Benedict Spinoza

A reader here sent this to me:




BENEDICT SPINOZA

Robert Green Ingersoll


One of the greatest thinkers was Benedict Spinoza, a Jew, born at Amsterdam, in 1632. He studied medicine and afterward theology. He endeavored to understand what he studied. In theology he necessarily failed. Theology is not intended to be understood -- it is only to be believed. It is an act, not of reason, but of faith. Spinoza put to the rabbis so many questions, and so persistently asked for reasons, that he became the most troublesome of students. When the rabbis found it impossible to answer the questions, they concluded to silence the questioner. He was tried, found guilty, and excommunicated from the synagogue.


By the terrible curse of the Jewish religion, he was made an outcast from every Jewish home. His father could not give him shelter. His mother could not give him bread -- could not speak to him, without becoming an outcast herself. All the cruelty of Jehovah, all the infamy of the Old Testament, was in this curse. In the darkness of the synagogue the rabbis lighted their torches, and while pronouncing the curse, extinguished them in blood, imploring God that in like manner the soul of Benedict Spinoza might be extinguished.

Spinoza was but twenty-four years old when he found himself without kindred, without friends, surrounded only by enemies. He uttered no complaint. He earned his bread with willing hands, and cheerfully divided his crust with those still poorer than himself.


He tried to solve the problem of existence. To him, the universe was One. The Infinite embraced the All. The All was God. According to his belief, the universe did not commence to be. It is; from eternity it was; to eternity it will be.


He was right. The universe is all there is, or was, or will be. It is both subject and object, contemplator and contemplated, creator and created, destroyer and destroyed, preserver and preserved, and hath within itself all causes, modes, motions and effects.


In this there is hope. This is a foundation and a start. The Infinite is the All. Without the All, the Infinite cannot be. I am something. Without me, the Infinite cannot exist.


Spinoza was a naturalist -- that is to say, a pantheist. He took the ground that the supernatural is, and forever will be, an infinite impossibility. His propositions are luminous as stars, and each of his demonstrations is a Gibraltar, behind which logic sits and smiles at all the sophistries of superstition.


Spinoza has been hated because he has not been answered. He was a real republican. He regarded the people as the true and only source of political power. He put the state above the church, the people above the priest. He believed in the absolute liberty of worship, thought and speech. In every relation of life he was just, true, gentle, patient, modest and loving. He respected the rights of others, and endeavored to enjoy his own, and yet he brought upon himself the hatred of the Jewish and the Christian world. In his day, logic was blasphemy, and to think was the unpardonable sin. The priest hated the philosopher, revelation reviled reason, and faith was the sworn foe of every fact.


Spinoza was a philosopher, a philanthropist. He lived in a world of his own. He avoided men. His life was an intellectual solitude. He was a mental hermit. Only in his own brain he found the liberty he loved. And yet the rabbis and the priests, the ignorant zealot and the cruel bigot, feeling that this quiet, thoughtful, modest man was in some way forging weapons to be used against the church, hated him with all their hearts.


He did not retaliate. He found excuses for their acts. Their ignorance, their malice, their misguided and revengeful zeal excited only pity in his breast. He injured no man. He did not live on alms. He was poor -- and yet, with the wealth of his brain, he enriched the world. On Sunday, February 21, 1677, Spinoza, one of the greatest and subtlest of metaphysicians -- one of the noblest and purest of human beings, -- at the age of forty-four, passed tranquilly away; and notwithstanding the curse of the synagogue under which he had lived and most lovingly labored, death left upon his lips the smile of perfect peace.

Dave Pack: Violated Confidentiality of Those He Counseled

The internet has turned out to be an unforgiving tool at exposing the lies and hypocrisy of various Church of God ministers in charge of several of the splinter cults.  So when Dale Schurter and Larry McElroy get on and post absurd letters about the glorious  mind boggling work being done in Wadsworth you need to look beyond the propaganda and lies to see the depth of depravity at work.

The issue related below about Pack breaching confidentiality of counselees under his care is not unique to him alone.  This has been a problem in the COG for decades.  It was common knowledge that ministers in Pasadena would sit around and talk about peoples problems and life issues while laughing about them with others.  When the Pasadena Church Offices were moved to the first floor of the Hall of Ad between Telecom and the Security Office, you could regularly hear people there talking about members problems and laughing about them.  The Security Office personnel were appalled at some of the things they heard.

Here is a letter from 1999 that was sent to Dave Pack from his office manager.

October 11, 1999

Mr. Pack:

I am immediately resigning from my position with the Restored Church of God.  This action became necessary due to a crisis of conscience precipitated by your actions.

Since just after the Feast, I began to seriously consider resigning, but not until after the book and the quarterly receipts were completed.  However, my husband advised me to speed up the timetable as a result of a recent conversation he had with you, the substance of which he could not inform me of, according to your request.

The leadership of a church must conduct itself in a manner that is consistent with the tenets of the Church, and, since I began working at Restored, I have observed you violating basic tenets of our Church, including the following:

· Slandering church members
· Attempting to cause division within a family by going to a wife and insulting her husband, and then going to the husband and insulting his wife
· Reneging on commitments, such as your statement that you would not look at tithe records, then doing so with impunity.  Also, entering into agreements with people, then unilaterally changing the terms knowing that everything was verbal and that they would have no recourse
· Having little regard for employees’ commitments to their families by continually mismanaging your schedule and then requiring employees to work overtime to make up for it, demanding they change their schedules to solve a “crisis” of your making
· Berating employees for making purchases or decisions after they had cleared them with you in the presence of others
· Violating the confidentiality of those who have counseled with you about their problems by discussing them in the presence of others
· Haranguing and casting dispersions at those who attempt to discuss the above problems with you. 

I cannot work for, or be associated with, a church where these kinds of actions have become commonplace at the top level.  You have clearly placed yourself above God’s law and have become unapproachable by those who would like to discuss problems in the Church.

You will find RCG’s checkbook in my office.  I wrote payroll checks and expense checks to bring us current to my last day of work.  You will find everything to be receipted and above-board.

I bear you no ill will, but sincerely hope that you will come to see the gravity of these charges and correct your conduct before many of the wonderful people in Restored are injured, as so many others have been.

Please do not attempt to call me or come to my home to discuss these charges.  Any contact should be by e-mail or letter.

Sincerely,

Joan Thompson
joant@