Honor Gnostic “Saint” Valentinus on Valentine’s Day

My way-cool Gnostic Calendar which I got here: Gnosis.org says for today February 14, “The Holy Valentinus, Guide to Gnosis”. We alternative Christians, including esotericists, gnostics and semi-gnostics, should honor this Gnostic “Saint” today. Gnosticism: A New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing by Stephan HoellerI put quotes around the word saint because the alternative church and the Gnostics have never had a Pope to declare saints. Since the word saint means “holy”, the author of my nifty calendar, Rev. Troy Pierce of the Ecclesia Gnostica, says it perfectly, “The Holy Valentinus, Guide to Gnosis.” Living legend, author and Gnostic Bishop Dr. Stephan Hoeller aka Tau Stephanus, writes: “Valentinus, a Gnostic for All Seasons. …the Greatest of all Gnostic teachers [is] Valentinus, who is said to have been a disciple of Theudas (or Theodas), a friend and student of Paul.
“…G.R.S. Mead called Valentinus ‘the great unknown’ of Gnosticism, and indeed there is little information regarding his life and personality. He was born in Africa, probably within the territory of the ancient city of Carthage, around or before 100 A.D. Educated in Alexandria, in his prime years he transferred his residence to Rome, where he achieved high prominence in the Christian community between the years 135 and 160. Tertullian writes that Valentinus was a candidate for the office of bishop of Rome and lost the election by a rather narrow margin. [Wow! Would’ve been a Gnostic Pope.]
“…Valentinus, the Gnostic who almost became Pope, was perhaps the only man who could have achieved positive recognition for the Gnostic approach to the message of Christ.
“…Valentinus’s own variations on the Gnostic theme includes the signal importance he gives to Sophia, the feminine emanation from the Pleroma [Fullness, Wholeness, “highest Heaven”]. Though the figure of the Divine Feminine was undoubtedly present in Gnosticism since its inception, as evidenced in the teachings of the earliest known Gnostic, Simon Magus, the myth of Sophia in particular, with all of its rich detail and dramatic elaborations, is largely the work of Valentinus.”
Bishop Hoeller then continues describing Valentinus’s teachings in his 2002 book, Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing. It’s a favorite book of mine, and I have all kinds of things scribbled in the margins including, Jesus was a facilitator of wholeness, IAO, Valentinus and the Baby (there’s a cool story about a vision Valentinus had of a newborn), and finally “Valentinus Lives!” I wrote in bold ink, followed on the next page with “Valentinus rocks!” I really love this ancient guy and am glad he can be celebrated on this day of love. Hoeller writes, “…the sublime message of this great technician of human transformation [Valentinus] who beckons to us from across nearly two millennia. Valentinus indeed lives. He was a source of inspiration and guidance for persons in every age and clime, a timeless messenger of the mysteries of the soul.” Hoeller ends with a stirring quote from Valentinus himself:
“From the very beginning have you been immortal and children of life — such life as the aeons enjoy: yet would you have death shared among you, to spend and lavish it, so that death might die in you and by your hands; for inasmuch as you dissolve the world and are not dissolved yourselves, you are lords of all creation and destruction.”
That’s the spot where I wrote, “Valentinus rocks!”
I highly recommend Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing by Stephan A. Hoeller and this beautiful colorful Gnostic calendar created by one of his priests.

–Katia

SeventhDay Adventists similar to Cathars aka Waldensians, Albigensians

I went to Seventh Day Adventist schools and boarding schools during all my childhood and teen years. They teach a love for the Cathars big time. Our elementary school teachers made us read stories and color pictures of Waldensian and Albigensian children walking perilous mountain cliffs, hiding from the Inquisition on pain of death, carefully writing out copies of the Bible.

I left the Adventist church as a young adult because they don’t acknowledge the Divine Feminine, but I still have a friendly attitude toward some of their doctrine. I have been studying the Gnostic Cathars more in depth than usual lately and found some old notes I made last year. I realized the Adventists have a lot in common with the Cathars — who were called Waldensians and Albigensians in their day, only the Roman Catholic Church called them Cathars, originally a derogatory term meaning “purists” or “pure ones.”

