TMC+A Exhibit

TRUTH MISSIONARIES' CHAPTER OF POSITIVE ACCORD

(excerpted from Kooks Outtakes)

While Christian fundamentalists use the Bible to prove that sex for fun is forbidden by God, Truth Missionaries' Chapter of Positive Accord (TMC+A) are using that very same Bible to prove that God is having sex up in heaven and enjoying it. TMC+A members biblically and scientifically "prove" the physicality and active sexuality of God, as well as Goddess, the feminine aspect of the Deity, for whom they have developed an entire system of theology. They reverently address this entity by the name "Goddess," as opposed to "The Goddess," because She's no flimsy pagan idol, but a powerful force who literally initiated Jesus to Godhood:

TMC+A is REAL NEW AGE (or beyond it) RELIGION!Our religion in NOT a rehash of ancient superstitions and hallucinations. It is NOT pseudospiritualist fantasy of intelligence functioning without physicalness, but nonphysical ideativeness correlated with the Natural physical factors of intelligence, functioning united together, YES, we recognize and worship a GODDESS, but SHE is NOT the flimsy 'spirit' of pagan mythology. Rather, She is GODDESS with ALMIGHTY Energy from SuperNatural PHYSICAL TRUTHS, scientifically evidenced and Biblically PROVEN! ... Her sex activity enabled Jesus' conception and ascension and more! Her Holy Energy preserved Jesus' corpse from decay and resurrected him. Our Biblical proofs also show why Jesus was NOT God until She initiated with acts bringing Divine equality, including sex. And these proofs also tell why She and the original male Person, Who are God are each Co-Savior with Jesus. We do not resort to ignorance and hypocrisy. Our literature is consistent with current science and Biblical facts.

TMC+A was founded by Arch Bishop Lynn Johnson, D.D.D. Th., and incorporated as an Illinois non-profit organization in 1973. Since that time, TMC+A has been nationally advertising its proofs and disproofs and "NONE of them have ever been refuted." It has attracted kindred souls from all over the U.S. and Canada, if the branches listed in the newsletter are any indication. And, despite its inclusion of "absolute proofs," TMC+A in practice emphasizes democracy and cooperation. The literature, written originally by Johnson, is not adhered to as dogma; instead it is under constant scrutiny for consistency and Truth, revised during meetings by consensus vote.

The strange appellation "Truth Missionaries' Chapter of Positive Accord" refers to the members, called "Truth Missionaries," who are dedicated to avoiding hypocrisy "by efforts for the positive consistency or 'positive accord' of our behavior with our own principles."

If, after reading the literature, you feel yourself to be in positive accord with it, it is only a matter of time before you will be able to earn the ecclesiastical degrees Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Theology. And if there's a vacancy, you can even apply to become a member of the hierarchy, and perhaps become, Bishop, Arch Bishop, Co-Bishop, Prelate(ss), Arch Prelate(ss), Co-Prelate(ss), Fore Prelate(ss), Vice Prelate(ss), Dean, Co-Dean or Arch Dean.

TMC+A literature, called "tracts" are available free at TMC+A meetings, or for a nominal fee by mail, as a correspondence course in Divinity. These her-etical reading lessons seem to be 10th generation xeroxes of manuscripts that were badly typed to begin with; add to this the fact that they are packed densely with theological and technical information, and you realize that earning your D. Th. or D.D. might not be so easy after all.

The tracts are combined into a 3-part "book" consisting of three essays which "Biblically PROVES the reality and sexuality of the Goddess, and disproves celibacy of Jesus Christ (which some allege), as well as some other proofs, disproofs, and information, which should interest you." This includes very technical information on brain research, physics and mathematics.

The authors are careful to distinguish between their "absolute" and "non-absolute" proofs. "Some of our proofs are absolute or very nearly so," they claim. "In our absolute and our near-absolute proofs and disproofs, whenever there is any assumption, the counter-assumption is also considered as another case, so that it covers ALL possible conditions." Such rigor is admirable, though it's easy to see that there is at least one TMC+A belief that they have failed to identify as an assumption: that the Judeo-Christian Bible is true.

