Who is this Lucifer Character, Anyway?
A video on a Christian conspiracy theory on power politics abuses the Gnostic handle by mixing it up with Jesuits, Freemasons and neo-conservatives. The theory posits the core belief as a desire for apotheosis (the deification of the individual). This theory portrays Lucifer as the human potential and everything that disagrees with the advocate, Phillip Darrell Collins, as basically evil.
This prompted a discussion with some of our students about what the Christian Lucifer is and how it differs from the original Lucifer. Like the Christian deity, the anti-deity of Lucifer was crafted at the beginning of the Medieval period in the conflict between the orthodox power structure and its antagonists. Most people associate the Christian Lucifer with the prince of the domain of eternal torment. For those of us who have never bought into the paradigm of eternal torment, the character has little or no meaning. For those who seek to transcend the paradigm of eternal torment, people like Phillip Darrell Collins serve only as a stumbling block.
This prompted a discussion with some of our students about what the Christian Lucifer is and how it differs from the original Lucifer. Like the Christian deity, the anti-deity of Lucifer was crafted at the beginning of the Medieval period in the conflict between the orthodox power structure and its antagonists. Most people associate the Christian Lucifer with the prince of the domain of eternal torment. For those of us who have never bought into the paradigm of eternal torment, the character has little or no meaning. For those who seek to transcend the paradigm of eternal torment, people like Phillip Darrell Collins serve only as a stumbling block.