Esotericism

[Guest guest]

Tom:

> Just wanted to let you know who " THIS GUY " is. He is perhaps the most

knowledgeable exorcist in the Holy Roman Catholic Church today. He is

Rome's Chief Exorcist, Father e Amorth.

You know that I've never been impressed by titles, worldly or otherwise...

> You also ought to understand that from the perspective of the Catholic

Church, and many Christian churches as well, all other religions, save

Judaism, from which stems Christianity, are null and void as religions.

Fine, they can think that if they wish. I know it to not be true.

> His stating that...

>

> " All the forms of occultism, such as mass recourse to Eastern religious

> with all their esoteric connotations, are an open door for the Devil. "

>

> are in accordance with the principles of the Christian faith which

> believes that any religion that denies Jesus as the Christ and the

> Christian God as the one true God are " from the Devil. "

>

> The reason for this opinion of other faiths is that such theologies

> espouse beliefs inconsistent with what is stated in the Bible.

>

> Esoteric teachings, for example, claim that sections regarding

> reincarnation, and the instructions for how man can perform miracles,

> were cut out of the Bible.

You confuse esoteric teachings with New Age. It was Shirley McLane who said

that, not any esoteric teachings I've ever seen. Esoteric teachings do teach

reincanation, yes, but have never said anything about whether it was in the

Bible or not.

> The Christian Church takes issue with this.

>

> Because esoteric teachings believe in reincarnation, and other subjects

not at all mentioned in any chapter or verse of the Bible (in either

the Catholic Bible or the Protestant Bible which include different

books in some portions), and because no mention of certain esoteric

principles are mentioned in books discarded or not included from

either version of the Bible, and because certain esoteric principles are

mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and because certain esoteric

principles are not mentioned in any surviving historic document from

the time of Christ or from and surviving documents predating the time

of Christ, and because no such documentation has ever been presented by

those practising esoteric belief systems to back up the validity of

esoteric teachings, the Church assumes that such esoteric teachings are

sheer fabrication, that they are anti-Christian because they do not

follow the precise teachings of Christ, and they are " from the Devil "

for these reasons and will remain thought of in that regard until such

evidence can be provided to prove otherwise. "

There is ample evidence if you know where to look for it, but unlike

Christians, esotericists are not overly interested in convincing anyone of

anything.

" And so while " THIS GUY " may not sound like he knows what he is talking

about, or, while " THIS GUY " may sound like he is being derrogatory, he

is, in reality merely espousing the exact and specific beliefs of the

Catholic Church. No more, no less. "

Fine.

" Certainly if people who practised esoteric theology would present some

sort of evidence to the Church they would examine it and either

integrate it into itself if it was truthful, or reject its falsehood if

it were false. "

See above.

Inger