THE SACRIFICIAL DREAM HYPOTHESIS-PART TWO

[size=100]The Principle of Union:The Concept of Unity With Christ
Through Experiential Mimicry Of Christ
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“So this is the binding tie.”

-Moses (Charlton Heston), Prince of Egypt, while
holding the Hebrew cloth in which his Hebrew mother
held him as an infant in the film The Ten Commandments (1956)



To the inhabitants of Sheol:

This is your lodestone,
your magnet,
pointing to magnetic North.
This is your anchor,
your center of gravity,
after you have descended here
in fear.
After you have descended here,
in uncertainty and misdirection.

-Author


The Concept of “Christ’s Death”

That Jesus Christ physically died upon the Cross no believer will dispute. But aside from the Absolute Sinless view in which Christ experienced no sin-content (thereby having no experiential connection to any human being) and died as a propitiatory sacrifice paying the penalty for every sin (Universalism) or every forgiven sin—Christ taking upon himself the “sins” of the world is a form of mental death that is not cessation of consciousness but temporary absence of the perfect sinlessness Christ experienced prior to human birth, during human life pre-crucifixion, and following resurrection and ascension. The sin-content, the content of the Sacrificial Dream, constitutes what the Bible refers to as “his [Christ’s] death” or “the Lord’s death”: something over and above mere physical death via crucifixion.

The mental death of Christ is what unites man and Christ and is the mechanism of the forgiveness of sins. Christ of his own will went into the dark to unite himself with man in mental death, taking upon himself that which is normally ‘sin’ in man to alter it, in himself, into ‘suffering’. Through faith in Christ, in the sense of having faith that Christ sacrificed himself to experience the very things one is now experiencing in replication of Christ’s sufferings, man is not alone in the existential dark, but upon belief is bound to Christ through shared fate. Man and Christ through the Sacrificial Dream united in shared experience.

This is arguably the basis of Paul’s assertion:


If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

-Romans 6: 5. 6


Paul certainly wasn’t speaking of believers being physically crucified with Christ on physical crosses alongside him like the two thieves, and the “death” to which Paul referred is certainly not Christ’s physical death. There is something going on that constitutes “his death” in which we are united.

In Absolutely Sinless Atonement there is no experiential union with Christ, and man and Christ are forever separate in terms of content of consciousness or conscious experience. Man may become as sinless as Christ in the afterlife through God-implemented lobotomy, and become increasingly sinless before physical death by the ‘remission of sins’ that should occur to an individual post-conversion, but the individual will forever remain separate from Christ in terms of sharing the content of the mind of Christ or Christ’s personal experiences replicated in the mind of a human. In “Quasi-Sin” Sinless Atonements, once a believer sustains by the power of God the saving faith, the person sustains a “one-to-one” experiential mimicry of the content of consciousness of Jesus Christ, which begins with mimicking of the death of Christ (content of the Sacrificial Dream):


I have been crucified with Christ : I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

-Galatians 2:20



Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

-Romans 6:4


In regard to Galatians 2:20, were billions of believers crucified side by side with Christ on the same plot of land along with Christ and the two thieves? In regard to Romans 6:4, were billions of believers buried side by side with Christ in the Tomb of Joseph? No. It makes sense, therefore, that there is a union between Christ and man in the sense of shared experience between man and Christ rather than continuous experiential difference and disimilarity between them.


I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, as so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

-Philippians 2:18


This shared fate between man and Christ, the concept of ‘being united with him like this in his death’ has excellent fictional analogy I discovered by accident in 1992 while watching television with a friend in the wee hours of the night: the television show Quantum Leap.



It follows that the only type of unity between man and Christ that plausibly exists is mental and experiential unity. This unity is an isomorphic mimicry between man and Christ: isomorphic mimicry of contents of consciousness.

