Updated: 03/15/05
 

CHAPTER 32

PHILOSOPHY

            Philosophy is a big incomprehensible word and concept to many people. Philosophy has also gotten a bad name. The main reason for the bad name is many so-called philosophers were simply priests or ministers trying to make sense out of their own religious beliefs and doctrines. They were trying to reconcile the unbelievable claims of their religion with the real believable world. In order to do the impossible, they added more unbelievable theories and myths to their explanations.

            Can you imagine a sane man actually saying, the “real” world that we see, touch, smell, taste and hear is but a figment of our imagination? To these believing, “religious” philosophers, the “real” world was the one that was unseeable, untouchable, unsmellable, untastable and unhearable. The only way one could contact this real unseen world was through a religious exercise called "believing” (faith). By believing, you were actually in touch with this unseen world that you could not see, hear, smell, taste or touch. In psychiatry, that is a description of “Insanity.”

             The church taught that to be educated, one had to believe all of these unbelievable religious statements and the philosophical concepts that stemmed from those beliefs. That is, one had to be Insane. Due to the discoveries of our science, some still say there is space between the atoms and parts of atoms. So, what we experience is just an illusion. We are then told that the unseeables (God, Heaven, Hell, the soul, the Devil and such) are Not illusions. In other words,

THE DREAM IS REAL BUT THE DREAMER IS A FIGMENT.

            Let me say this. If a man has a clear idea of something, his explanation of that idea will be clear. If he only has a very foggy, nebulous idea, then his explanation of that idea will be very foggy and nebulous. If he has any proofs or concepts that tend to prove his idea or claim, he will give them to you. When you read something incomprehensible, which a “philosopher” has written, you can know at once the author is chasing a very unclear, foggy idea around in his head. He is groping to find a handle by which he can grip it and explain it to you - and to “himself.”

            Just think of some of the topics many of the so-called religious philosophers have written thousands of pages on. "How many angels can stand on the head of a pin? What is the nature of God? Can the human mind comprehend the incomprehensible? What is the function of sin? What is the purpose of death? Does the soul have weight? What is the nature of Jesus? Where does the power of sin come from? What is good? What is evil? Where is hell? What is the nature of life after death? Where did beauty come from? Is there a divine perfect pattern of a tree? If God is everywhere, is he in Hell? What is the function of apparent reality? What is the function of the soul?” And on! These imaginary and incoherent concepts could only be called, toys of an unsane mind. I knew a retarded guy who whittled all day with an imaginary knife and an imaginary stick of wood. He showed me some of the great carvings he had made.

            Most religious “philosophy” has dealt with ideas that only reflect Belief. Very little philosophy is around that is in direct contact with known reality and with the real world. That is not to say such sane philosophy has not been thought out and written. Indeed, it has. But religion seeks to censure any and all writings that shine the light of honest intelligent thinking upon their beliefs. Thus, some of the Clear Thinkers had their works bought by religious folks and never published. Or, they have seen them published only to have the writings and the author attacked and censored with such venom and vigor, the publishers gave up trying to distribute their works.

            You may wish to hide this book after reading it in case there is a later demand to turn it in for being heretical or subversive. Truth, most often “is” heretical and subversive. Truth is most often found in the little minorities who oppose the untruth. Since the lie has no actual morals, it can easily become the popular and cultural standard. It becomes the accepted concept of truth by those who believe in absurdities and the unbelievable. The lie then brands the truth as subversive or heretical. In our day and age, truth is almost always heretical when judged by the standard that the believers use to classify it, and when they compare it to their untruth and their lies.

            Well, what is philosophy? You can look up the definition in your dictionary since definitions differ a bit. But in one of mine it says,

"The study or science of the truths and principles underlying all knowledge and all being (reality)." Then it goes on defining and giving examples.

            Philosophy is usually divided into three main sections or categories. They are, Natural philosophy, Moral philosophy and Metaphysical philosophy.

