Psychiana No. 16 [transcript]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:24:11 Unknown Speaker: Once again, we are to hear the voice of doctor Frank Robinson. And it is interesting to know that the same man whose voice we are listening to is, at this very moment, being discussed all over the civilized world, where he is one of the most prominent figures in the world of modern thought. His system of philosophy, which he calls psyche Yana, is one of the most significant subjects of our time.

00:00:24:13 - 00:00:51:00 Unknown Speaker: Foreign psyche Yana. Doctor Robinson has given the world an entirely new conception of religion, an entirely new conception of God, not an abstract theoretical philosophy, but one that actually works, that we can apply in our everyday lives. Surely there is no person who would not want to listen to such a message. And so we transfer you directly to Doctor Robinson’s study in his home in Moscow, Idaho.

00:00:51:02 - 00:01:02:25 Unknown Speaker: As usual, at this time of day, we find him at the console of his pipe organ.

00:01:02:27 - 00:01:19:09 Unknown Near Earth.

00:01:19:11 - 00:01:29:05 Unknown You.

00:01:29:07 - 00:01:38:05 Unknown Heard.

00:01:38:08 - 00:02:11:05 Unknown First.

00:02:11:08 - 00:02:21:26 Unknown That have.

00:02:21:28 - 00:02:24:00 Unknown Speaker: Come in.

00:02:24:03 - 00:02:28:28 Unknown Speaker: I guess a little bit late, doctor, but I got into a discussion with a chaplain I didn’t know at the time.

00:02:29:00 - 00:02:32:15 Frank Bruce Robinson: Oh, that’s all right. Sit down and make yourself comfortable.

00:02:32:20 - 00:02:39:15 Unknown Speaker: Thanks, doctor. You know, as a matter of fact, this discussion I had was over a question which you might be able to answer.

00:02:39:18 - 00:02:42:12 Frank Bruce Robinson: Is that so?

00:02:42:14 - 00:02:58:18 Unknown Speaker: Yes, indeed. Well, it was like this. This fellow had listened to your program and is very much interested in them. Well, he made the remark that absolution and the confession of sins is an exclusively Christian doctrine.

00:02:58:20 - 00:02:59:19 Frank Bruce Robinson: And you?

00:02:59:22 - 00:03:05:02 Unknown Speaker: Well, I was of the opinion that it isn’t essentially a part of the Christian faith.

00:03:05:05 - 00:03:28:22 Frank Bruce Robinson: Well, you are both wrong. Both wrong. Yes. Some Christian writers have labored very hard to make it appear that absolution and the confession of sins is a part of the Christian faith, and exists in no other form of religion. And others have labored just as strenuously to get it out of their Bible and convince people that it is not there in time.

00:03:28:24 - 00:03:30:12 Unknown Speaker: Then what is the answer?

00:03:30:17 - 00:03:46:11 Frank Bruce Robinson: Just this. That the doctrine of absolution and the confession of sins is, as the scriptures themselves show, a part of the Bible and as history shows, also a precept of other religions and predating Christianity.

00:03:46:14 - 00:03:48:00 Unknown Speaker: Are you certain of that, doctor?

00:03:48:05 - 00:04:29:19 Frank Bruce Robinson: There can be no question about it. For proof that the rite of absolution for confessed sins is thought in the Christian scriptures. You have only to turn to James 516, where that apostle emphatically states, quote, confess your sins one to another, unquote. The practice of forgiving sins is also enjoined. Forgiving one another is recommended in Ephesians 432 and Colossians 313, and in Matthew 1818 the quotation and whosoever or whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, is also interpreted as conferring the power to forgive sins.

00:04:29:21 - 00:04:43:10 Unknown Speaker: Well, that answers part of the question that the Christian scriptures do teach the doctrine of absolution. But you haven’t proved that this doctrine did exist elsewhere. That is, before the Christian belief came into being.

00:04:43:12 - 00:05:05:03 Frank Bruce Robinson: Well, I can prove that very easily, for the practices of both confessing and forgiving sins are very ancient pagan rites and customs. Speaking of their prevalence in ancient India, the author of the Anna Calypso is remarks the person offering sacrifices, made a verbal confession of his sins and received absolution.

00:05:05:05 - 00:05:07:11 Unknown Speaker: That was in ancient India, doctor.

00:05:07:12 - 00:05:39:26 Frank Bruce Robinson: Yes. But that isn’t the only instance. Auricular confession was also practiced among the ancient Greeks or Persians, and by the Parsis proper of that same country. Mr. Volney tells us, I quote from him they observed all the Christian sacraments, even to the laying on of hands in confirmation. And the Christian Tertullian also tells us again, I quote, the priests of Mithra promised absolution from sin on confession and baptism.

00:05:39:28 - 00:05:53:26 Frank Bruce Robinson: And another author adds, on such occasions Mithra marked his followers, the servants of God, in their foreheads. And then he celebrated the sacrifice of bread, which is the resurrection.

00:05:53:29 - 00:06:04:25 Unknown Speaker: You say a confession was practiced among the they. What was the word you used, Doctor Smith metrics? Yes. Who are the Smith reacts. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that religion.

00:06:04:27 - 00:06:36:22 Frank Bruce Robinson: Well, the metrics our worshipers of Mithra were, as I mentioned originally, Persian. However, the religion spread into Europe and became very popular. In fact, an attempt was even made by the Emperor Julian, known to Christian history as Julian the Apostate, to substitute it for the accepted faith. And once more he very nearly succeeded. So you see, it was only by chance that the believers in Orthodox faith are Christians and not Mithra.

