This is http://www.essayz.com/a9604051.htm         
Previous-Essay      <== This-Essay ==>     Following-Essay
Click HERE on this line to find essays via Your-Key-Words.
{Most frequent wordstarts of each essay will be put here.}
==========================================================
        %CONVERSION PERVERSION GOSPEL NEW TESTAMENT 960405

     The process  of  perversion  of a religious gospel by
addictive religious leaders is often gradual and invisible
to those involved in the religious perversion process.

     Converts to a religion may feel called to share their
good  news  and convert others to their way of  perceiving
and responding to life's situations and contexts.

     The motivation to share  their good news and converse
together may gradually shift into a sense of duty to share
their  good news,  to get others to conform to some set of
religious doctrines,  participate in some set of religious
rituals,  and  to  dedicate themselves to participate in a
more fully conformal way.

     Gradually members of the religious tradition may come
to  identify  certain  beliefs,   perceptions,   feelings,
descriptions and behaviors which do not conform  to  their
prescriptions to be evil (or the precursors of evil) which
must be avoided at all cost.

     Since evil is  obviously bad and  should  be avoided,
religious  leaders  may  seek  to  be  helpful  by clearly
identifying what is evil and what is not evil; who is evil
and who  is not evil;  and to take  steps  to prevent evil
beliefs,    perceptions,   feelings;    descriptions   and
behaviors.

     Religious leaders often feel called to hate  evil and
evil  doers,  and  to engage in  crusades  to  prevent and
destroy evil behaviors and evil doers.    In  the  process
they perfect the technology of identifying what and who is
evil.

     In  the above  religious  traditions leaders  perfect
laws,   rules,   regulations and prohibitions  which  they
design  in the interests of controlling evil and being  in
charge of the forces of goodness.

     Such  religious   leaders   become   experts  in  law
enforcement,   condemnations   of   the   disobedient, and
excommunication  of  those   who  are  unfaithful  in  not
conforming themselves to the requirements which have  been
devised  to  defend  all that is good against all  that is
evil.

     Religious leaders  perfect  the  process  of  drawing
distinctions  between  experts  in  religious  purity  and
faithfulness, and  perverts  who show  inadequate  concern
about  religious  purity and  faithfulness.    They  pride
themselves  in their  ability to perfect the  distinctions
which  clearly  show that they are superior to those  evil
people who ignore and /or engage in obscene  violations of
religious  laws,  commandments,  rules,  violations,   and
prohibitions.

     In   many    gradual    processes   religious leaders
appropriate  the  good news of a new testament and pervert
it into being a tool  for their lording it over others and
controlling others for personal gain and satisfaction.  In
this  way  highly  religious  leaders  become  proud  task
masters---lording it over  poor victims and prisoners whom
they have  made  vulnerable, and powerless to be  true  to
themselves  or  to  others.    In  their  arrogance   many
religious leaders cannot recognize  their pride as an evil
reality which engenders much alienation, misunderstanding,
confusion,  coercion and violence   which  undermine  both
personal  and  communal integrity---while they are working
hard on appearing to be good, better than others.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
==========================================================