Amerika

Someone introduced this concept the other day: the notion of reprobates, or people who are genetically wired to be contrarian to reality and therefore, immensely destructive to themselves and others. These are broken people who are not just NPCs, who are narcissistic enough, but such pathological controllers that they ruin anything they touch.

A reprobate is a broken person whose dysfunction makes them dangerous to the group and individuals within it:

We don’t really see the term reprobate in English translations of the Bible outside of Romans 1. To dive further into this meaning, we’ll have to uncover the Greek word adokimos. A negative word that, in addition to meaning reprobate, also means “cast away,” “reject,” “notwithstanding a test,” or “unfit.”

As with all things, the White-Arab hybrid that produced Jews and Judaism borrowed almost all of its ideas from the Greeks with a smattering of token inclusions of Babylonian, Norse, Zoroastrian, Hindu, and Egyptian mythology. Christianity was produced by educated mixed-race neurotic people trying to compile all the religious knowledge of the day into a compelling, sort of like Star Wars summarized Methodism and Buddhism.

People who are driven by anti-Semitism tend to be Muslim mostly, with some Christians, and this is ironic because they are essentially preaching competing versions of the same religion. Abrahamists have more in common than they lack, but fight with each other over who has the truest symbol.

Symbols are of primary importance in the Abrahamic religions; their position in history is that they replaced religions based on idols with religions based on abstractions like language, symbol, token, gesture, and most of all, appearance to a group. The whole point of Abrahamic religion is to mobilize a Crowd against strength and realism so that everyone can feel accepted; they are basically the French revolution waiting to happen, designed by those who wanted to subvert the Romans.

However, amidst the symbolism, some ancient knowledge persists. Reprobates are outcastes, or those whose behavior is incompatible with the society around them. This manifests in a variety of forms:

1 Corinthians 9:27: Paul talks about the importance of discipline here. If we don’t continue on the path of godliness, we could become “castaway” or reprobate.

2 Timothy 3:8: Paul describes two men, Jannes and Jambres who “resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith”

Titus 1:16 Says that even though some people will claim to know God in their actions, it’s clear that they are making themselves adokimos.

In a more descriptive sense, reprobates are those with disordered minds that cannot see what is real and good, therefore turn to alternatives that distract them from the fact that there is a simmering void where their souls ought to be. The Bible describes reprobate psychology as a pathology of self-centeredness, egotism, narcissism, solipsism, and individualism parallel to the Greek concept of hubris:

Romans 1:28 – “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” This key verse describes the process where God allows those who reject Him to follow their own sinful desires, resulting in a reprobate mind.

2 Timothy 3:8 – “Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.” This verse compares those with a reprobate mind to historical figures who opposed Moses, highlighting their resistance to truth and corruption of mind.

Titus 1:16 – “They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.” Here, Paul speaks about those whose actions contradict their claims of knowing God, a characteristic of a reprobate mind.

Jeremiah 6:30 – “Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.” This Old Testament verse uses the metaphor of reprobate silver – silver that is rejected after being tested – to describe people who have been rejected by God due to their refusal to follow His ways.

Hebrews 10:26-27 – “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment…” This passage warns about the dangers of persistently sinning after knowing the truth, which can lead to a reprobate mind.

2 Corinthians 13:5-6 – “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” This verse encourages self-examination to ensure one is not falling into a reprobate state.

Romans 1:32 – “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” This verse further describes the reprobate mind as not only engaging in sin but also encouraging it in others.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 – “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.” Paul warns of some who will turn away from the faith and whose consciences will become so seared (a characteristic of a reprobate mind) that they will follow deceitful teachings.

Proverbs 28:26 – “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” This proverb, while not using the term reprobate, addresses the danger of relying solely on one’s own understanding, which can lead to a morally compromised state.

Ephesians 4:17-19 – “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” This passage describes a progression towards a reprobate mind: a futile mindset, darkened understanding, alienation from God, and ultimately a hardened heart leading to a surrender to sinful desires.

2 Peter 2:14 – “They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!” Peter speaks of individuals whose minds are so corrupt that they actively lead others into sin, a trait of a reprobate mind.

Jude 1:10 – “But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.” Jude warns against individuals who speak against things they do not understand and are led by their base instincts, indicative of a reprobate mind.

Romans 1:24-25 – “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” This verse again emphasizes how a reprobate mind is a result of exchanging God’s truth for lies and idolatry.

1 Corinthians 9:27 – “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” Paul talks about self-discipline to avoid falling into moral compromise, which could lead to a reprobate mind.

Proverbs 1:7 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” This verse from Proverbs implies that the rejection of wisdom and divine instruction can lead one down the path to becoming reprobate in thought and action.

The key to all these passages is a Platonic dialogue describing the descent of the mind into reprobate thinking:

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

This also parallels the reason that Christianity was adopted in the West, which was probably to manage the sexual immorality of the serfs, who were famous for rutting continuously since puberty and producing hordes of lumpy cross-eyed offspring as a result.

Christianity, like most symbolic belief systems, hold up an ideal and then regulates methods to force people to achieve that ideal, which is a type of bureaucratic control structure, but written into religion. Consider for example Christian sexual morality which concerns more than masturbation:

1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 says, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified; that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God.”

Is there a problem here? At one level, no: the Christians are right that sexuality should be sacred.

However, means-over-ends systems — all symbolic systems are this way because symbols are categorical, and therefore need to police exceptions rather than orient toward an affirmative ideal — create a backlash because the more force they apply, the more resistance they generate.

Idealist systems on the other hand aim toward a positive goal, which means that they are oriented toward reward structures for the most part, and removal of extreme transgressors in a Darwinistic manner. They do not try to force everyone to behave well, but reward those who do behave well, and remove those who destroy those behaving well.

(Their weakness is a lack of willingness to see the question of removal outside moral terms; it is not punishment, but eugenics. A truly idealistic system aims mostly to reward the good, ignores everyone in the middle, and sends everyone who is bad or useless on to third world colonies.)

The more the symbolists apply means-over-ends systems, the more they distance themselves from their actual goal by trying to manage methods. A parallel can be found in the history of addictive drugs:

By the mid-1800s, morphine was commercially produced, and, with the invention of the hypodermic needle, morphine became easier to administer. Physicians regularly recommended it for chronic pain, and it was even touted as a way to overcome opium addiction.

Unfortunately, the adverse effects of morphine became apparent quickly. During the American Civil War (1861 to 1865), injured soldiers were treated with morphine and some developed lifelong addictions after the war — sometimes resulting in overdose and death.

In 1874, Alder Wright, a chemist, created heroin — a combination of morphine and other chemicals. Although heroin was originally considered to be a treatment for morphine addiction, it soon became clear that heroin was more potent and addictive than morphine.

The goal of symbolism is to constrain power by vesting it into symbols. Idealism on the other hand aspires to power and wants to orient it toward constructive goals. Leftism takes symbolism further by opposing power/health entirely and heading into the abyss of self-destruction.

What we call “idealism” now in the West applies to New Age space head humanism, but that is the opposite of idealism, since the goal of humanism is pacifism which means a removal of warfare, the opposite of what idealism would suggest, which is orienting warfare toward the good instead of making it a goal or anti-goal in itself.

In all systems, we can see a vestige of ancient knowledge: reprobates are those who deny reality and because they deny reality, fill their lives with compensatory behaviors including personal drama. Any society which wants to stay in business for the long haul will remove these people by any means necessary.

Tags: christianity, egotism, hubris, idealism, individualism, narcissism, platonism, reprobates, solipsism, symbolism