Theory of Liberation (was: John the Baptist again)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 124795


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Hans Andréa <ibotsjfvxfst at y...> 
wrote:

> Geoff post 124746:
> You have on a number of occasions referred to "my theory of 
liberation". > Now you are saying that the path of liberation is not 
true.

> Hans:
> I had to pinch myself when I read that. When have I said the Path  
> of Liberation isn't true? I quote from my post 124737: "I'm not     
> saying Harry Potter is based on the Bible. I'm saying Harry Potter 
> and the Bible are both based on the Path of Alchemical Liberation. 
> Let me emphasise that I'm not asking anyone to believe the Path of 
> Alchemical Liberation is true."

> How can you interpret that as me saying "the Path of liberation    
> is not true"? What I am saying here is that I'm not ASKING you to 
> believe that it's true.

Geoff:
My apologies. Looking back, I can see that I misinterpreted what you 
were saying. That was because my mind was focussed very much on 
something that was said later in the same post:

"Jesus is not a real person, but a force within a person who goes the 
Path."

That was /far more/ significant to me; the emails I received 
yesterday off-group from various other Christians who regularly post 
was that they also felt that the remark was out of order.

Going back to the former quote, I misinterpreted it because I found 
it most surprising that, if someone believes that a particular view 
of what life (and death) is all about is true, then I would have 
thought that they would certainly be trying to persuade others to 
believe also. As a Christian I believe that I should try to show 
others that what I believe is worth having for themselves because of 
its eternal importance.

I also become concerned when I see passages from the Bible – 
especially the New Testament which is of great relevance to 
Christians – hacked out of context and made to fit a different set of 
ideas. I wondered whether this is because the Christian faith may be 
seen as a soft touch. I have a suspicion that, if passages which are 
sacred to Muslims, Jews or other faiths were handled this way, there 
might well be a much sharper reaction from members of the group who 
hold to those beliefs.

Sadly, Christianity is viewed rather by the failures or disagreements 
of its adherents rather than by the teaching of its founder Jesus, 
whom we believe is God in human form and as (I think) Tonks pointed 
out yesterday is seen to be fully God and fully human. This week has 
seen the General Synod of the Church of England meeting together and 
the media have been far more interested in the debates about women 
bishops and homosexuality than in the question of addressing 
spiritual issues in the prevailing climate of materialism and apathy. 

The Greek word "gnosis" means "knowledge" as in agnostic = without 
knowledge (of God). In the 2nd century, Gnosticism was a heresy which 
taught that only people with "special knowledge" who had gone through 
initiation into the cult could approach God and they were considered 
to be special – a cut above the hoi polloi. This is still present in 
some places today in the real world, where people with special 
knowledge are superior and in the Wizarding World where I suspect 
that this is the way Voldemort operates  with his Death Eaters. The 
Dark Mark and their pure blood theories are part of this.

Christianity at base is a very simple faith but a difficult one also. 
One day, Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest. His 
reply was to love God with all your soul strength and mind and added 
that the second was to love your neighbour (any person who needs your 
support or help) as you would love yourself. In John 3:16 he also 
said the God so loved the world that he sent his only son so that 
whoever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life. 
Very simple but difficult because it demands /real/ belief. Special 
knowledge and rituals are not needed for a person to be a believer; 
they may help. Christianity comes with different "flavours", ranging 
from the ultra-traditional Orthodox and Catholic approach to that of, 
say, the Baptist church; my own church in West Somerset has a 
relaxed, free structure but still is able to meet the needs of 
worship and Bible teaching in a simple and straightforward way.

This simplicity is reflected in the Wizarding World where one or two 
of Dumbledore's more frequently quoted remarks certainly carry 
undertones which have been picked up by Christian believers. 

"Death is but the next great adventure"
(PS "The Man with Two Faces" p.215 UK edition)

"If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He 
didn't realise that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves 
its own mark."
(ibid, p.216)

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than 
our abilities"
COS "Dobby's Reward" p.245 UK edition)

Harry may not be a believer but things that are said to him carry 
with them the idea of Christian living and choice – as do remarks 
made to Frodo by Gandalf in LOTR. These are authors who have a belief 
and allow it to slip into their books as a backdrop to the unfolding 
story.

Geoff:
Who is going away early tomorrow UK time for a week in Cornwall 
anticipating that on his return he will have to excavate in several 
hundred posts to find what others have made of this.