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    %ELEVATION PRACTICAL ADVICE DESCRIPTION COMMAND+971113
    %SITUATION CONTEXT COMMUNAL ETHICS MORALITY SIN+971113
  %LAWS EXCOMMUNICATE REJECT ALIENATE VIOLENCE EVIL+971113
     %COERCION MANIPULATION CONTROL ADDICT CODEPEND 971113
                                                                                                                                     
           In   ancient  times,   places  and  contexts   humans                
      developed ways of dealing with their dilemmas, challenges,      
      problems and tragedies --- and preserved in fables, myths,                                                                     
      stories, legends,  laws and commandments some of what they                                                                     
      developed.    Much  of what they developed has come to  be                                                                     
      regarded as divinely inspired ---  and the embodying texts                                 
      thus have come to be regarded as divinely inspired  texts;                                 
      and so are treated as  holy  scriptures because  they have                          
      been  included  in the formal cannon  of  highly  regarded                                 
      scriptures.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                     
           Some  people  have  come to regard all of the  words,                                 
      injunctions and commandment (explicit and implicit)  found                                                                     
      in  the collection of texts which are now regarded as holy                                 
      scripture --- as literal commandments from God;  and so as                                                                     
      worthy of ultimate concern, reverence, awe, and obedience.                               
      Among  the people who regard such scriptures very  highly,                                 
      unfortunately,  there is  not complete agreement as to the                                                                     
      practical   implications   of  regarding  such  texts   as                                 
      "inspired".   Thus there  are  conflicts between and among                                              
      such people.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                     
           Regrettably,   among the people who regard scriptures                                 
      highly,    there  are many who worship the scriptures  and               
      are   ultimately    concerned    with   being    led    by                               
      scriptures  according to their own understandings of  what                   
      scriptures demand  of  them;    and  thus what  they  must                                                                     
      demand   of themselves  and  of others who do  not   agree    
      with  them. Their  ultimate concern about their scriptures                               
      is so great that  they  are  willing  to  sacrifice   open                                                                     
      and   honest  relationships   with  other  people  in  the                                                              
      process  of  doing what  they believe is demanded of  them             
      by the  scriptures which  they worship.     Alienation  is                                        
      not  too high a price to pay in seeking to be faithful  to                                                                     
      their  interpretations of  their  scriptures.     Thus, in                      
      the   service   of  their  interpretations  of  scriptures                      
      which is their god,  they are ready,   willing and able to                                                                     
      engender personal and communal disintegration.     In  the                                                                
      name  of God,  they worship their understandings of  their                                                    
      scriptures   as   if they  are  God.   Their  idolatry  is                                                                     
      disintegrative  in  tragic  ways which  they  cannot  see,      
      acknowledge, describe, or talk about.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                     
                               (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
         Download it!     (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                                     
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