Here is what I jotted down last year when I realized the uncanny similarity between the SDA’s and Cathars / Waldensians / Albigensians. The SDA founder, Ellen G. White, visited the Cathar / Waldensian valleys area in Europe (Italy and France border area) twice in 1885 to 1887 while she was in Europe. Chapter 4 of her famous book, The Great Controversy, is about these cool heretics. Adventists really really honor heretics!, good for them.

Similarites between Cathars & Adventists. Both Cathars and SDA’s practiced the following things:

Vegetarianism

Distrust of the Roman Catholic Church to the point of calling it and the Pope, Anti-christ & “the Beast”

Sabbath-keeping. See pic of SDA kids at Waldensian stone table room http://npucnewsletter.wordpress.com/2007/08/21/why-not-try-this-learn-lessons-from-the-waldenses/
Proof they were Sabbath keepers see: http://www.sabbathtruth.com/history/sabbath_history12.asp

Bible carrying

“Run to the hills!” teaching

Ascetisism: No adornments of any kind: no steeples, no stained-glass, no crosses, no rituals, no jewelry not even wedding rings. No christenings, no priests. These are all SDA no-no’s.

No swearing of oaths, no killing or soldiering (SDA’s are conscientious objectors in war-time)

* * * *
Adventists teach Waldensians and Albigensians are heretic heroes whom children should revere, study about, and use as role models. The word Cathar was originally an insult of the RCC, so true descendants of the Cathars actually call themselves Waldensians or Albigensians – just like the SDA’s who never used the word Cathars.

The fact that Adventists instill in their children from an early age love of (and affinity to) Cathars and love of Judaism (sabbath keeping) makes you wonder…

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathar

http://www.ellenwhite.org/gc1.htm

Lots of groups, evangelicals, especially Baptists, use the Waldensians aka Waldenses to provide themselves with pedigree stretching back to the Apostles. It’s called Baptist successionism. EG White has a chapter in GC about the Waldensians, but she doesn’t claim pedigree thru them, just that they kept the Sabbathkeeping torch alive thru the dark ages. They may not have even kept the Sabbath, but EG White’s limited research concluded they did. She probably read 17th century English author Sir Samuel Morland’s book about the Vaudois, another name for the Waldensians which said they kept the Sabbath.

Those who attempt to establish a pedigree for the Waldenses anterior to Waldo himself often refer to the work of Sir Samuel Morland, a 17th-century English author and diplomat who claimed to have found evidence that verifies the great antiquity of the sect. [4] Morland reproduced documents supposedly from the year 1120, which, he said, show that the Waldenses (French, -Vaudois-) had the scriptures for about forty years prior to the translation that Waldo obtained.

The documents in question, however, show the Bible divided into chapters, and such divisions did not appear before about 1250 or later. [5] The confession of faith produced by Morland makes it appear that the Waldenses held to a strongly Protestant-evangelical theology centuries before Luther. It is now known that this document originated in the 16th century. It contains teachings of Martin Bucer, reformer of Strasbourg, copied almost verbatim. [6]

Despite their usual aversion to Roman Catholic sources, successionists have not hesitated to cite a remark by Reinerius Saccho that the Waldenses movement is ancient,

“for some SAY that it has existed from the time of Sylvester, some from the time of the apostles.” http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/num3.htm

The Virgin & the Whore, Mary & Magdalene, Gnosis of Melchizedek

For our Order of Mary Magdala we have a set of lessons based on the most-inspiring book, Saint Mary Magdalene: The Gnostic Tradition of the Holy Bride, by Tau Malachi.
On page 43 in the section titled, the Union of the Bride & Yeshua there is a reference made to what Sophian gnostics call the Gnosis of Melchizedek. It reads:

“The Virgin & the Whore

Now it has been said that the Mother was the virgin and that the Bride was the whore, and both were called “Mary.” Why should the Mother be called a Virgin and the Bride called a whore? Because Mother Sophia is concealed and Bride Sophia is revealed. Anyone who seeks to know the Holy Bride will know her, but no one shall know the Mother, save the Daughter.

There is a great mystery in this, for the Mother gives birth to the Son of the Father, and the Son recognizes the Holy Bride, who is the image of her Mother. Beholding the Daughter, the Son beholds the Mother; yet Mother Sophia is ever-transcendent and it is the Daughter who is realized.

The Mother remains ever in her purity, without taint, trace, stain, nor mark, and this is also true of the Bride. Yet the Bride becomes everything and everyone, and appears to have taint and trace and stain and mark! The Mother is transparent, but the Daughter is visible light and glory and she is also fire and darkness; though in her inmost essence, the Daughter is the Mother.

