God-Talk

“Neither must we admit at all,” said I, “that gods war with gods and plot against one another and contend—for it is not true either—if we wish our future guardians to deem nothing more shameful than lightly to fall out with one another; still less must we make battles of gods and giants the subject for them of stories and embroideries, and other enmities many and manifold of gods and heroes toward their kith and kin. But if there is any likelihood of our persuading them that no citizen ever quarrelled with his fellow-citizen and that the very idea of it is an impiety, that is the sort of thing that ought rather to be said by their elders, men and women, to children from the beginning and as they grow older, and we must compel the poets to keep close to this in their compositions.

- The Republic, 381 B.C.

Are they who plan ill-deeds then secure that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them, or that the doom will not come on them whence they know not? Or that He will not seize them in their going to and fro so that there be no escape for them? Or that He will not seize them with a gradual wasting? Lo! thy Lord is indeed Full of Pity, Merciful. Have they not observed all things that Allah hath created, how their shadows incline to the right and to the left, making prostration unto Allah, and they are lowly? And unto Allah maketh prostration whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth of living creatures, and the angels and they are not proud. They fear their Lord above them, and do what they are bidden. Allah hath said: Choose not two gods. There is only One God. So of Me, Me only, be in awe. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth, and religion is His for ever. Will ye then fear any other than Allah? And whatever of comfort ye enjoy, it is from Allah. Then, when misfortune reacheth you, unto Him ye cry for help.

- The Quran, 620 A.D.

So, what are the inventors of lies against God up to in 2019 A.D.?

Well, there are those who deny the divine. They fill the ears with noise that blots out man's spiritual inklings. Then, when it is dark and calm, the unguided begin to suspect.

But it is even worse to suggest that evil inherits the spiritual realm, for it makes a man mistrust his spiritual nature. Indeed there is no evil intelligence, there is only man's intelligence succumbing to destructive tendencies, thus creating the appearance of an evil spirit where there is only systematic aberration.

One can of course go over the top. This

is easily recognised as what it is: cross-dressing. But whenever Carpenter put some truth out there, Hollywood was quick to follow up with a lie, some of them mostly harmless, others not.

The Prophecy, in particular, suggests that evil intelligence is a greater power than what can be found in heaven. And there is no tongue in anyone's cheek there: It is a completely unreflected cashing in on the fascination with evil, in no way, shape or form different from the Greek poets selling contests and humiliation in their time. You may go to The Dogs of War, also with Christopher Walken, for a legitimate glorification of violence. But it doesn't have the fascination: the fascination with the consequential, in this case with the fatal, namely to give up your trust in the holy.

But I was asking about 2019 A.D. Well, you still hear the same yarn. It makes you feel guilty about your own hopes and dehumanises whoever is in its focus, turning you into a sad, fallen creature.