            Metaphysical philosophy deals strictly with "beliefs.” I do not consider metaphysical philosophy as even remotely being philosophy. It could rightly be called "Guessology" rather than philosophy. It attempts to prove the unprovable and comprehend the incomprehensible. All statements are presented without any facts worthy of the name. The metaphysical deals with demons, gods, spirits, hells, heavens, life after death, souls, life before death and such topics. All these subjects have little to no proven basis in fact or reality. One cannot be philosophical about the metaphysical. One can only Guess at what may or may not be true. One cannot examine the facts. There are none. One can only reject the metaphysical as simply conjectures about beliefs. It is not philosophy. I have nothing to contribute to the metaphysical. If there are facts with which to deal, then it is Natural philosophy, no matter what you call it.

            Moral philosophy is actually a bit of metaphysical philosophy in disguise. Moral philosophy has to do with right and wrong. As you know by now, I consider right and wrong as a fluctuating legal, social and personal problem. All Clear Thinkers are moral philosophers every day. They must make regular decisions as to what action to take. The circumstances vary and the ends vary. It is therefore, nearly impossible to work out a moral philosophy because each decision is an exception to any rule. At its foundation, moral philosophy is much to do about personal beliefs, about what is right and what is wrong.

The people who work the hardest at making a personal moral philosophy for themselves (and for their clients) are lawyers and holy men (preachers, priests, rabbis, professors, etc.) Behavioral scientists, sociologists, criminologists and psychiatrists have done the best research work in this field. Most of the rest have been attempts to justify private or religious beliefs. My contribution concerning moral philosophy is this. "Do not do to others that which you would not have others do to you." That is it! That is all!

            We now come to natural philosophy. Natural philosophy is Science. It is thinking, clearly and honestly. It is taking known facts and projecting those facts to a conclusion that remains true to all the known facts. Burbank was a natural philosopher. Thomas Paine was a natural philosopher. Albert Einstein was a natural philosopher. Einstein wrote his thinking in mathematical language. He dealt with known facts and observations. He extended the curve of known facts and presented his philosophy of time, distance, space, mass, energy and speed. He thought! And that is what philosophy is.

          Philosophy is Honestly searching for all the known facts of a matter and thinking clearly about those facts until logical conclusions can be drawn from those facts. Philosophy is logical thinking, which tries to understand the principles that underlie all of life and reality. Philosophy is the love of truth and knowledge, the search for it, the understanding of it, the preservation of it and the presentation of it. Philosophy is the science of understanding.

            Notice nothing was said about beliefs. Nothing is said about trying to prove a preconceived point of view. Nothing is said about just looking for some of the facts. Nothing is said about making the conclusion into a belief, or proof of a belief. Nothing is said about stopping when a conclusion is reached. The search for truth is never over because the finding of one truth opens the door to other unexplained, and sometimes previously unknown, truths.

            The Clear Thinking philosophy has a great history and is the foundation of all modern science and government. It was only after men began to honestly doubt and turn their backs on the religious philosophers of the church that they began to seek out the thinking of some of the Clear Thinking Greeks. This brought on the period of Enlightenment and the Renaissance began. It began with reading Philos, Socrates and Plato along with others. Socrates of course, had to be reached through the writings of Plato. These new men found then, as I hope men of today will also find, Common Sense and Logical Thought are never out of date. That is why this book will always be up to date.

            From there the Clear Thinking philosophy caused men to ask questions about everything. Observing, experimenting, doing and thinking took the place of believing. Stoicism revived. Stoicism says the world is natural and follows natural laws. The religious church philosophy taught that the world was religious and ran at the whim and arbitration of the Supernatural. The church taught that God dabbled in men's lives and daily activities. The beliefs in prayer and miracles are a holdover and anchor of such beliefs.

            Skepticism, Rationalism, Naturalism, Atheism, Humanism, Secularism and Agnosticism, all took their roots from the Clear Thinking Greek writings. To be sure, not all Greeks were Clear Thinkers, but the arguments of the Clear Thinkers were so powerful, the renaissance men, whose minds had earlier been nailed shut by religion and belief, seized upon these reasonable and fresh concepts. Reason and logic began to replace faith and belief in the minds of an educated group of men in Europe. They were not necessarily the best minds of Europe, but they soon became free minds. A “Free” mind of average intelligence is far superior to a brilliant mind that is bound by superstition, religion and belief.

