Victor Porton, no affiliation
Bialik 51-7, Ashkelon, Israel
porton.victor@gmail.com
Conflict of interest. I personally benefit from donations to Salaries Science as the main (and currently the only) project’s developer.
Abstract. I claim that holding an academic degree without compensation to the society (such as from your “degreed” salary) is a “grave” sin warranting hell, based mainly on the “stamp on the forehead” in the Revelation of John. Academic degree is considered as a theft from biblical positions.
Keywords: Apocalypse, mark of the beast, stamp of the beast, academic degree, science degree, scientific degree, salvation, Christian libertarianism, Libertarian Christianity.
Introduction
Like other Christians, I tried to guess what the “stamp on the forehead” from Rev. 13:16 may mean. Once I however was struck by what seems the most proper understanding: “forehead” here means what is the stamp is for: the mind located in forehead, that is the stamp is a certification of the mind, the higher education degree. And the other stamp in the same verse is on a hand, that is the stamp of hand-working skills that a human has.
This also explains some of the hidden sense after (Rev. 13:17) “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” This simply means that people having no either higher education or finished high school (mark on the hand) will have no legal capacity.
Thus Apocalypse has a strong stance against scientific and other degrees, notably anti-PhD stance.
In the rest of this article I explain how this can be interpreted in context of the rest of the Bible, the modern status of the science, and author’s personal experiences.
Scientific Degree Is a Marking of People
Not far from the mainstream understanding of Rev. 13, I proclaim that a scientific degree is marking of people, splitting to “castes” with different rights. Christianity must be against such castes.
(1Jn. 2:2) “And he is the propitiation… for the sins of the whole world”. A possible translation is whole world, rather than entire world. For people for whom the world is divided into castes (not whole), there is no propitiation for the sins, that is they go to the hell.
Scientific Degree As a Theft
Scientific degrees foster inequality: If somebody is in a position (for external to his mind occurrences such as living nearer to a university) to receive a scientific degree more easily than another one, who received the degree is in a dishonest economical advantage over another one. Such an advantage is considered a theft in context of Rev. 13. (1Cor. 6:10) “… thieves… shall [not] inherit the kingdom of God.” Theft warrants hell. Therefore a scientific degree (especially PhD) without proper measures warrants hell. This is in full accordance with (Rev. 14:9-11) “9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb”.
Short note: They will be in presence of the Son (“the Lamb”) and holy angels, but forever will lose presence of the Father.
Another thing stolen by scientific degree holders is glory of a discovery: The author discovered an important mathematical object, ordered semigroup actions, but failed to publish it as a dissertation, because of holding no Bachelor or Masters degree necessary to put forth a claim for PhD. Thus inequality spreads not only to money, but to science itself, having some parts of science derailed and despised by this world. Because ordered semigroup actions (and ordered semicategory actions) are exceedingly important [1], it makes derailing of the most of future science, what is essentially theft of about $50 trillion. Everybody in academia participates in this theft (from yourself).
If you are told that you are evil, you can change, and you don’t, you are going to the hell: (He. 10:26-27) “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”
Can anything be done by a scientific degree holder to avoid the hell for himself/herself? If you were a thief but returned the money, you are no more a thief. So, your debt is to return the money to the system of science. How to do this? I know the one best way: Donate to the project Salaries Science [2], that is committed to finance science differently (and without checking degrees). By regular donations you return your debt you hold to science.
You may say: “But I donate to a church.” Isn’t returning the debt to another company than you hold a debt to a silly idea? Accordingly the teaching of the Bible, you must return the debt to one you have a debt to. So, if you hold a debt (by holding a scientific degree) to the system of science, and I know no other way to return the debt than to start financing Salaries Science project.
If you don’t, you are guaranteed to hell, because you sin wilfully.
This is not indulgence
The above may be perceived as similar to indulgence. But it is not, because the Catholic indulgence was assumed atonement of any kinds of sin for money, and this is for a special kind of sin, theft. Theft is readily atoned by returning the money to the object of the crime.
The beast
The stamp on the forehead is called the stamp of the beast, a symbol of stupidity. Moreover, (Rev. 14:10) “… The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation…” Wine signifies stupidity, because a human who drank wine becomes stupid. This is especially true for wine poured out without mixture.
This means that the “brain” of this world, the academy is considered stupid by God. One example of such stupidity is missingness of ordered semigroup actions in scientific databases, due to degree separation process.
Author’s personal experience
I was deprieved of a scientific degree because of my discrimination as a Protestant in Russia. I don’t want to tell here the details, because it is somehow related to a depth knowledge and may tempt Christians.
But, thanks God, I didn’t become this kind of a thief and gained experience undoubtfully showing that academia is evil and that the world needs Salaries Science project.
Conclusion
Holding scientific degree is a theft accordingly teachings of the Bible and is punished by the hell, if not properly atoned. The suggested way of atonement is to pay regular donations to Salaries Science project [2].
Bibliography
[1] Victor Porton. Why Algebraic Theory of General Topology is Super-Important. https://science.vporton.name/2022/09/09/why-algebraic-theory-of-general-topology-is-super-important/
[2] Salaries Science project. https://science-dao.org/salaries-science/
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