Re: How does veneration work?

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_P_dBAnW8XekWtoEpN0sKcK6pLfb1Ilw0HxOs1qvZOtvDnhMo7fqE7j7a0U5O3Nl7m-1>
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:56:40 +1300

On 12/22/2010 9:19 AM, Olli Kantola wrote
> Anyway, I've been able to explain pretty much everything about
> everthing else, but explaining veneration and saintly magic seems to
> be beyond me. My friend is now convinced that anything that has to do
> with saints is actually theistic worship. . .

> We also know that sorcery is something you know. I can grok how the
> sorcery that the sorcerers use works, but saints, veneration and
> blessings are beyond me. I get how you can decode scripture to learn
> wizardly magic, but how is worshiping a saint something you know? How
> are the blessings something you know as opposed to something you are
> or have?

Theistic worship is sacrificing a portion of yourself or something valuable in order to receive godly energy.

The worship of Saints does not involve sacrifice therefore it is not theistic worship.

So to convince your friend, you (well, all of us actually) need a model for saintly worship that explains what is happening in such a way that none of us can be confused between worship of the Gods and worship of the Saints.

The olde christian distinction - worship flows through the saints to God - isn't really helpful.

So what follows is my brief stab...

Saints are Malkioni that have acquired some critical understanding of God that is not readily apparent/Hidden/Invisible to mortals.

When lesser Malkioni worship a Saint, they are performing a little spell that allows some sharing of this understanding to occur. But because their brains are so small, they eventually forget and have to repeatedly worship the saint to maintain access to this understanding.

--Peter Metcalfe