TRUE INTELLIGENCE IS "HONEST CLEAR" THINKING,
NOT "FAST" THINKING.

            After the first rush of modern science and art began, the church clamped down hard on these Clear Thinkers. Clear Thinkers had to hide, lie and run to keep out of the reach of death and prison. Many did not escape. In France, the Clear Thinking Encyclopedists published a great work for that time. It was a compilation of the works of ancient freethinking philosophers, plus the work of the Encyclopedists themselves. Voltaire called their work one of the greatest explanations for the system of nature in existence (up until that time). In addition to regular philosophy, they wrote about medicine, mathematics and science, all of which are still natural philosophy.

            I mentioned Spinoza earlier. His work was directly responsible for the outbreak of Deism (Clear Thinking) throughout Europe. The church responded with a speeded up continuation of their persecution and Inquisition. However, it was too late for the church to stop the movement. The cat was out of the bag. The dam was breached and educated men were escaping from the clutches of church doctrines and its mental slavery by the droves. Some remained on the rolls of the church, but withdrew their minds. The average guilt ridden and fearful believers never knew any of this was happening. They were kept in darkness, mental bondage and in ignorance (innocent). They remained loyal to their beliefs, to their church and to their masters. But, with freedom of the mind for the Clear Thinkers, came science, medicine, the arts and then technology. The industrial revolution was on and the Clear Thinking philosophy was responsible for it.

            There have been four main types of Clear Thinking, or so-called Atheism, identified throughout history. The first is the Classical type. This is the oldest form and was applied to someone who didn't believe in Our God, even though that person may believe in his own God. The reason was, our God was “The” God and all others were inferior Gods or impostors.

            The second type I will call the Philosophical Atheist. He didn't accept, or could not conceive of a personal God, like the Christian or Islamic God. He might, or might not, accept a first cause, or life force. This is the position of the Deists and later the Agnostics. I have a theory that an Agnostic is an Atheist who has not yet completed his homework, or lacks courage - or both.

            Third, there is the Dogmatic Atheist. He could find no evidence for a supernatural of any kind. He understood that no unnatural or supernatural could exist. Anything that exists does so by natural cause and effect. This is the true, blue, “dyed in the wool,” Clear Thinker, or Atheist.

            Finally, there is the fourth type of Atheist. He is often called the Practical Atheist. He lives, thinks and conducts his life knowing there is no religious God. He is totally indifferent to any claim that there is or might be a religious God. In other words, he puts his philosophy on the line in his own life and he lives his freedom.

            So now you know what a Clear Thinker or Atheist is. You know how he thinks. You know he is free to think. You know he is not a bad or dangerous person. You know he has concern for his fellow man still in the bondage of ignorance and mental slavery. You know he is basically honest. You know he has no doctrines or beliefs to defend. You know he is not consumed by guilt, or fear of life after death. In short, the Clear Thinker is his own free man. How sweet it is!

            There are those who insist on cutting the Clear Thinking philosophy into segments and cataloging these segments by various names such as Deism, Humanism, Secularism, Atheism, Agnosticism and such.

            I have no objection to any of this. I do insist that those who segment Clear Thinking in such a manner understand one important point. Clear Thinking is an Honest, Open-Minded “Attitude.” It is the use of the scientific method to search and research for the truth of a matter. These various segments are actually conclusions, arrived at using the Clear Thinking philosophy and the scientific method to hunt for the facts.

            What one does with some facts, after he has gathered a few of them, often places him in one of these segments. Sometimes, scholars will rush to be identified with one or another of these segments and stop using the Clear Thinking philosophy. At that point, they begin to find and build "proofs" to defend these early and tentative conclusions. They seek to prove they are one hundred percent correct as they stand.