Thus it has been said that Logos came for the salvation of Bride Sophia, for it is she who was bound under the dominion of the demiurgos and became the whore to the archons and even to Satan. Is not Logos the presence of awareness through which cosmic ignorance is dispelled and Wisdom nature recognized, thus enlightening and liberating the soul? A great mystery is revealed in this, for in the inmost secret teachings, the Mother and the Son and the Bride are merely personifications — what they are exists within you and is your own bornless nature. This is called the Gnosis of Melchizedek.(13) [Footnote 13: The body of inmost secret teachings of enlightenment among Sophians.]

St. Mary Magdalene sought to impart these inmost secret teachings after the Lord’s ascension. Even among the chosen apostles, few would listen and hear the secret teachings from her because she was a woman. Indeed! Rejected, the Bride was labeled a “whore” in the ignorance of men! “

Christianity an Amalgam of all that (“pagan”) stuff which came before

We often say at our online Mystery School that Christianity has pagan DNA, did not arise in a vacuum, is a hodge-podge of all that came before, Egypto-Sumerian-Judeo-Pagan-Hermetic-Gnostic philosophy… Evidently the late scholar Martin A. Larson agrees. Found the following bit in a review of his out-of-print classic, Religion of the Occident. R.A. Brown of San Diego wrote the review:

“[Larson] states that Christianity, like all great religions of the West (past and present), represents a fusion of what came before. This is in comparison to the more commonly held belief that religious revolutions are explosions that are sparked by the birth of some great mind (Buddha, Lao Tzu, Abraham, Mohammed and Jesus). Larson challenges this perspective. For the author, if you stand on a mountaintop and look down on the deep valley of 4,000 years of human history you will see that religious change occurs as a seamless progression of multiple faiths leading into another. This perspective makes Christianity a gigantic puzzle with multiple pieces coming from many sources that somehow came together to form a whole. This book takes on the task of breaking apart the pieces and showing how they came to fit together.

It all makes for fascinating reading. Good luck in finding this increasingly rare ‘out of print’ book.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

I am glad he explains (away) the “bright-mind-incarnates” theory of how religions come into existence. So true, so true. A religion is mothered by its culture, not by one man’s revelations, no matter how awesome and valid.

Yeah, Christianity is a huge colorful puzzle that takes up the entire dining room table. It is Pagan Jewish Egyptian Greco-Roman Christianity and our ancestors voices are all quietly there. Some of ’em are called heretics, pagans or worse, but their thread is still there, part of the big cloth that is our inherited “faith” tradition.

The reviewer is right, the book is hard to find. Amazon has 2 used copies for $59. Yikes.

http://www.amazon.com/religion-Occident-origin-development-Essene-Christian/dp/B0007E36M8

Katia

Knights Templar Remembrance Day – 700 Years Ago, a new age began

700 years ago today the Templars were rounded up and arrested, accused of heresy and crimes against God. Many modern practitioners of “Templarism” — a kind of esoteric occult Christianity — are remembering them today, including our New Knights Templar Order members. Usually we fast on Oct. 13, and wear black — but for some reason this year felt the urge to also celebrate the Templars of the past. Some (me included) are wearing a red Templar cross today and getting out that ceremonial sword for a procession to the altar. One modern Templar group produced a cool video for this “holiday” which can be viewed online (see link below). What are you doing to remember those almost mythical Knights of yore? Feasting or Fasting or a little bit of both?

Here are some observances happening around the world today:

Chris Dalrymple, KTO writes:
At the www.templarfellowship.org website we have posted a memorial
presentation and called for remembrances. We have an article posting
the various news and other stories relating to the Templars that I can
come across. One posted just today notes that the Univ. of Penn. will
be hosting a day long events of lectures, displays and events on the
Templars specifically, chivalry and monasticism, and medieval
lifestyle in general. It sounds wonderful. These are all that I came
across. As I find more they will be posted to the
www.templarfellowship.org website.

* * * * * * * * * *

On Templar Globe: http://templars.wordpress.com/category/united-states/

* * * * * * * * * *

Linda Berthelsen, Commander of Templar Fellowship of America writes:

As the Commander of the Templar Fellowship of America, I would like
to share some exciting news concerning upcoming events. The 700th
anniversary of the arrest of the Knights Templar is RAPIDLY
approaching on October 13th, 2007. Modern Templars around the world
will commemorate the 700th anniversary of this unfortunate event with
remembrances and signs of recognition.

