Concepts of God and Religion

[intaglio]

55. Let's look at the evidence

So ... "Try, Try Again Project" is not a single person over 70 who claims to have been organising this group since the 1970s. Perhaps he does not pretend to be the "certain man" but he is pretending to be the prophet of the chosen one. This makes him a leader, rather like John the Baptist, who made similar claims (if the Bible is to be believed). However forerunners and unheeded prophets are 2 a penny in many faiths.

Now let's look at website. The "whois" search reveals that the site is registered via "privacy protect . org" an Australian group with an address in Queensland and servers based in the USA. For some reason your group wants to protect itself behind a smokescreen.

Let's look at some of the posts your group has originated in other forums (mainly Huffington Post). People like guamote, E J Nunn, Pro-Reformation and, interestingly, SarahRuth23. The only common link is that all issue boilerplate adverts for the mysterious "cjcmp"

Now look at page content: Main page states outright the following -

Take heart. It's not the end of the world, but the end of an age. The pen will prove mightier than the sword, the truth will resolve the conflicts and prevail over all the false beliefs that divide us, and the humble and meek shall inherit the earth.

You see, according to world prophecies, it was foreseen long ago that the terrible predicament and horrible tribulation from which we suffer would precede an interceding judgment.

According to prophecies, the judgment is delivered by a certain man. The problem is, he is rejected by his generation because he is not what people have been led to expect. For example, many people expect him to be a conquering hero and "holy king," but an accurate interpretation of the most specific prophecies is that he is neither. He is not holy and he is only human, and contrite. He cannot seek worldly personal power. He delivers his work but it is rejected so long he fears all his work is in vain, and he suspects and fears he will probably die before the world gets the message.

He is principal messenger for the Spirit of truth, but he is a man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief, and he is your fellow companion in tribulation. He knows that all he can do is tell the truth and deliver the message to liberate and empower the people, and he knows that the promised judgment cannot be imposed. The people, many of whom have been made aware of the message, need to recognize it for what it is.

Begin at the beginning "It's not the end of the world, but the end of an age" so it is not an apocalypse, except it will be. Then comes a string of platitudes, that is not wisdom that is a set of trigger words and phrases designed to entice people further into the mire.

Next "You see, according to world prophecies, it was foreseen long ago that the terrible predicament and horrible tribulation from which we suffer would precede an interceding judgment." As stated above it's not an apocalypse, except it will be. There is also the curious pretense that we are living through some sort of dreadful end time. little problem here is that for the majority of humanity this is one of the best times to be alive, modern medicine communications and ethic prove that. There is also the false assertion about "world prophecies" for as far as I am aware neither the Buddhist nor Tao nor Shinto nor Australian Aboriginal nor Ancient Greek faiths have any such prophecy.

Now comes the hook "According to prophecies, the judgment is delivered by a certain man," of course this man can be recognised by the cult you follow, indeed they will be the only ones who can recognise him and the only ones who can spread the knowledge of this "judgment", you are going to be special in this new order.

So let's check what we have so far:
Secretiveness about origins;
Active proselytisation;
Trigger words;
False assertions about how awful the world is compared to a "golden age";
Platitudes masquerading as wisdom;
Promises of favour;
Misinterpreting other faiths, implying that they are less than complete.

To issue an (untrue) truism, "if it acts like a duck, walks like a duck, swims like a duck - it is a duck." There are cases where this is untrue, especially about water birds, but this cult is not one of those cases.

Moving on to the contents of your post, if your coalition "... has no organization, no leadership" then how does the website get published and how do the tracts you have as pages get written? How does the CJCMP arrange for its own web domain?

You try to "endure critics and skeptics" yet are unable to provide coherent answers nor are you willing to find someone who can assist you in this endeavor. You are not willing to discuss or to admit fault, you only wish us to accept your word uncritically. But one of these critics (not me in all likelihood) might be your Paul, converted on the website of DU by a blinding light of revelation. You are indeed a martyr to so offer such a blessing under such onerous circumstances.

You quote Socrates and then, lacking any sense of irony, claim that "great Solomon" was known for his wisdom. You use the word "wisdom" and yet have no knowledge of what it means because it is like truth, a word used to obfuscate and impress. You then, again, quote from your cult tracts.

The problem with this begins with the tract falsely asserting that the "Book of Wisdom" is by Solomon. This would have been difficult given that it was, in all probability, written in Greek by an Alexandrian Jew in the 2nd or 3rd Century BCE and Solomon, if he lived, was alive in the 10th Century BCE and if he could write at all would have written in the language of his time. Given this obvious flaw in the wisdom of your cult you might want to start being less credulous.

Note that in the quote chosen that Wisdom is personified, a genius (please check the meaning of that word). This personification grants insight; to such a personification I have no objection apart from the obvious one regarding reality. This is not the wisdom of which you pretend to have knowledge. This change also makes your prophet a special person who it is not possible for you to criticise without the risk of you being "unwise".

The tract continues with this personification, and is dishonest to boot before changing from personification to quality with no warning. Examples:
"real Wisdom produces prophets" a platitude and false, the point of the story of Jonah is that he was unwise enough to defy God yet he remained a prophet;
"Most human beings get flashes of Wisdom occasionally," wow! Note that wisdom here is still the goddess so it is her insight that is granted;
"A precious few do, though, and throughout history those who did are called sages, prophets, buddhas, avatars, siddhas, christs," evidence, please, and why the sudden change from goddess to undefined quality.

Next!
"The spiritually anointed son of man and prophet called Jesus of Nazareth" No he wasn't, he was baptised when, according to unreliable evidence, he received the holy spirit and later he was anointed physically. Additionally he was not known in his lifetime as "of Nazareth" because Nazareth did not exist.

And there is more ...
"That’s why he advised us to not live by the sword," except when he did to the extent of ordering his disciples to buy swords after the last supper.

"It’s why he was very firm in rebuking greedy rich people, money lenders, religious hypocrites and other wrong doers" except he associated with Publicans (Publicani, otherwise known as money lenders and tax farmers) and sinners.

"Yet on the other hand he advised people to be peaceful, forgiving and compassionate, turn the other cheek, and love even their enemies" in sermons looted wholesale from other Jewish texts. Of course it ignores his approval of violence in other circumstances and his prophecies of the destruction of the majority of the human race. These were failed prophecies, of course, because they were supposed to happen in the lifetime of the disciples.

"Many preceding prophets were similar in that respect," so he wasn't an original.

Lastly the cult leader you do not have makes an appearance: "the modern son of man follows those precedents," this is strange, for here you proclaim a leader you do not have as a real person and known to at least one of your cult.