            My position as a Clear Thinker at this point is, there are many truths in each of these segments. However, if one accepts a particular segment, identifies himself with it and seeks to become a defender of that position, he often becomes a believer in that position. He will often fill in the voids with belief, rather than continuing to look for new facts about the matter. This halfway or unfinished stand stagnates the additional hunt for new facts. The vision of his findings and conclusions begins to cloud the horizons and skies of personal growth. He becomes an evangelist for his position, instead of continuing to be an honest scholar and an ongoing student of life.

A TRUE CLEAR THINKER IS A STUDENT OF LIFE,
AND HE REMAINS SO, "UNTIL DEATH DO HIM PART.”

            Any conclusion based on Clear Thinking is like a boat on water. It rises and falls, turns and twists, always adjusting itself to new truths, new facts and other relevant conclusions from all branches of knowledge. The reason for this is,

CLEAR THINKING IS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THE TRUTH.

            This is why I say Clear Thinking is like the roots and the tree trunk, while these segments are like branches and limbs. All branches and segments owe their position to the ability to honestly find and recognize facts and truth. The best honest method of finding truth is by utilizing the Clear Thinking philosophy, which includes being Honest in scholarship, avoiding biases and using the scientific method to hunt for the facts. They must then apply the facts and form honest conclusions that remain true to all the facts and to wholesome morality.

            You have now read most of this book and I have called myself a Clear Thinker. I have talked about the Clear Thinking philosophy. I am not a scientist, but in dealing with those things about which I know something, I have used the scientific approach. I have honestly doubted the tall tales of the past. I have checked for the facts. I have read what others had to say, pro and con. Until there is new evidence to the contrary, I have concluded there is no God as described to us by the Christian Bible, or by the Islamic Koran, or by any other religious work or holy book. I have not done so lightly since I was once a fervent believer.

            I remained a believer until I came to the point of being willing to follow the facts, no matter where those facts led. At first, I was disappointed and terribly upset that the facts didn't lead to salvation, God and to heaven. But I continued and found religion had duped me. Religion was literally holding me in mental slavery with unfounded promises and ungrounded fears. Religion and its leaders wanted my money, my time, my children and my mind. Religion wanted my very being. I am glad I saved some of myself for me. And I saved some of me for “You!”

            When I left the church, I suddenly felt like a teenager with the whole world before me. I felt morally clean for the “first time” in my life. I felt like a whole person. My mind sharpened up. My doubts were dealt with and solved. I wanted others to know what it felt like to be really free in their minds. I wanted them to see how the problems of life fall away when one is free to think  - without guilt. I was saved from religion. “I Was Rejoicing!”

            I wanted others to know what it was like to be able to be honest. Nothing can compare with being able to be honest with yourself and not feeling guilty about it. Think about that! People in religion must feel guilty about being honest with themselves. They are taught to feel guilt when they honestly doubt some unbelievable or immoral teaching of the church or the Bible. They feel like the honesty is coming from the Devil. They are Ashamed of their honest thoughts. Many feel they have committed a Sin when they have some Honest Doubt about their beliefs. And worse, they feel they must take pride in their dishonest thoughts and speak in favor of their religion because it stems from belief and faith, from God and religion. That Is The Truth! And you know it!

            Many ministers have confessed to me, they some how felt terrible when they told people they were going to hell if they didn't accept Jesus in their particular denominational way. They do! Deep inside, some little spark of common sense and honesty keeps letting them know,

SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE!

            Many religious people are actually afraid to read something that doesn't come from their own denominational press, even though the material may be very religious and from a similar denomination. To read a book like this is considered a sin by them. Some of those same people will, given the opportunity, cheat on their husband or wife, take pay for unfinished work, steal trivial things from the office or shop and display a multitude of hostile prejudices in their social and personal lives. But they believe to hunt for truth is to insult their God and to sin against him. Clear Thinkers know that not hunting for truth is an insult and sin against God - if there be a Just God.

            Religion turns the conscience of people totally around. The church calls bad, "good," and it calls good, "bad.” The church and the Bible call honest thought, "sin.” It calls dishonest belief, "holy.” It calls ignorance, "Godly innocence.” Finally, it calls knowledge and wisdom, "deceivers of mankind.”