To commemorate that fateful Friday the 13th, the TFA has planned
special activities in which everyone may participate, regardless of
geographic location or schedule.

We have created and posted to our web site a powerpoint presentation
which you may view by clicking on the link from our
www.templarfellowship.org web site. We will also post a text only
version. These presentations are designed to raise awareness of
Templar History.

We also encourage you to take a few moments on Saturday, October
13th, 2007, to remember what happened 700 years ago, and to wear a
Templar or Maltese cross throughout the day. Please forward this e-
mail to others and call the attention of friends and relatives to the
links to these presentations at www.templarfellowship.org.

Why should Templars commemorate this date? October 13th, 2007, marks
the 700th year of the infamous day in Templar history when the King
of France, Phillip le Belle, ordered the mass arrests of all Templars
across Europe. History attributes much of his success with this
astounding ruse to his ability to manipulate the Papacy.

In some respects the events on this date might be compared to the
9/11 attack or the bombing of Pearl Harbor, because the massive
arrest destroyed countless lives and sent economic shock waves
throughout the western world. Although sources differ as to the
actual number, approximately 4,000 Knights Templar were arrested
within a short time. The magnitude of the arrest was stunningly
sudden, and widespread. There was little resistance because most of
the Templar fighting forces were widely dispersed. Most of those who
were arrested were older and not able to resist such a massive
surprise attack.

King Phillip then ordered that these Knights be charged with heresy
under the Papal Inquisition. Thousands were imprisoned and tortured
with the purpose of extracting false confessions of heresy. A number
of them endured horrific executions such as being burned at the
stake. Those who escaped were forced into hiding and exile. They
changed their identities and blended into society.

On the evening of Friday, October 12th, 2007, the Grand Priory of
Austria will sponsor a public lecture at the University of Klagenfurt
on the Templar Legacy. Dr. Erhard Zauner, Grand Commander Templar
Order of Austria, will present a seminar on the arrest of the
Templars 700 years ago. Dr. Zauner is a powerful, engaging and
popular speaker and draws sizable audiences from the surrounding
area. The Austrian Order will also hold a special members only
gathering on October 13th to observe this special day.

In addition to our commemorations of wearing Templar crosses and
setting aside a few moments of contemplation to remember the trials
of Templars past, please also join in a short meditation with our
Austrian colleagues at 1 pm US Central Time (8 pm Austrian time!) to
connect as fellow Templars with our sister Order and share in their
observance. We send them our best wishes!

On Saturday, October 13th, 2007:
• Watch the 700 Tribute presentation at
www.templarfellowship.org.
• Wear your Templar or Maltese Cross.
• Remember the sacrifices made by Templars 700 years ago!
• Keep our Austrian friends, and other Templar
presentations, in your thoughts.

Linda Berthelsen
Commander, Templar Fellowship of America

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hope you find something to help with your own personal observance. If you can’t think of anything else, just light three candles for past, present and future Templars, preferably a red candle of remembrance for the past. But if that is impossible, close your eyes a moment and mentally “light” those candles. We will meet many of you on the mental and spiritual planes as we honor these special Knights, Ladies, Dames and Clerics of Tsion’s Temple tomorrow.

“See” you there.

700 years ago today, a new age began… Watch this awesome online slideshow: http://www.fixback.com/page24.html

Sincerely,

Katia R., Prioress
Order of the New Knights Templar
http://northernway.org/school/templars.html

Mary as Queen of Hell & Purgatory

A university student in York, England, asked if we can place the quote, “Mary Queen of Hell.”

“I am a postgraduate student in history of art working on early Christian iconography and was wondering if you could please let me know where the quotation pertaining to Mary as ‘queen of hell’ comes from? Have tried to find this reference for a while and am tying myself in knots! Many many thanks, Becky, University of York, UK.”

She found it on our website’s Mary as Goddess & Queen page. That page was compiled in 1999 by our good friend Luna Blanca in California and also calls Mary the Queen of Purgatory. The Queen of Hell title is based on Barbara Walker’s work, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets, p. 603. The question might be where does Barbara Walker get it from… going now to consult my copy…

Okay. Walker’s “Encyclopedia” says Mary is called Empress of Hell (not Queen, but they’re close enough, so we won’t quibble). Walker cites a 16th century book by Reginald Scot called Discoverie of Witchcraft, which says in Chapter 13, “Queene of Heaven, Empresse of Hell, and Ladie of all the World.”

