Angels or Astronauts?
Continuing with my rant on the absolute need for separation of church and state, there are some details that I would like to bring to the attention of those who are not aware of the history of Christian theology . . . for others, well? Determining the precise authorship of historical writings is sometimes challenging; and where prominent religious figures are concerned, very few committed their teachings and doctrines to writing. This was sometimes handled by followers such as was the case with the Buddha, but it would appear that most Christian accounts were written later from memory. Over the course of time, seventy plus books were rejected and omitted from what we today know as the Bible.
My personal pet peeve is the Book of Enoch, but there are others. Enoch is mentioned in the Book of Genesis (5:18-24). He was a direct descendant of Adam, seventh generation, and great-grandfather of Noah. In a terrifying event, the young Enoch fell to the ground in fear and was lifted up into the sky — presumably to a spacecraft — where he was tutored by wise beings, probably most specifically Uriel. He wrote down everything he learned. The writings cover astronomy and geography but the main teachings concern the Kingdom of Heaven and the need to educate children from an early age about the importance of living righteously so as to enter life eternal.
As an astrologer, the Book of Enoch is more than interesting for a number of reasons. He presents an explanation of astronomy that is quite challenging to the modern mind, but also difficult to refute. More importantly, he provides details of the fallen angels and seems to make a case for the existence of aliens with technology and wisdom surpassing ours. The existing literature is based on pre-Christian Ethiopian texts preserved by both Jewish and Christian sects, and there are many translations available online as downloadable pdfs.
Enoch warns of a judgment and is quoted in the first Chapter of the Book of Jude. This is the summary of the contents of the surviving writings:
The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36)
The Book of Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37–71) (also called the Similitudes of Enoch)
The Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72–82) (also called the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries or Book of Luminaries)
The Book of Dream Visions (1 Enoch 83–90) (also called the Book of Dreams)
The Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 91–108)
At the age of 365, Enoch was taken by “God” . . . leaving his writings to his descendants, which, as noted, included Noah.
Omitted Books
As the various councils met and debated, many writings failed their particular litmus tests. Having read hundreds of biographies and thousands of religious and metaphysical books, it seems likely that the closer the scribe was to the subject, the more reliable the accounts tend to be. Splicing together an account centuries after the fact involves comparing sources and making judgment calls. More importantly, it is critical that all attempts to reconstruct events occur without prejudice.
Taking the current world situation as an example, we have people like John Kerry lamenting that the first amendment interferes with the capacity of the elite to promote their agenda. Others are advocating strongly in favor of free speech as essential to freedom but also to whatever influences our grip on truth and reality.
So, collecting a hoard of bishops to make decisions only works if there is no pressure from above to contort the facts. An example I like to use is the persecution of Galileo. His views were never officially accepted by the Church, but apologies were issued in 1992, not for the heliocentric argument but for persecuting Galileo for his theories. In contrast, the Big Bang theory was promoted almost as soon as it was conceived . . . and would appear to be anything but rooted in theology.
Some of the omitted books would, of course, shift perspectives . . . like the Gospels of Thomas and Peter, certainly first hand observers with strong influences on Church history. The latter was referred to by both Origen and Eusebius and rediscovered in 1886 in Egypt.
My Issues
Well, I am a stickler for Truth . . . and it is elusive unless we have proper sources for our understanding. However, the real issue is civilization itself because misuse of information and power undermine the integrity of society. Without a moral compass, we are doomed.
Since the doctrine of karma is closely linked the understanding reincarnation, the disappearance of the concepts from Western civilization is beyond tragic. Yes, we managed to preserve some worthy principles such as the merits of compassion and charity, but these virtues are not necessarily linked to the equilibrating force of karma.
Now, if we tie these ideas to the current calamities in the world, we see how devastating it is that those with power often misuse their leverage whereas those with compassion are responding to the crises with badly needed assistance and concern for the suffering endured. It does not matter whether we are talking war, hurricanes and flooding, illness, hunger, or poverty . . . what matters is that our humanity influences the outcome in an uplifting and regenerating manner.
Copyright by Dr. Ingrid Naiman 2024 || All Rights Reserved
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