David Chalmers, philosopher at New York University, University Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science and co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness—defines ‘contents of consciousness’ in his paper What Is A Neural Correlate of Consciousness? He defines isomorphism in Fading Qualia, Absent Qualia, Dancing Qualia:

Chalmers defines ‘Contents of Consciousness’ as follows:


(iii) Contents of consciousness

There is much more to consciousness than the mere state of being conscious, or the background state of consciousness. Arguably the most interesting states of consciousness are specific states of consciousness: the fine-grained states of subjective experience that one is in at any given time. Such states might include the experience of a particular visual image, of a particular sound pattern, of a detailed stream of conscious thought, and so on. A detailed visual experience, for example, might include the experience of certain shapes and colors in one’s environment, of specific arrangements of objects, of various relative distances and depths, and so on.

Specific states like these are most often individuated by their content. Most conscious states seem to have some sort of specific representational content, representing the world as being one way or another. Much of the specific nature of a visual experience, for example, can be characterized in terms of content. A visual experience typically represents the world as containing various shapes and colors, as containing certain objects standing in certain spatial relations, and so on. If the experience is veridical, the world will be the way the experience represents it as being. If the experience is an illusion or is otherwise misleading, the world will be other than the experience represents it as being. But either way, it seems that visual experiences typically have detailed representational content. The same goes for experiences in other sensory modalities, and arguably for many or most nonsensory experiences as well.

-David J. Chalmers: What Is A Neural Correlate of Consciousness?


He defines isomorphism as follows:


Strictly speaking, for the purposes of the invariance principle we must require that for two systems to share their functional organization, they must be in corresponding states at the time in question; if not for this requirement, my sleeping twin might count as sharing my organization, but he certainly does not share my experiences. When two systems share their organization at a fine enough grain (including the requirement that they be in corresponding states), I will say that they are functionally isomorphic systems, or that they are functional isomorphs. The invariance principle holds that any functional isomorph of a conscious system has experiences that are qualitatively identical to those of the original system.

-David J. Chalmers: Absent Qualia, Fading Qualia, Dancing Qualia


In “Quasi-Sin” Sinless Atonement, a believer is ‘buried with him [Christ] in the sense of being buried into Christ’s death, which visibly/mentally manifests in the form of the person him/herself and every sin the person shall commit from conversion to death (Hebrews 10:26-31 notwithstanding through the mechanism introduced below). Man becomes a ‘functional isomorph’ of Jesus Christ and the things Christ experienced within his mind while on the cross. By externally replicating and sharing Christ’s mental sufferings, man qualifies to eventually become the functional isomorph of post-resurrected Christ who, following the dreaming of the lives of others in spiritual death dreams of the afterlife fates of others that mimic, as functional isomorphs of post-ascension Christ, the unimaginable wonders of post-ascended eternal life (in addition to experience as educators in Sheol).

[size=100]The Principle of Inextricable Mimicry (of Jesus Christ): A Viable Alternative To “Once Saved Always Saved” Without A “License To Sin”[/size]


I have been crucified with Christ; I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me.

-Galatians 2:20



Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

For he that is dead is freed from sin.

-Romans 6: 3-7



Well it’s al-right now,
…in fact it’s a gas.

-The Rolling Stones, Jumpin’ Jack Flash


There is suspicion that despite the concepts of eternal Hell and the ability to lose salvation in the warning given by Hebrews 10: 21-36, God has something in the works so wonderful that it will surprise and amaze those fearful of his wrath prior to physical death. For despite the concept of eternal Hell and warnings indicating that man, through sin, has the ability to lose salvation after having gained it, there is scriptural implication (or depending upon one’s interpretation of the English translation of scripture, outright notification) of the existence of a condition or state in which it is impossible to lose salvation after having found it. If this state exists, it is a condition that must be taught to the living and souls in Sheol, as this state is the ultimate hope of man.

For it is we who are cursed with sin, who are believers living entire lives at least subconsciously in fear of that which follows death. All other beings that cannot sin are safe from the transgression of the Law and thus safe from the fires of Hell. We are those who stand to lose everything due to nothing more than the intrinsic nature of our minds. In the end, those who do not gain salvation or lose it are ultimately victims of a psychological natural selection in which their minds happen to exist in such a way that they refuse or fail to believe in the atonement of Jesus Christ or they continue to habitually and reflexive act according to the call of human nature post-conversion.


