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Lane Stellmaker

@hipcrimevocab.net

5.7K followers 710 following 8.5K posts

Husband. Lawyer. Hunter. Fisherman. Swordsman. Warrior poet. Philosopher king. Legend.

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Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · Nov 8

For new followers and refugees from the other place:

Greetings. My name is Lane. I'm a lawyer and sometimes I do good work, thanks to my team. www.nytimes.com/2024/05/26/n...

How a Profane Joke on Twitter Spawned a Legal Army

A litigation team built from the sharpest, funniest tweeters is suing Elon Musk.

www.nytimes.com

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 3h

I may be even more skeptical of Burgis that the distinction matters at this date, but I’ll never agree that the label of “obscurantist” should apply to stylistically “continental” thinkers. Thinking at right angles to common thought is a valid method, and sometimes that requires a new tack.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 3h

Have you ever seen “Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter?”

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

I have not.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

I hate that I saw that movie.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

And rest assured that all mainstream Abrahamic faiths, at least in their canonical texts, never describe an anti-Messiah figure at all, and that such a dualistic cosmology is wholly foreign and textually prescribed for all Abrahamic believers.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

So as weirdos like Thiel struggle to grasp with this theology, remember that their hatred of the humanities and inability to read critically will lead them to commit numerous sins and errors in interpretation, taking legend and pop culture as textual or theological fact.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

of the 1970s and the post-nuclear age where we all feared that the last battle was coming in a rain of nuclear fire from the Soviet Union. But, as with most things, the reality of our fears bore little resemblance to the texts that gave it birth.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

an anti-Messiah figure, the son of Satan the same way Jesus is the son of God. And that conception has more or less stuck in the public's mind sense, despite the fact that no antichrist legend or textual source makes that particular claim. It just reflects the political and spiritual anxiety...

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

producer friend Harvey Bernard commissioned scriptwriter David Seltzer to write a script based around Lindsey's ideas about the Antichrist found in his book, "The Late Great Planet Earth." From this eventual script, entitled, "The Omen," we get the idea of the Antichrist as...

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

in no small part by Dajjal!) that speaks of an anti-Messiah that they variously affix to whatever political function of the day catches their fancy. One such author, Hal Lindsey, wrote a book that caught the fancy of advertising executive and future movie producer, Robert Munger. Munger and his...

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

Modern views are that the Antichrist, rather than being an apocalyptic anti-Messiah figure, is anything which leads mankind to glorify mankind itself rather than God or Jesus. Some fundamentalist, dispensationalist Christians have accepted the "pop culture" version of Antichrist (influenced...

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

Church Fathers John Chrysostom and Jerome began the more orthodox of tradition of identifying antichrist with anything that led the faithful astray rather than a singular person. Since then, almost every schismatic in Christianity has identified "antichrist" with whatever power they rebelled from.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

the notions of evil, though not necessarily some supernatural being, but more as a ruler who would oppose the faithful during the end times (Cyril of Jerusalem). As all apocalypticists are wont to do, many suggested that this figure had already been born (like Martin of Tours).

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

And this is somewhat in line with early Christianity; not all of the Church Fathers taught of Antichrist as a single person, but often described it as anyone who preached false doctrine, like Polycarp. Others, like Irenaeus or Origen, proposed there would be a singular person who embodied...

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

Although Christian and Islamic eschatology does feature God's eventual triumph and final punishment of Satan/Iblis, there is never any doubt as to God's eventual triumph; the forces of darkness simply do not have the same power behind them that the forces of good do.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

For example, Zoroastrians, Mandaens, Manicheans, and gnostic sects often feature dualistic cosmologies, where there are evil or dark principles to balance out the light. These are notably absent in Abrahamic faiths, where God is supreme and Satan/Iblis is a tempter but within God's plan.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

The sort of dualistic/gnostic cosmology necessary to give rise to an evil power with equivalent ability to God who can incarnate or empower an anti-Messiah for a cataclysmic showdown is a hallmark of heterodox or gnostic Jewish or Christian sects.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

to incarnate, which would make a false messiah something impossible. But even supposing the Antichrist is supposed to be a human, though one empowered by Satan/Lucifer, that also makes no sense as Satan/Lucifer has no power but that permitted him by God.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

In Christianity, for example, the presence of an anti-messiah is theologically problematic. First, one of the things that makes Jesus unique in Christian belief is the belief that he is the incarnated God. Nowhere in Christian belief is a mere angel such as Satan/Lucifer supposed to have the power…

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

You will notice how, in none of the canonical sources, there is an anti-Messiah figure. That is because orthodox Jews and Christians do not have a an anti-messiah in their belief systems. And although Dajjal appears only in the hadith, many Muslims do accept that hadith.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

And in Jewish eschatology, the defeat of Israel's enemies, identified as Gog and Magog, is one of the signs of the coming Messiah, the resurrection of the dead, and the last judgment.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

to go the nations of the Earth, identified as "Gog and Magog." And in the Quran, Chapters 18 and 21 discuss Gog and Magog as nations sealed away from the righteous, and the breach of that wall will be one of the signs that the Last Judgment is coming.

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

Gog and Magog, or Ya'juj and Ma'juj, appear in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Quran. They appear in Ezekiel 38, in which Gog is a person and Magog is his land. They appear in Revelation 20:8, which says that when the Millennium is ended, Lucifer shall be released from prison...

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

beliefs, almost all of which got absorbed later into Islam and then bounced around medieval texts for a few centuries. But the important part is almost all of this comes from non-canonical religious sources... except...

Lane Stellmaker @hipcrimevocab.net · 4h

Or perhaps all three come from a common source and represent how the same myth-form was received in three separate religions, because Lord knows the ancient Levant was swimming in apocalyptic legends (like those found in the Dead Sea Scrolls) that reflect Jewish, Christian, gnostic, Manichean, etc.