            As you have read this book, there may be a place or two where you do not agree with me. That is good! If you research the area and find I have not presented a fair estimation of it, please write and correct me. I am still learning and growing. The book as a whole, however, you will find to be responsible and true to honest logical thinking.

            Some of you will be upset when you research the subject and find the present Christian religion is just a fusion of the Crucified Jesus Christ of the (Christian) Mithraic Church with the early Jewish worship of the Essene Spiritual Christ of The Way. The truth is often unsettling, but the honest person prefers to live honestly, peacefully and in harmony with the Truth.

            Many of you will, and should, ask your Minister, Rabbi or Priest about the Mithraic Christian Church and the Christian Gnostic philosophy (or religion). You should ask why the teachings, doctrines, founding and activities of the Christian Mithraic Church so closely parallel the modern Christian religion of today and yesterday.

            I have read a number of Christian "scholars" on the subject of the Mithraic Church, called “Christian.” What do they say? Some say the Mithraic Church was a creation of the Devil who made, or developed, this counterfeit religion to confuse the people and to make "God's church" more difficult for the unbelievers (Honest Thinkers) to accept. They say that is one reason why you must have faith in modern Christianity and believe in it and not doubt. They say the Mithraic Church was an early philosophical effort by the Devil to destroy your faith. They say Jesus is the first and only true Christ. They say Mithra was a false Jesus Christ (Savior Anointed).

            But, some other Christian “scholars” priests and ministers say Mithra was a “Type" of Christ, a type of prophecy, sent by God to make the real Christ more easily accepted. Mithra was a forerunner of Jesus, as was John the Baptizer. So, some say the Devil was responsible for Mithra and some say God was responsible. Who was responsible for Mithra and the Christian Mithraic Church? Who did it? God or the Devil?

            Now, some scholars say Mithra, the Savior Anointed, was not the true Anointed (Christ). He was a counterfeit, a deception by the Devil. Mithra's death on the cross was claimed to save mankind from his sins. That was his and his follower’s claim for his doing the dying. Modern Christian scholars deny these claims for Mithra; that he was crucified on a cross, that he arose on the third day and after forty days of preaching, he ascended to the sky from the mountaintop in front of hundreds of witnesses to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. These scholars deny the claim that Mithra intercedes to God on man's behalf. They say, only the true and divine Christ could do that. Therefore, the claims for Mithra Must be untrue. However, they claim these “Same identical claims” for the latecomer, the Jewish Jesus Christ (Savior Anointed), are true.

            I have a simple question - or two. How do you counterfeit something that has not yet come into being? How can the first item be a counterfeit of something that does not show up until more than a thousand years have passed? How can the first item counterfeit a second item not yet in existence? It is easy to see how a second event could counterfeit the first event, but how the first event could counterfeit a second event not yet accomplished is beyond me.

            Some scholars say, "But the Devil knew what God was going to do." Wrong! If the Devil knew of God's plan in advance (as presented in the Bible) he would have done everything in his power to keep the second Christ (the Jewish Jesus) from being killed on a pole by the Romans, Jews or anyone else. If the Devil knew God's plan before hand, he would have become Jesus' protector, not his killer. The Devil would have kept Jesus safe so he could not die on a pole for the sins of man. Scrap that argument.

            The fact is, Christianity is at least three thousand years old and the Christianity we know today is basically the same Christianity known as Mithra to the Persians three thousand years ago. Constantine simply had the old Mithraic Church (called Christian by its enemies) updated, modernized and reformed. He had a new sacred history written and created a new date and a new place for its beginning. Many of the Mithraic doctrines had already been infused into the young church of "The Way" and they were in the process of incorporating these teachings about Mithra into their own religion.

            Many scholars agree that the Jewish church called, The Way, was conceived and developed by making the spiritual, but invisible Gnostic Christ, into a living God Man like Mithra, which the Jews, Greeks and Romans could accept for themselves as being the true and Divine Universal Messiah (or Anointed).