00:06:36:24 - 00:06:39:19 Unknown Speaker: I say that is interesting.

00:06:39:21 - 00:07:03:23 Frank Bruce Robinson: The God of the metric cult or religion was the Persian. Some god, and it is more than probable that the Christians adopted the metric day of worship some day instead of the original Jewish Sabbath. However, the legend of the adoration of the shepherds and the doctrine of the washing away of sins by means of blood are also more than likely.

00:07:03:25 - 00:07:13:11 Frank Bruce Robinson: Ideas borrowed from the metric goat. The Mithra is actually did bathe in blood and was thereby born again.

00:07:13:14 - 00:07:22:21 Unknown Speaker: Isn’t it strange how time and time again you find the same doctrines which are taught by Orthodox belief today occurring in pagan cults?

00:07:22:23 - 00:07:34:28 Frank Bruce Robinson: No, I would not say that. It is so strange, for if you trace back the history of religion, you will find one sect always borrowing ideas from a sect that existed prior to it.

00:07:35:00 - 00:07:39:00 Unknown Speaker: And as you say, this is also true of absolution.

00:07:39:02 - 00:08:07:22 Frank Bruce Robinson: Yes, indeed. I have already mentioned several instances and here are some more in the collection of Jewish laws called the missioner. We are told the Jews confessed their sins by placing their hands upon a calf belonging to the priest, and that this was called the confession of calves. Confessing sins was practiced in ancient Mexico, also under Numa of Rome, whose priests, we are informed, had to clear their own consciences.

00:08:07:24 - 00:08:37:11 Frank Bruce Robinson: By confessing their sins before they could offer sacrifices. The practice of confessing and forgiving sins, as recommended in the Christian Bible, and practiced by some of the Christian sects, has been the source of much practical evil. By furnishing a pretext and a license to some extent for the question of crime and sin. While sins can be so easily obliterated, they will be committed, perpetrated without much remorse or restraint.

00:08:37:13 - 00:09:08:12 Frank Bruce Robinson: In China, says the Reverend Mr. Petrarch, the invocation of Amedeo is sufficient to remit the punishment of the greatest crimes. The same author tells us the ancient initiation of the pagans had tribunals of penance. Where are the priests under the name of Rose heard from the mouth of the sinners themselves, the avowal of their sins, of which their souls were to be purified, and from the punishment of which they wish to be exempted.

00:09:08:15 - 00:09:35:03 Frank Bruce Robinson: The granting of absolution for sin or misconduct among the early primitive Christians was so common. Saint Cyprian informs us that thousands of reprieves were granted daily, which served as a an indirect license to crime, and thus the doctrine of divine forgiveness, as taught by pagans and Christians, has proven to be demoralizing, and its effects upon society.

00:09:35:05 - 00:09:38:01 Unknown Speaker: I’d like to ask another question, doctor, if you don’t mind.

00:09:38:09 - 00:09:40:10 Frank Bruce Robinson: Well, I certainly don’t mind.

00:09:40:12 - 00:09:55:13 Unknown Speaker: Well, this question also has to do with the discussion I mentioned when I came in. This fellow asked me why you went on the air and talked about these things. He thought it would be just as well. Even though what you say is true, not to publicize it.

00:09:55:16 - 00:10:16:28 Frank Bruce Robinson: Well, I tell you about that and tell you just why I don’t agree with your friend. It is my life’s work to tell the American people the truth concerning orthodox religious systems. Because when they have seen the fallacy and the paganism of these systems, they will cast their eyes somewhere else for a conception of God, which is true.

00:10:17:06 - 00:10:47:28 Frank Bruce Robinson: And that’s the important thing. It isn’t that I am principally concerned with exposing Orthodox beliefs simply for that end in itself. Not at all. I want to show that these beliefs are untrue, because if they are, then the truth must lie somewhere else, not in meaningless, obscure, contradictory dogma and pagan creeds, but in something alive and powerful and ever present, something which people can apply in their daily lives.

00:10:48:01 - 00:11:03:20 Unknown Speaker: Well, Doctor Robinson, that surely is a very commendable purpose, and I wish we had more time to continue this little talk. But I see by the clock there that we have only a few more minutes left, and I would like to hear that organ selection. I missed because of my being late.

00:11:03:22 - 00:11:09:19 Frank Bruce Robinson: Well, I guess that can be arranged. The suppose I play remembrance by death and.

00:11:09:24 - 00:11:29:06 Unknown Speaker: That will suit me perfectly.

00:11:29:08 - 00:12:01:08 Unknown To.

00:12:01:10 - 00:13:24:07 Unknown Give you.

00:13:24:09 - 00:13:45:13 Unknown Speaker: Doesn’t it seem to you that these little informal discussions by Doctor Robinson are always too short? It seems the hands of the clock simply raise around the dial. So instead of being satisfied with only a fragment of Doctor Robinson’s message, why not get the complete outline? Doctor Robinson will send it to you gladly, without charge, without obligating you in any way.

00:13:45:15 - 00:14:09:19 Unknown Speaker: All you have to do is write to him and say, please send me the free outline of psychiatry. It will be mailed to you at once. Address your letter to doctor Frank Robinson. Care of the station to which you are listening, or directly to Doctor Robinson’s home in Moscow, Idaho. If you do write to Moscow, Idaho, be sure to include the words Radio Department in the address.

00:14:09:22 - 00:14:32:01 Unknown Speaker: We return your now to your local announcer, who will tell you when and at what time. Doctor Robinson will be on the air again.