People resist the actual gospel, because their pride balks at the thought of themselves needing to be _forgiven_ for something; instead, they'll jump at anything that seems cool and hip, strokes their ego, and helps them to get laid at parties.