The Onion of Secrets

At age 12 when attending catechism class at our Lutheran church, the pastor took many opportunities to teach us about "the lure of the Secret Clubhouse".

Basically that wise, kind, generous man inoculated three generations of children against the appeal of all such organizations by contrasting what Christ taught with what masons, mormons, the Elks, "boys only/no girls allowed", social cliques, the corporate ladder, and any other excusivism-based societies teach.

He began by asking if any of us ever felt excluded or left out, or attempted to make others feel that way. Then he gave examples of how harmful exclusivism can be to individuals, families, and society. He carefully described secret rituals and initiation rites of clubs and religions, and asked us what we thought they might mean. Almost all of them just sounded silly, and he explained them to us for what they are... simply a grown up extension of the stupid meaningless rituals kids use in their little clubhouses "for members only". The secret rituals are designed to engender a dark sense of the hidden or "mystery" (that usually disappoints on closer inspection) leading to "now I'm IN - and they're not", iow an appeal to a prideful sense of superiority.

Only to discover (once again) -- there is even a clique of "in" people on the inside! Another layer beckons, another inner circle you are excluded from and want to get "in" to...How the yearning to be "on the inside" can be a useful tool for manipulating people into doing things they would never otherwise even think about.

Pastor G. even urged us to forsake sororities and fraternities in college. He made it clear why our church prohibited membership in secret societies. He spoke about these things from the pulpit occasionally as well. I owe him a debt of gratitude. I found myself in high school and college and the workplace as the champion and supporter of those left-out losers everyone shunned. I'm no respecter of persons, and that's one thing I can thank my pastor for to this day. I rejected God not long after my confirmation. But. Later there were many times in my search for God that I could easily have fallen prey to a cult. But red flags always went up when I sensed "The Onion of Secrets" -- layers one has to go through to be really on the inside...

Anyone who has read C.S. Lewis' 3rd novel in his science fiction trilogy "That Hideous Strength" will know what I'm talking about.

It's all nothing more than the devil's first temptation, or the tower of Babel, tarted up and trotted out in a stinking filthy shroud of "dark mystery" to lure the ignorant outsider into the inner sanctum of prideful arrogance separated from the Light of God.

The Secret Onion has you working from the outside to get in.

The Light of Salvation is poured freely on all who accept it, drenching all who claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior with unconditional acceptance and love.

big difference.

We were discussing.... Polygamy!

In a recent flurry of propolygamy anti Texas fervor, morbots have taken their cries of "freedom from oppressive intrusive government" to the boards. In one recent kick butt slam dunk, I silenced quite a few with one response to a fruitcake calling itself Citrus. Here's the summary:

Citrus: I am for freedom from oppression.
Me: WHAT A JOKE.


okay okay there was a lot more to it, here you go -

Me:
Did you know there are different kinds of polygamy?

Citrus:
Yes. They occur in the natural world all of the time. Polandry and Polygyny are the two main categories of polygamy. Many bird species are polyandrus while most, but not all, of the mammal species that practice polygamy tend to be polygynous. Naked mole rats are one exception to this general rule.

Me:
The polygamous practices of early mormonism were endogenous, marrying within families, on purpose, including incestuous marriages between first cousins, half siblings, fathers and daughters.

Citrus:
I never suggested these types of relationships were a good idea. It is interesting that you have a problem with people intentionally avoiding answering direct questions, but you have no problem suggesting that I support things I've never mentioned. Both strike me as dishonest.

Me:
Exogenous polygamy vs endogenous polygamy is what I was referring to. Endogenous polygamy as practiced by most cults in the U.S. is particularly damaging to the gene pool. Of course it would do well to limit the conversation to humans.

In either type the practice within cults is most often incorporated as a handy means to enhance leadership power, and as such lends itself naturally to abuse of women and children. There is nothing new under the sun. Those who instituted polygamy laws in this country had good reason for doing so, and I for one thank God they did. Thus my previous comments.

note: it is possible to be so open minded as to allow one's brains to fall out.

Citrus:
but again you have no problem suggesting that I support things I've never mentioned, and that strikes me as dishonest.

Me:
Here's what strikes me as dishonest.

Any ********* who allows their brain to be washed to such an extent that they can foist off an imaginary woman out there yearning for her husband to marry and have sex with other women, as their ideological support for legalization of polygamy. When in the real world such a creature would be, appropriately, adjudged by normal women as clinically insane or at the very least having major dependency / inferiority issues and in urgent need of consciousness-raising, counseling, or medical help.

So you can drop the stupid fake hypothetical, we aint' buyin the premise. Neither did our lawmakers, thank God in Heaven.

Polygamy has proven itself throughout history to be an immoral practice, impractical, genetically dangerous, a vehicle for gross corruption and disempowerment of the weak and dependent particularly women and children.

Cult leaders TYPICALLY (including Strong City's messiah Michael Travesser, Warren Jeffs, David Koresh, the list goes on and on) institute polygamy specifically to intimidate men and control women.

So when you get on your soapbox of political correctness and demand legalization of polygamy, proclaiming "I am for freedom from oppression" and I say WHAT A JOKE it is precisely because

POLYGAMY = OPPRESSION. GET IT?

~finis~

ah my dear friends, the ensuing silence was sweet, very sweet.