You can read Scot’s 400-year-old book and the Empress of Hell quote online in the Esoteric Archives.

Queen of Purgatory is verified by the official handbook of the Legion of Mary which says:

“Purgatory forms part of the realm of Mary…. St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Bernardine of Sienna, Louis de Blois, as well as others, explicitly proclaim Mary to be Queen of Purgatory; and St. Louis-Marie de Montfort…–(Lhoumeau: LaVie Spirituelle a l’Ecole de St. Louis-Marie de Montfort), in The Official Handbook of the Legion of Mary, by Concilium Legionis Mariae (1959), p 128
From: http://www.dianedew.com/purg-rc.htm

And don’t forget to visit our Mary as Goddess and Queen page which lists all these Mary titles and more:

+Katia

3 Eras, Man, Woman & Union

We’re in the era of Woman. It’s Her turn now to design her own rituals, her own religion, interpret scriptures her way. “Feminist religion” they call it. Man controlled religion alone, cruelly excluded Woman from religion and ritual for thousands of years. That was the era of Man. We are just now at the beginning of the era of Woman. Perhaps 90 percent of earth is still in Man’s grip. Woman’s voice is finally being heard, myths and rituals are being revised, reinterpreted, even new ones created by Woman. But what about a time of Union? Wouldn’t it be lovely to reach the final stage of our evolution as a spiritual species? We’ve got to get thru this newly born era of Woman before we reach the era of Union, the 3rd and hopefully final era. So here we are, you, me, all of us, living when Woman has just barely gotten her Voice. It’s a great time to be alive, we are picking up momentum, the Sacred Feminine is taking off her veils.

But. Sigh. We’ve got a long way to go, “baby,” until we end up inventing and creating TOGETHER with our male teammates in the era of Union. Another thousand years?

It feels like the Dark Ages right before the Renaissance, yet it also feels like the beginning of the new Renaissance, the Woman Renaissance.

I have been reading the Flame Bearers by Kim Chernin (thank you Siobhan Houston for sending me this book!) and it’s triggered these kinds of ruminations and ponderings. I read this paragraph in an article about Jewish feminine spirituality:

“It is in the voices of women in the past three decades that we are discovering new disclosures of Torah in newly heard ways. Feminists are adding women’s points of view to the cornucopia of male-centered interpretations. Not only are they doing so in the area of exegesis, but also in the area of allegory and story-telling. E. M. Broner’s A Weave of Women, Kim Chernin’s The Flame Bearers, and Anita Diamont’s The Red Tent are examples of novels whose themes reflect revisioned fictional tales of Jewish women in the past, present, and future. These feminist stories empower contemporary Jewish [and Christian, in my opinion] women through their fictional rendering of Jewish heroines and their creative visions of meaningful Jewish women’s ceremonies and ritual all within the context of Jewish tradition and Torah narrative.” http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-5713388_ITM

After reading the above I was struck with the idea that we’ve got a three era situation, but it isn’t Father, Son and Holy Spirit, like that Catholic mystic (what’s his name?) predicted. Rather it’s Man, Woman and Both; the latter of which I later thought would be better titled Union. [Added in: the Catholic mystic is Joachim of Fiore, just remembered!]

How long O Lord, O Lady, How long before we reach Union? We can’t heal the wasteland, can’t heal the nations, the earth, until we get both halves of the human race as equal participators in spirituality. At least we’re getting the world literate. Although I’ve read on the UN’s website we’ve got a long way to go there, too. Some of ’em gotta go thru the masculine era for how many centuries I wonder, before they can even accept the Sacred Feminine. Then it’s on to Union….

I’m hangin’ in there. How about you? (No sighing allowed).

June 3rd Wedding at Cana? Jesus & Magdalene’s Anniversary?

Well shoot, I missed it by one day. I meant to post this yesterday on June 3rd.

Carol from Florida (whom I met in Phoenix last month at the 3rd annual Divine Feminine conference) told me according to an Edgar Cayce book, The Life of Jesus, June 3rd is the date of the Wedding at Cana. Has anyone else heard of other dates for Cana?

