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Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism384
the prophet, the priest placing the authorship upon God rather than upon
himself, knowing that the people would be more apt to respect and obey
a Divine command than one emanating from a mere man. The advocates of
the intuitional theory hold that the so-called “revelations” really arose from
the conscience and intuition of the prophet, who being a more advanced
man than his people would be apt to sense more clearly the voice of the
spirit, but who would attribute the voice of conscience to God, and who,
accordingly would so give out the message. The intuition of the people
would enable them to see the “rightness” of the so-called Divine message,
and they would accept same with the approval of their consciences. Another
objection raised against the Theory of Revelation is that there are many socalled
revelations, differing materially in detail—each religion having its own
set of revelations, through its own prophets and teachers. It is held that if
God wished to reveal a code of morals to His people, his revelations would
agree, and would be given in such a way that there could be no mistaking
them. It is also held that it is impossible to regard any one of these numerous
revelations as authoritative, owing to the impossibility of selecting any
one from the great number, as each prophet made equally strong claims
that he received the revelation direct from God, and there is no Supreme
Court to pass finally upon the matter. It is also objected to that many of
the things claimed to have been directed by God have no real connection
with morality, but deal with the details of the life of the people, such as
the mode of slaughtering animals; the selection of kinds of food; various
religious ceremonials, etc., which are as strictly enjoined as are the rules of
conduct, and are equally entitled to be regarded as examples of “right and
wrong.” Then, again, there are many things sanctioned in these so-called
revelations that are contrary to our modern conceptions of morality. Divine
commands were given to kill enemies in a most barbarous fashion, which the
law of nations now prohibits, and only savage nations now follow. In such a
case it would seem that the intuition or reason of man has raised a higher
ideal than did God. The same is true of polygamy and slavery, which are not