            It is true that the New "Christian" church does not kill a bull each year to substitute for eating the body of the "New" Christ. But they do still drink the blood and eat the body. They torture their own bodies, deny themselves some favorite food or pleasure for forty days. They worship on the Day of the Sun, Sunday (the first day of the week) rather than the last day of the week as their Bible tells them they should. They celebrate the Mass as the Mithraic church did. They celebrate the "New" Christ's birthday on the third day after the shortest day of the year by giving gifts and holding pageants. They worship their Christ as a baby, just like the Mithraic Church did. They claim a resurrection for Jesus the same as was claimed for Mithra. They even worship the resurrection on Ishtar Day (Easter), as did the Mithraic worshipers. I could go on listing the doctrines, creeds, holidays and sacraments that are exact duplicate of the Mithraic church, but I will stop here. It will be good for you to do some of your own research. It will be a revelation to you to find out how desperately the new church sought to hide these things from you.

            That a Jewish man, later called Savior (Jesus) lived (nearly a hundred or so years before the claimed time), I have but very few doubts because the Buddhists have a large number of stories and histories covering his life in India. That he was killed by poling (impaled) seems reasonable. However, the information about his death was recorded nearly five hundred years later by some Buddhists monks who wrote that they were told the story by followers of the New Christian church. But other Buddhists disputed the claims. That Jesus was raised from the dead; the Buddhists knew nothing of it. Jesus' own biographers in the Bible could not agree on this. This places the resurrection in extreme doubt as well as the type of death claimed. The ones who claim he did rise up from the dead are the same ones who also wrote books in the Holy Bible and quoted a large amount of known Mithraic texts and myths. These (Mithraic and Gnostic) writers (John, Paul, Luke etc.) never met Jesus, never talked to a disciple of his and knew nothing much of Jewish law or practice. Their books were written or rewritten much later.

            The Council of Nice in 325 AD was not a religious gathering. It was a politically motivated effort to make a harmonious State church that could be controlled by the political powers of the day. They were not trying to be historically accurate. They were trying to revise and update the old religion of Mithra (the strongest in the empire). This political religion would be easy to join and easy to accept. Through it, the political powers could easily assimilate other religions and control the people. Believe me, they succeeded. The Jewish early church called "The Way" was invited. They contributed much confusion to the effort. They joined and were dissolved into The Holy Catholic Church (The Divine Universal Assembly).

            The writings of the church and of Eusebius give the only semi official account of the Council and it is totally censored. The writings of the Arians and others who were jailed, killed or forced to leave give an entirely different account as attested to later by those historians who opposed the power, greed and crimes of the new Christian Church. They claimed the Council was like a war and there was not even a single prayer offered during the whole Council. Even Eusebius agrees on this. They said whole books and letters were written or rewritten at the Council. Fights broke out and the guards had to be called in - several times. Hostile and incriminating accusations were flung about like in a food fight. The new church devoted hundreds of years to destroying the true evidence of what had taken place. Accounts were written and rewritten for hundreds of years after the Council of 325 AD.

            What still amazes me is that scholars scratch their heads and ask, "How did such a popular and powerful religion like the Mithraic church disappear in less than fifty years?" They say it shows the power of the new Holy Catholic Church. What it shows is the early Jewish church called The Way was the one that disappeared. The Mithraic church lives on under the new name of The Holy Catholic Church. Check it out yourself!

            It has been a lot of work preparing this little book for you. It has also been a pleasure. I have worked, off and on, for years on this book. It lay on the shelf years at a time. Some of the events that I saw coming, have come and gone. Others seem to be very close to starting. I wanted to finish this work now, because I think we need the honesty and strength of this thinking in view of our coming bad times. I do expect as we approach the turn of the next century (2001) and move into the new millennium, there will be many people, in many ways, who will say, "Here is Christ, or he is over there, or he is coming on such and such a date. The false anti Christ may even run for public office and promise to rid the world of evil, tyranny and such. Do this, believe that and you will be saved from evil and the tribulation." And on will go the claims. Don’t believe any of them. They are all self-delusions. Don't let them become your delusions. We will have bad times, but most of it we will bring on ourselves because of those who believe these false philosophies. (Be sure and read Chapter 34 and 35 on Free Will and Prophesy.)