Carol wrote:

I think Sunday June 3, is the same day as the wedding in Cana, the day Yeshua turned the water to wine.
Do you believe it was the wedding of Yeshua and Magdalen?
I’m having a glass of red wine to celebrate.

I wrote back: Yes, I do believe the wedding at Cana was theirs. On a trip to Israel while on the way to Cana we sat at an intersection for a long time in a bus. I looked out the window and there was a sign saying, “Magdala” and another saying “Cana” with the distance to these villages in kilometers.

A sudden impression came to me confirming a long time suspicion (but I hadn’t been sure) — the wedding was theirs. It all fit together.

Most people who don’t agree it was his wedding cite John 2:2 where it says he was invited to the wedding, which of course a bridegroom would not be invited to his own wedding. They also say John 2:12 indicates Jesus going home with his mother after the wedding, but I disagree about that. It says he and his whole band go to Capernaum for a few days (why is that going home with mother?) and that could be their honeymoon! So there.

So we were supposed to have a glass of red wine yesterday, guys! Never too late — we can have it today in honor of their wedding, in honor of him turning water into wine. The wedding feasts often lasted for a whole week in the ancient world. If not, they would be on their honeymoon about now so we can still drink to them and the Sacred Union!

Katia

Starbird on Defamation of the Feminine

Margaret posted this to our Goddess Christians list the other day as we were discussing how the Divine Feminine in all her forms seems to be demonized and defamed.

Whenever I encounter defamation of the “Feminine,” I think of the
amazing “Unicorn” tapestries called “La Dame a la Licorne”–
located in the Museum of the Middle Ages in Paris. The panels
extolthe five senses of our human bodies and the “ecstasy”
of union (the final panel) that is “only a shadow” of our union
with the Divine. Human bodies are NOT corrupt evil prisions of
the Divine Spark (as aescetic “gnostic” teachings would have us
believe). Rather, human bodies are “earthen vessels”–sacred
containers of consciousness, gradually evolving into the “new
creation” thorugh enlightenment. Unfortunately, dogmas condemning
the flesh (the earth, our bodies, our body-wisdom, the “Sophia”
and the realm of the unconscious) have distorted our perceptions
of reality! Which is why, in my work, I insist on the “sacred
union” of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as incarnations of the Archetypal
Bride/Bridegroom syzygy–the Logos and Sophia–at the heart of the
Christian mythology/story. As above, so below. There is only one
viable pattern for life– “union.” The “ultimate” marriage is
that of “flesh” and “divinity” –or even, “wave and particle”–
which better illustrates the “oneness”/wholeness of all creation…

peace and well-being,
Margaret
http://www.margaretstarbird.net
“Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile”

Magdalene & Jesus Teachings more important than Bloodline

A longtime friend and correspondent of mine (her name is Lore) wrote the following which I believe sums up nicely how the “bloodline” is not important, not something to obsess over.

Lore writes:

While these matters of possible [bloodline] heritage are interesting, on a personal level I don’t find them too relevant because I focus on the teachings of Yeshua and MM rather than them as historical, which cannot be factually established beyond a reasonable doubt in any case. There is no proof that any of them actually existed, although I believe they did. But the teachings definitely existed no matter its origination.

Bloodline heritage is only important in the context of a tribal or royalty situation. Spiritual heritage is not passed via DNA. Since it is spiritual heritage I am searching for, I don’t focus on family or tribal heritage. In fact, focusing on it can be harmful because it is meant to exclude by establishing an elite class. By the very definition of elite, everyone who isn’t included is excluded and becomes “the other” and even “subhuman.” This elite concept has been used to justify genocide, slavery, and extinction of other species. It has also been used to harm women and deny them their rights for centuries.

There are few facts we can definitely ascertain from the Bible. Those facts have to do with places (such as the existence of Magdala and Nazareth — or nonexistence of same) or events that can be corroborated via historical sources independent of the religious scripture. No where can the existence Yeshua, Mother Mary, MM be independently corroborated, even when one would expect such corroboration to appear, like Roman crucifixion records.

That lack of corroboration does not demean the meaning of these texts. Even if they are completely mythological, they are important. However, they are no more important than the mythologies of other peoples, many of which they pay a striking resemblance to. I know many are consternated over this thought. I find great peace in it because it proves who consistent divine inspiration is.