Vertical vs. Horizontal Thinking

Some devout Christians in the past have acknowledged the connection between stories in the Bible we see acted out in the starry night sky above. In 1882 Joseph A. Seiss published the book The Gospel In The Stars in which he shows how elements of the Gospel story can be found in the constellations. But rather than conclude astronomy provides the origin of these stories, the author concludes the exact opposite. Seiss says, "Instead of proving Christianity a mere revival of old mythologies, they give powerful inpulse toward the conclusion that the constellations and their associated myths and traditions are themselves, in their original, from the very same prophetic Spirit whence the Sacred Scriptures have come."

Hence discovering the Gospel story spelled out in the stars does not diminish their faith in the literal truth of Christianity, but instead increases it. For the devout Christian everything emanates from God. Hence finding the sacred story written in the stars proves God put it there. Their vertical logic goes like this:

GOD
↓ ↓ ↓
God creates the universe and writes the story of his plan for salvation in the stars. Thus his revalation is given to all mankind even before Jesus is born. The events fortold in the stars actually take place. Jesus is born and crucified to save all mankind. God divinely inspires scribes to write down the story of what happened. The stories end up in the Bible, declared to be the perfect inerrant revalation of how Jesus died to save all mankind.



This is far different from the horizontal logic of the freethinker which goes like this:

Man looks to the stars and makes up stories which are allegories. → Man writes the stories down to pass them to future generations. → The allegorical nature of the stories is lost. → The stories are misinterpreted as real history.

Here is a more detailed description of the history of mankind according to the freethinker:

  1. Ancient Man becomes aware of the cyclical seasons of the year. Man discovers he can tell what time of this yearly cycle it currently is by observing the position of the Sun against the celestial sphere. As the year progresses the Sun appears to journey through the twelve constellations of the Zodiac. At the end of the year the Sun completes its journey through the twelve constellations and ends up back where it started, ready to begin the journey anew.

  2. From this scientific observation and knowledge Man learns he can settle down and farm the land, rather than spend all his time as a hunter/gatherer. However, the community needs to have faith that this farming technique will work, hence Religion is born. The stories which are allegories for celestial events become sacred religious stories.

  3. Man makes up stories which are allegories for these celestial events. The stories are eventually written down so they may be passed to future generations.

  4. It becomes politically advantageous for the high priests who know how to read the stars and understand the allegorical nature of the religious stories to keep their knowledge a secret so they alone can retain their religious power. This way they can rule over the people, telling them when to plant the crops and when to reap the harvest, without doing any of the hard labor themselves. The high priests are too special for that.

  5. Later secret societies arise. These societies know the allegorical nature of the story, that is their secret, but they make new members swear never to reveal the secret, as it has become traditional to keep this a secret.

  6. The allegorical nature of the stories is lost. The common people, unaware of the allegorical nature of the stories, accept them as literal truth history rather than allegories. They believe the events depicted actually happened here on earth. The allegorical nature of the stories is probably what the Gnostics were trying to tell the common people, except they have been sworn to secrecy.

  7. The high priests who know how to read the stars keep the knowledge secret to themselves so they alone can retain their religious power.

    1. The allegorical nature of the stories is forgotten.
      The stories are misinterpreted as real history.

    2. The stories, misinterpreted as real history, get written down.

  8. Many religions evolve containing crucified saviors. Bacchus Dyonesius, Horus Osiris, Mithra.

  9. Another offspring of the crucified savior theme emerges Jesus. The religion is quite similar to previous religions.

  10. Christian appologists, the early christian founding fathers argue that Christianity is the true religion, and all the other religions which predate Christianity yet are so similar to Christianity are false and the work of the Devil or wicked demons.

  11. Christianity becomes the state religion. All other religions are violently suppressed. All books of knowledge inconsistent with Christianity are burned. The library at alexander is burned. All knowledge is destroyed. All knowledgeable people are burned. We enter a millenia known as the Dark Ages.

  12. The enlightenment.


The Bible we have now contains stories which are allegories. The allegorical nature of the stories has been lost. However, there appears to be strong evidence that we should look to the stars to find the origin and allegorical nature of these stories.

-----------------
Here now is the logic of conservatives like Joseph A. Seiss:
  1. God who creates everything writes in the stars the story of his ultimate plan for mankind's salvation.

  2. False religions containing crucified saviors are created by the Devil based on these stories and revelations.

  3. The story of Jesus literally happens as God planned and fortold.

  4. Christianity, which looks surprisingly similar to many other existing religions, is born.

  5. God divinely inspires scribes to write down the story of what happened. The stories end up in the Bible.

  6. Christian appologists, the early christian founding fathers argue that Christianity is the true religion, and all the other religions which predate Christianity yet are so similar to Christianity are false and the work of the Devil or wicked demons.

  7. People argue about what texts should and should not be included in the canon. The Catholics have one Bible, the Protestants have a different Bible which omits many books they claim are apocryphal.

  8. The Bible we have now contains the story of Jesus which actually happened.

    Story in the stars --> Story literally happens --> Story Written Down

    (After reading The Gospel In The Stars by Joseph A. Seiss I think he is the kind of person who would find the Gospel in a random ink blot. He completely misses the story of the Sun's annual journey through the Zodiac.)


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