Showing posts with label Pagan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pagan. Show all posts

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Christianity Is Wrong ! I Know, Do You? The Chain of Evidence Linking Only Those That Purport The Same Beliefs


There was a woman at Alexandria named Hypatia, daughter of the philosopher Theon, who made such attainments in literature and science, as to far surpass all the philosophers of her own time. Having succeeded to the school of Plato and Plotinus, she explained the principles of philosophy to her auditors, many of whom came from a distance to receive her instructions. On account of the self-possession and ease of manner which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she not infrequently appeared in public in the presence of the magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in going to an assembly of men. For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her the more.[1]
Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History


The mathematician and philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria was the daughter of the mathematician Theon Alexandricus . She was educated at Athens and in Italy. Around AD 400, she became head of the Platonist school at Alexandria, where she imparted the knowledge of Plato and Aristotle to any student; the pupils included pagans, Christians, and foreigners.

Socrates Scholasticus (born after 380 AD, died after 439 AD))
Yet even she fell a victim to the political jealousy which at that time prevailed. For as she had frequent interviews with Orestes, it was calumniously reported among the Christian populace, that it was she who prevented Orestes from being reconciled to the bishop. Some of them therefore, hurried away by a fierce and bigoted zeal, whose ringleader was a reader named Peter, waylaid her returning home, and dragging her from her carriage, they took her to the church called Caesareum, where they completely stripped her, and then murdered her with tiles. After tearing her body in pieces, they took her mangled limbs to a place called Cinaron, and there burnt them.

John of NikiĆ» (7th century)
And, in those days, there appeared in Alexandria a female philosopher, a pagan named Hypatia, and she was devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes, and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through Satanic wiles . . . A multitude of believers in God arose under the guidance of Peter the Magistrate . . . and they proceeded to seek for the pagan woman who had beguiled the people of the city and the Prefect through her enchantments. And when they learnt the place where she was, they proceeded to her and found her . . . they dragged her along till they brought her to the great church, named Caesareum. Now this was in the days of the fast. And they tore off her clothing and dragged her . . . through the streets of the city till she died. And they carried her to a place named Cinaron, and they burned her body with fire.

Hypatia (ca. AD 350–370–March 415) was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher in Roman Egypt who was the first historically noted woman in mathematics. As head of the Platonist school at Alexandria, she also taught philosophy and astronomy.

The contemporary 5th-century sources do identify Hypatia of Alexandria as a practitioner and teacher of the philosophy of Plato and Plotinus, but, two hundred years later, the 7th-century Egyptian Coptic bishop John of NikiĆ» identified her as a Hellenistic pagan and that "she was devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through her Satanic wiles".[18][19] Not all Christians were as hostile towards her as John of Nikiu or the monks who killed her: some Christians even used Hypatia as symbolic of Virtue.
The Byzantine Suda encyclopaedia reported that Hypatia was "the wife of Isidore the Philosopher" (apparently Isidore of Alexandria);[16] however, Isidore of Alexandria was not born until long after Hypatia's death, and no other philosopher of that name contemporary with Hypatia is known.[20] The Suda also stated that "she remained a virgin" and that she rejected a suitor with her menstrual rags, saying that they demonstrated "nothing beautiful" about carnal desire, an example of a Christian source using Hypatia as a symbol of Virtue.
Hypatia corresponded with former pupil Synesius of Cyrene, who was tutored by her in the philosophical school of Platonism and later became bishop of Ptolemais in AD 410, an exponent of the Christian Holy Trinity doctrine.[23] Together with the references by the pagan philosopher Damascius, these are the extant records left by Hypatia's pupils at the Platonist school of Alexandria.[24] The contemporary Christian historiographer Socrates Scholasticus described her in Ecclesiastical History:

Ecclesiastical History, Socrates Scholasticus
Orestes, the governor of Alexandria, and Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, found themselves in a bitter feud in which Hypatia would come to be one of the main points of contention. The feud, which took place in 415 AD, began over the matter of Jewish dancing exhibitions in Alexandria. Since these exhibitions attracted large crowds and were commonly prone to civil disorder of varying degrees, Orestes published an edict which outlined new regulations for such gatherings and posted it in the city's theater. Soon after, crowds gathered to read the edict, angry over the new regulations that had been imposed upon them. At one such gathering, Hierax, a Christian and devout follower of Cyril, read the edict and applauded the new regulations, which many people felt was an attempt to incite the crowd into sedition. In what Scholasticus suspected as Orestes' "…jealousy [of] the growing power of the bishops…[which] encroached on the jurisdiction of the authorities…", Orestes immediately ordered Hierax to be seized and publicly tortured in the theater.
Upon hearing of this, Cyril threatened the Jews of Alexandria with "the utmost severities" if harassment of Christians was not ceased at once. In response, the Jews of Alexandria grew only more furious over Cyril's threat, and in their anger they eventually resorted to violence against the Christians. They plotted to flush the Christians out at night by running through the streets, claiming that the Church of Alexander was on fire. When the Christians responded to what they were led to believe was the burning down of their church, "the Jews immediately fell upon and slew them", using rings to recognize one another in the dark, while killing everyone else in sight. When the morning came, the Jews of Alexandria could not hide their guilt, and Cyril, along with many of his followers, took to the city’s synagogues in search of the perpetrators of the night's massacre.
After Cyril found all of the Jews in Alexandria, he ordered them to be stripped of all their possessions, banished them from Alexandria, and allowed the remaining citizens to pillage the goods they left behind. With Cyril's banishment of the Jews, "Orestes [...] was filled with great indignation at these transactions, and was excessively grieved that a city of such magnitude should have been suddenly bereft of so large a portion of its population…". Because of this, the feud between Cyril and Orestes only grew stronger, and both men wrote to the emperor regarding the situation. Eventually, Cyril attempted to reach out to Orestes through several peace overtures, including attempted mediation and, when that failed, showed him the Gospels. Nevertheless, Orestes remained unmoved by such gestures.
Meanwhile, approximately 500 monks, who resided in the mountains of Nitria, and were "of a very fiery disposition", heard of the ongoing feud between the Governor and Bishop, and shortly thereafter descended into Alexandria, armed and prepared to fight alongside Cyril. Upon their arrival in Alexandria, the monks quickly intercepted Orestes' chariot in town and proceeded to bombard and harass him, calling him a pagan idolater. In response to such allegations, Orestes countered that he was actually a Christian, and had even been baptized by Atticus, the Bishop of Constantinople. The monks paid little attention to Orestes’ claims of Christianity, and one of the monks, by the name of Ammonius, struck Orestes in the head with a rock, which caused him to bleed profusely. At this point, Orestes’ guards fled for fear of their lives, but a nearby crowd of Alexandrians came to his aid, and Ammonius was subsequently secured and ordered to be tortured for his actions. Upon excessive torture, Ammonius died. Following the death of Ammonius, Cyril ordered that he henceforth be remembered as a martyr. Such a proclamation did not sit well with "sober-minded" Christians, as Scholasticus pointed out, seeing that he "suffered the punishment due to his rashness…[not because] he would not deny Christ", and this fact, according to Scholasticus, became more apparent to Cyril through general lack of enthusiasm for Ammonius's case for martyrdom.
Scholasticus then introduces Hypatia, the female philosopher of Alexandria and woman who would become a target of the Christian anger that grew over the feud. Daughter of Theon, and a teacher trained in the philosophical schools of Plato and Plotinus, she was admired by most men for her dignity and virtue. Of the anger she provoked among Christians, Scholasticus writes, Hypatia ultimately fell "victim to the political jealousy which at the time prevailed" - Orestes was known to seek her counsel, and a rumor spread among the Christian community of Alexandria in which she was blamed for his unwillingness to reconcile with Cyril. Therefore, a mob of Christians gathered, led by a reader (i.e. a minor cleric) named Peter whom Scholasticus calls a fanatic. They kidnapped Hypatia on her way home and took her to the "Church called Caesareum. They then completely stripped her, and then murdered her with tiles". Socrates Scholasticus was hence interpreted as saying that, while she was still alive, Hypatia's flesh was torn off using oyster shells (tiles; the Greek word is ostrakois, which literally means "oystershells" but the word was also used for brick tiles on the roofs of houses). Afterward, the men proceeded to mutilate her, and finally burn her limbs. When news broke of Hypatia's murder, it provoked great public denouncement; not only against Cyril, but against the whole Alexandrian Christian community. Scholasticus closes with a lament: "Surely nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity than the allowance of massacres, fights, and transactions of that sort".

Saturday, December 29, 2012

A Pagan Record Of More



The Danger, the Fright, the Fear,
inhabits not Me,
but what is near.

Positive Outcomes,
for any given Scenario,
seem unclear,
almost a Hoax.

A Dangerous Ground,
to rely upon,
or Stand when,
Reporting is Lacking Integrity,
of "What has Been."

