Ching Hai – Just another snake oil dealer

What the? Is that what she looks like? But she looks really different in other images taken of her. What’s going on here?

Have you heard of this lady called Ching Hai? She claims herself to be a spiritual teacher for something called the “Quan Yin Method”, which I swear she made up, even though she claims she didn’t, but rather “knows it”. This is what she actually claims about her teachings.

“This method has existed since the beginning of time, when the universe was first formed. And it will always exist. It is not a method; it is like the way of the universe, a universal law that we must follow if we want to get back to the Origin, back to our true Self, back to the Kingdom of God or our Buddha nature.”

She also claims that her teachings are found in the Bible, along with various other religions under different names, and all the world’s spiritual/religious literature. Am I the only one who feels suspicious about that, like any religious/cult leader can claim that?

She even claims she attained enlightenment in the Himalayas. I keep seeing posters for her organization’s media campaign, “Be Green, Go Veg, Save the Planet”, in Carmarthen, Wales. What’s going on there? For a spiritual teacher, she sure has a lot of organizations designed to spread her teachings, and a lot of clothing and jewellry designed by her. Oh, and she supports many vegan restaurants.

Yep, I never trusted her. Why? She’s a snake-oil dealer, con artist, and a poser who does nothing promote herself and grab as much money from ignorant fools as possible. For starters, she calls herself “Supreme Master”; that alone gives off a suspicious signal. That’s not all, though. She tries to declare various days “Supreme Master Ching Hai Day”, she has her own propaganda TV channel, she has her own corporate entity engaging in various media and publicity campagins, such the previously mentioned “Be Green, Go Veg, Save the Planet”, and her religious organization seems to be nothing more than a business enterprise, like the Qigong organisations in China in the ’80’s and ’90’s. Also, she seems like an egomaniac. I mean, why else would anyone create two organizations just to create awards for her, and even manipulate a United States official into posing as the president of one of said organizations.

I think I’ve said enough, other than why would anyone buy into this?

My problem with the Biblical/Abrahamic god

I’m not afraid.

In November, I posted about El and the Abrahamic god, and the relation between the two, as well as my concept of God. But now I’m here to talk about my problem with the Biblical and Abrahamic concept of God. The Canaanite El wasn’t so bad, but the Biblical evolution of that god attained new characteristics. Some derived from other gods, others new and more suited to his role as the monotheistic supreme deity ruling over humanity. And that’s just one part of why the god of the Abrahamic religions is a god I have always had a problem with.

Why? Because he makes pretty much no sense.

In the Bible he is apparently a loving, benevolent, merciful, and compassionate god, while simultaneously a jealous god that forbids you from worshiping other gods, a genocidal god attributed to a kill count in the hundreds and thousands, a god who, in opposition to his supposedly all-loving nature, sends everyone who disagrees with him, doesn’t believe in him, or doesn’t worship him to a place of eternal hellfire, torture, and gnashing of teeth, apparently hates women, is an immense control freak and tyrant, and in the end, is simply using humans as ignorant fodder for his goals. Anyone arguing that God’s support for free will can easily be demolished by not just that, but also the notion, in the Bible, that he has some kind of plan for humanity. That would lend him to be called a hypocrite, in my eyes.

But wait, that’s in the Bible, and its tales. Thinking about it, can you really trust the Bible, let alone on God? For all we know, the Bible is just a propagandizing collection of books, merely embellishing the nature of their god, mythologizing it, along with their religion and its values. If the Biblical god were really all-powerful, why does he need us, let alone why does he need to control him? Why does he need us to worship him? Why does he care what we do if he’s beyond human? Why would he penalize humans for following their instincts which he instilled in them? If his moral laws were absolute, then it should be impossible to go against them, so why can we? And if he was really as were encouraged to believe, an all-loving god, then consider this: that god would have the power to decide people’s lives and their fate, and that means he could put anyone in a life that is utterly one sack of crap for them. Now why would a supposedly loving god do that?

There you have it, the Biblical god is just a god that makes no sense, that contradicts itself, and is ultimately heavily mythological, which is often the source of his flawed nature, and his unworthiness for the status of an absolute one that is commonly ascribed to him.

Here’s a video from someone that I think describes things well:

If you want to see the posts mentioned above, here’s some links.

Why I think El is the Biblical God: https://mythoughtsbornfromfire.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/why-i-think-the-biblical-god-is-el/

God and Deity: https://mythoughtsbornfromfire.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/god-and-deity/