Though TMC+A constantly revises its proofs and disproofs, its beliefs are stable, as summed up in the general information sheet:

Most of our literature is devoted to theology about the real Goddess. Biblically, She is the female of two original persons, Who are God. Much later, She resurrected Jesus Christ with Her special Divine Energy ('Holy Spirit'). After doing this, She initiated Jesus for ascension to Godhood (Although born human, Jesus had the Divine hereditary Components. These were inactive, and Jesus was not God before being initiated). She also enabled Jesus' conception. Virgin Mary gave Jesus a distinctive, but human birth and later he died a human death in a way some other humans died. God preserved Jesus' corpse from decay during death. Then the Goddess (not Mary) gave Jesus birth again by resurrection. There is no marriage in Heaven, but there is LOVE. Sex is mainly for the expression of love. Both Yahweh and Jesus are the Goddess' Consorts. Persons, Who are God, are both physical and spiritual (sexual parts are not merely ornamental). ...

The Table of Contents for the TMC+A 3-part book could be used a guide to TMC+A theology: "Jesus' Sex Activity Before His Godhood," "Anthropomorphic Sensuosity of God (including Goddess)," "EXPLODING MYTHS of NONPHYSICAL MIND & EMOTIONS," "CHEMICAL TRANSFER of INTELLECT & ETERNAL LIFE," "WHY GODDESS', NOT MARY's, SEX DREW GOD's SPERM for SON," "BIBLICAL SUBREPTION by ANCIENT CHAUVINISTS," "TRANSCENDENCE to IDEAL FLESH RENEWAL" and "WHY the MYTH, REINCARNATION, IS FALSE."

TMC+A members are unequivocal about their disdain for pagan and Neo-pagan practices and beliefs. They maintain that it is one of the most famous of pagans, Plato, and his successors, the neo-Platonists, who are largely to blame for the anti-female and anti-sexual attitudes of Western Religion today. Platonists and neo-Platonists are guilty of promoting the "ghost in the machine" mind/body split concept of human consciousness, which TMC+A rejects. Instead, TMC+A accepts modern scientific materialism, viewing all consciousness, emotion and mind as the product of physical processes:

NOW, preponderant scientific evidence shows intelligence, emotions and consciousness are physical ELECTRO-CHEMICAL PROCESSES...
Nerve signals inducing emotions are modified by expectations, purposes and past experiences with glands and muscles. Any LOVE requires and basically IS EMOTION! Every atom is made of moving particles of energy. And every living cell is a radial center of bioplasmic (psychic) energy. This is proven with Kirlian photography. This energy and/or brain's own radio waves may be used in telepathy, telegnosis, telekinesis, acupuncture, and dowsing. Various instruments physically find, focus, measure, amplify, and sometimes use this energy, especially that radiating from living human flesh, thus revealing it as another physical form. ...

Though its members believe in the physicality of the Deity and the divinity of the physical, TMC+A is not a "free love" religion. It adheres to Yahweh's sexual prejudices, asserting that "...Yahweh (the Father) is NOT homosexual, and does NOT masturbate, because of reasons of CONSISTENCY of His Will. ..." Yahweh is a REAL MAN, and like all other real men, he has sperm:

Jesus was a male, not a female. ALL human males have an unpaired "Y" chromosome, which Mary, a female could not supply. In Nature, there is parthenogenesis, or offspring (children, progeny) from virgin females of various species, including some laboratory mammals, but such offspring are always female. Biblically, Jesus is the only begotten son of God. "Begotten" very definitely refers to genetic and indeed sexual procreation. ... So God BEGAT Jesus, NOT by adoption, NOT by breath (as Adam), NOT by design (as angels), but by some process involving sex. That is, the Biblical "Holy Ghost" was then a form of Holy Energy permeated by God's Holy Sperm (H genes), Which God sent to impregnate Mary with Jesus. ... Human reproduction occurs only when each parent supplies 1/2 of the chromosomes (scientific fact). So, Yahweh must have produced the male genetic portion directly for Jesus' sex designation. ...

The fact that human females cannot supply the Y chromosome, combined with the fact that Mary, a virgin, supposedly gave birth to Jesus, could also prove that Jesus was not male, but female. No doubt we could take our pick of theologies, feminist or otherwise, "proved" via the simultaneous acceptance of "current science" and "Biblical facts."

Science and religion may soon be reunited, if the proliferation of new theologies, such as TMC+A, is any indication. The first small steps to this reunification have usually meant incorporating scientific results or the scientific method into a non-materialist, spiritually-oriented belief system; this would include both the "Bible Scientists," who use the scientific method selectively to back up their interpretation of the Bible, and also, those New Age philosophers who use scientific results selectively to back up their belief in, say, Taoism. TMC+A does the opposite, embracing the scientific materialist philosophy that everybody else is rejecting, and incorporating the Bible into it, rather than vice versa. For this reason, I suspect that TMC+A is a 20th century fluke, which will probably go the way of state communism, lobotomy, and other materialist solutions to spiritual problems.