I have been evil from the day I was born; from the time I was conceived, I have been sinful.

-Psalm 51:5 (Good News Translation)


In Absolute Sinless Atonement there is no union or experiential connection between man and Christ, only a requirement that one ensures that one guard everything one say or does (and feels and thinks, though these are inexorable and uncontrollable), remembering to seek forgiveness for each sin one knows to be a sin and ensure one does not sin past a certain point (or else one slips into the “red” of Hebrews 10: 21-36). Although man becomes saved, he must continue to walk the tightrope of his nature prior to salvation. If he no longer possessed human nature following conversion, there would be no possible post-conversion condemnation.

Before conversion one blindly followed the “Pied Piper” of the devil, dancing along the path of ignorance of God and the various manifestations of lust, anger, and malice. After gaining knowledge of the truth, things became more dangerous as one must now walk a precarious tightrope in “step on a crack, break your mother’s back” fashion to avoid deliberate commission of not so much Pesha sins but mental, emotional, and behavioral Avons (as one can argue that the only sins that are not deliberate are Cheit sins).

[Pesha, Avon, and Cheit sins are the three types of sin in Judaism, see: The Three Types of Sin or ‘Avera’ in Judaism below. ]

A mechanism of atonement which renders individuals incapable of sin, however, utilizes something beyond and does not require avoidance of sin through human effort:


I would like to learn one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

-Galatians 3:2,3;5


Let us be clear about what it means to ‘attain your goal by human effort’. Given that the end-all/be-all entity behind loss of salvation and destiny in Hell is sin, human effort to refrain from sin (human effort in obeying the Law) involves:

  1. Refraining from performance of outward, physical behavior regarded as sin in public and private.

  2. Using human will to continuously push aside/drown out/disintegrate sinful thoughts (as one cannot control their coming into existence before the fact) and emotions. None has power to prevent sinful thoughts and emotions from springing into existence in the first place.

However:


No one will be declared righteous by observing the law, rather through the law we become conscious of sin.

-Romans 3:20


Presumably, no one is declared righteous by observing the law by reason of the continuous existence of sinful thoughts and emotions, that in the absence of a power of God to render man as psychologically sinless as Christ pre-death, will inexorably and autonomously arise, guided by memory, subconscious and environment until the day of death. Observing the law through human effort is futile as one sins mentally and emotionally independent of physical behavior (Matthew 5:21).

Rather:


As it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’

-Romans 1:17


If there is a condition or state that, upon belief in its existence God renders it impossible for one to sin independent of absolute psychological sinlessness, this secondary, weaker form of pre-death sinlessness negates the need for “step on a crack, break your mother’s back” minefield-walking to avoid physical and psychological sin. *

This secondary, lesser form of pre-death sinlessness is enabled by Inextricable Mimicry of Jesus Christ.

[size=85][*“Minefield-walking”, i.e. painstaking, physical and mental effort to avoid committing sin is dream-performed by Christ in the Sacrificial Dream.][/size]

The Principle of Inextricable Mimicry


So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

-Hebrews 5: 16-18



For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death…

-Romans 6: 5


The Sacrificial Dream is not a stand-alone psychic phenomenon occurring randomly in the mind of Christ while dying on the cross but is one side of an ongoing isomorphism between Christ and believing humans (or in the case of Universalism, ongoing isomorphism between Christ and every human that shall ever exist regardless of belief).

Inextricable Mimicry is a state in which upon belief in “Quasi-Sin” Sinless Atonement of Jesus Christ combined with belief in his physical crucifixion as the physical aspect of punishment for the sins of mankind, one becomes inextricably (rather than contingently) bound to Christ and will inextricably mimic Christ in terms of externally re-enacting the experiences and content of consciousness of Jesus Christ in the Sacrificial Dream, and the experiences and content of consciousness of Jesus Christ post-burial/pre-resurrection in the three days he travelled to Sheol to teach the Unknowledgeable and Gospel-errant dead(see The Divine Spark below) and provide the source of external mimicry of remission of sin and all ‘good works’ that accompany faith (that are mimicries of Christ rather than Christ-less human effort).