            Historically speaking, that is, judging from the past geological history of earth, it is about time for the earth to make major changes again. This will entail floods, earthquakes, storms, volcanic eruptions, climatic changes and could even include the shifting of the poles as has often happened in the past. But the worst part will be that men will turn against each other, (because of their different philosophies) refusing to feed and help the refugees. The refugees in turn, will be so great, they will sweep the land killing and taking from those who still have. Then will come plagues, wars and strife. Life will be very cheap and hiding places very few.

            I hope this book helps you to think a little. I hope Clear Thinking seeps into your mind. There are a multitude of facts that I did not go into. I have tried to write simply and clearly. I did not go into a lot of detail so this book could be kept at a quickly readable size. This first book is just a popular over view of the Clear Thinking philosophy. It is for you who have been wishing someone would write plainly about the subject. It is for those of you who wish to be honest.

            If there are others out there who wish me to write more on these subjects, let me, or the publisher know. I have a web site, www.fred.net/tds/blaylock/webcopy where updated information is available.

            To those of you who are ministers, priests, rabbis or professors, I would like to say, thanks for reading this book. I know where you are. I didn't go into a lot of detail about various biblical interpretations of this or that scripture, because basically, this book is about the Clear Thinking Philosophy and written for honest thinking people who have not had the benefit of a seminary education. However, the truth is the truth, even if it is simply told. So do be apprised that my scant treatment of the Bible in this book, in no way means I could not have written volumes of material to show to you, in more technical and theological terms, what I showed to others without all of the fanfare, fodder and theological details.

            If you are a religious leader, you can still be a Clear Thinker and remain in the church. You can never again, however, honestly be a hell fire and brimstone preacher. As you may have seen from this book, the Clear Thinking Philosophy, not only has nothing to be ashamed of, it has every reason to have honest pride. This philosophy does not take money away from those who need it. It does not claim to have all the truth. It is tolerant of all men, not only from necessity, but from principle as well. Clear Thinking does not rob, or cheat, or steal from people. It does not place false fear or guilt into the minds of the young children. It gives a person a strong sense of his humanity and his self worth. It is creative and from its ranks comes science and government, aimed at making mankind as free and happy as possible. It teaches honesty, justice and peace and has concern for the well being of all mankind. How I wish our own government could return to this honest philosophy of life and wean itself from the destructive philosophies of the religious.

            My recommendation to those of you who are church leaders is, stay in the church for a while. Use your Clear Thinking to challenge the erroneous decisions of your boards of leadership, your elders, deacons and teachers. One does not have to challenge leadership with contrary statements. One can simply ask penetrating and simple questions about doctrines, statements, sermons, holy books and the like.

            Simple childlike questions are the best because they are simple, straight to the point and demand a simple answer. "What happened to the water after the flood? Where is hell? Why would God tell a lie? How does God or the Devil speak to someone? Can prayer change God's mind? How can we receive radiation from stars fifteen billion light years away if earth and the universe is only five billion years old?" Try a little Honest Clear Thinking. Before long, you will be free!

WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO BE FREE?

            All I have said here about religion and philosophy also applies to those in government and business. Nothing can benefit mankind more than the philosophy of,

HONEST CLEAR THINKING.

            Note: I did not deal with political philosophies here. There are many! They have their own agendas for your future. Most of them are various versions of Collectivism and will seek to control us by discrediting and destroying the governments and religions of the world. The rich and powerful will rule and we will be reduced to clogs in their machines. They will use fear and guilt, security and protection, crime and drugs and such, to work up your dependence on them. They will destroy the economy. They will pass laws to take away your freedoms. You cannot vote against them. They control that. Watch out! Only Clear Thinking and honest collective action can save us!

Next: Morality

Index