A Collective Repair,
non-existent in society.

As Hatred Bleeds,
our need to Rage,
"Becomes You."

Pulled-OUT-of School,
Wisdom Challenged,
by 'Whom?'

Graduates Past,
declare and I paste:

*The Outcome of American Christian Education - Katherine Dang, Philomath Foundation
Every philosophy or view of education has its own peculiar set of consequences which are eventually revealed in the lives, character, and conscience of its pupils.
In an education with an emphasis on Biblical reasoning, i.e. American Christian education, individual self education begins to occur around the ages of ten through twelve. With adequate guidance the pupil develops a growing capacity to read, reason, write, and research on his own. Herein is the necessity for self-teaching texts and guides. When the Biblical foundations are laid in the childhood years, the path of reasoning and the inspiration for learning is established for individual self teaching. As children are taught to walk on their own, to eat their meals on their own, to dress themselves on their own, and to work on their own, why are we not expectant that they be taught to learn on their own? Is it not reasonable to expect that self-teaching be an outcome of one’s education?
An invaluable consequence of American Christian Education is the pupil’s acquiring the art of self-government or the skill of Biblical reasoning. When children are regularly exercised in their own ability to read and reason, to deduce principles from ideas, to draw inferences and correct conclusions, and then to articulate and write them, this then is the essence of original scholarship.
In truth, one’s own education is his first individual enterprise, the first step towards his pursuit of happiness or his own vocation and livelihood. From God is mankind given a title to his own happiness, his own enjoyment of the fruits of his own labor. Parents and teachers owe the pupil only the rudiments, the first fundamental principles or foundations of life and learning. The pupil owes it to himself to build upon these foundations to reach maturity and adulthood. His years of youth are his years of building and engaging in the self-enterprise of pursuing his own happiness or livelihood.
American Christian Education is a new deal when one considers the conventional aim, content, and approach to education of today. While America is awash with socialism, American Christian Education is the antidote for modern socialism. American Christian Education creates cutting-edge generations, generations not socialized, trained, and accustomed to thinking and acting only as a part of some group. Individuals knowing how to be independently dependent upon the absolute principles of all of life and living will begin the undoing of socialism in America.

Raped of my own education,
my Family Supports,
this Avid Idea,
Practiced on Me.

Left to my own devices,
Evolution took Pity,
made me learn nothing more than,
Turn Away,
from this Ignorance of the Day.

I State,
I Am and You will be Due,
for
My ERUPT,
upon Humanity.

~

Sincerely Yours,
A Seer, A Sage, A Genius Savant, A Prodigy & Probably More,
not the OUT-COME of a christian Take,
but the
Natural Gifts Bestowed upon MY Life by Creation Herself at Birth,
not here,
but in the Bosom of Her Heir.

With More Than Pride,
I State,
~
The Continue
~
A PAGAN RECORD
~
A Very Personal Roar!!

~

*The Characteristics of American Christian Education - Katherine Dang, Philomath Foundation

When teaching is distressful for the instructor how much more distressful does it then become for the learner? How unjust is this outcome for the poor individual who is a novice at the feet of someone supposedly learned but driven to demonstrate his competence by demanding that his learners perform an arbitrarily determined degree of competence within arbitrarily determined constraints of time?
If the teacher is driven to teach, then does he not become a virtual taskmaster of his students; and they become burdened with heavy, unreasonable loads to bear? The injustice is so much the greater offense when the novice is but a child.
Biblical education by definition is easy and light. Scripture tells us how children are taught: "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." Isaiah 28:10. When one is taught the principles by which to reason in a given subject, and then consistently exercised in reasoning from principles, then he becomes free from, and independent of, rote learning.
American Christian education affords the training of individual reasoning in which one may come to his own correct conclusions in any given subject. Below are what may be identifiable characteristics of American Christian education:

1. Liberty for the individual to reflect, believe, and follow principles -- as opposed to enslavement to the strict letter of imposed, formulated, standardized answers.

2. Lessons are suited to one’s capacity; given an easy yoke to bear; one is not being given more than he can bear -- as opposed to straining under a heavy burden of unreasonable compliance to an arbitrarily standardized load of work.

3. Simple, uncomplicated principles and ideas to master -- as opposed to having to master by rote an overwhelming amount of minute facts and information.

* Katherine Dang of the Philomath Foundation
   (copy & paste the following address into a browser for more information)
   http://philomathfoundation.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=14&Itemid=37&limitstart=44