Those bound to Inextricable Mimicry are ‘led by the Spirit’ (“led” by mimicking Christ and can no longer feel, think, and behave beyond the parameters of the content of consciousness of sacrificed/pre/post-resurrection Christ) and therefore are no longer under the Law or salvation-dangers inherent in psychological/physical failure to uphold the Law.

It is impossible for those in Inextricable Mimicry of Christ to cease mimicry and come “untied” from Christ.


For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

-Romans 11:9


Inextricable Mimicry As Proof Against The “Once Saved Always Saved” Implication Of “A License To Sin”

The “Once Saved Always Saved” belief, while offering the utmost hope for believers and those considering belief in Jesus Christ, contains a dark implication: a “license to sin” enabling one to sin with impunity without loss of salvation by right of the saving faith and unconditional forgiveness.

Paul rebukes the implication immediately:


What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

-Romans 6: 1, 2


That is, shall we continue to sin once under grace rather than law? In Absolute Sinless Atonement and common Fundamentalist thinking, the responsibility is given to man to prevent oneself from sinning and confess and ask for forgiveness for every sin from conversion to death. There is the obligation, therefore, to use human effort to cease from sin though one has been (in preliminary or contingent fashion) made ‘dead to sin’ upon conversion. The question: ‘How shall we….live any longer therein’ for this type of Christian belief is merely a “call to moral action” in the sense of being asked to be unwilling to sin after conversion.

In Inextricable Mimicry, God forbids sin qua sin after conversion, as one can do nothing post-conversion but mimic Christ in the form of his death (the events and persons in his mind in the Sacrificial Dream) and in life (the events and persons in his mind in post-crucifixion/post-burial/pre-resurrection restoration and salvation of man in Sheol and post-ascension existence). Inextricable Mimicry negates the “license to sin” inherent in “Once Saved Always Saved” belief as upon conversion and faith in Inextricable Mimicry man is unable to sin beyond mimicking the sufferings of Christ in the Sacrificial Dream as one is permanently bound to Christ through shared experience of Christ’s death. One can do nothing but stand with Christ in ‘being planted together [with him] in the likeness of his death’.

If we are bound together with Christ in this fashion and can do nothing but mimic and wear the likeness of his death (the identities and events within the Sacrificial Dream) and continuously testify to this fate in our minds, through our constant belief that we are not alone in our content of consciousness but mimic Christ and have faith that this mimicry exists and is ongoing, then we are ‘dead to sin’ (Romans 6:2) and no longer sin in the sense of sinning outside re-enactment of the dream-sufferings of Christ.

For example, is one concerned that one has sinned to the effect that one has fallen under the doom of Hebrews 10:21-36? Christ, in the guise of the person experiencing the fear of having fallen off the cliff of Hebrews 10:21-36 experiences what it is like to be the person experiencing this special fear in the Sacrificial Dream.


For sin shall not be your master,
because you are not under law, but under grace.

-Romans 6:14


Everything, however, is not limited to Christ’s death and our re-enactment of that death (in the form of wearing the likeness of Christ in the Sacrifical Dream). Humans sin, but they do more than merely sin (the amount, it seems, depends upon whether or not one is addicted to something and/or possesses a conscience and capable of empathy). There is love, work, and recreation even for those not of the Faith. But for those having faith in Jesus Christ in Inextricable Mimicry, one’s mind obsesses of one’s special fate and the works one performs in concert with faith is not, once again, “step on a crack break your mother’s back” avoidance of physical sin but charity out of realization that the person one aids is a potential re-enactor of Christ or even Christ himself, in the guise of the person in his post-crucifixion dream as he lies in state in the Tomb of Joseph (in which Christ begins to mentally “rise from the dead” by replacing the events of the Sacrificial Dream with thoughts and good works that focus more and more upon Union with man and preaching the Gospel to those outside Mimicry among the living and souls of the dead in Sheol before achieving resurrection and post-ascension eternity).

END PART TWO