Have you never seen anyone respond to an email or similar message (like a forum post) that way? People insert their response after each section of the post to conveniently (for all parties) address each point. I didn't really know it was going to format the post that way until I did it, honestly. It didn't seem like something worth changing for the above reason.
I don't mind that word, and it brings to mind the point I was trying to make in my original post. People did attempt to go straight to the truth. That's how the spiritual movements that became the religions of the world started out. Enter human "refraction" due to ego, influence of dark forces, what have you, pulling things away from that original truth. The true religion is that perennial philosophy, I believe; therefore, I consider myself a syncretist. I want to know what the spiritual rabble rousers of the ages discovered. Intentional obfuscation aside, I think the truth needs to be sought and discovered by design. It's part of the process of growth--of enlightenment. Having free will, we must choose the light. Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door is opened. That is a prime example of a profound truth to be found in religion. It's not really hidden. It's meaning does require some effort to unravel though. Some people aren't ready for the deep stuff yet, and the exoteric is sufficient for them. It serves a purpose. That is allegedly what Jesus did. He gave an exoteric version to the masses that hinted at more profound truths, and for his disciples he went deeper. Revealing something that someone is not ready for can do more harm than good it's thought. Learning any subject is that way, right? We start with basics and gradually move up to more complex esoteric stuff. If we got the advanced stuff in the beginning, it wouldn't have any meaning to us as we couldn't make sense of it.
I grew up Catholic, went to Catholic school for nine years, was an altar boy, and all that. I butted heads with teachers and nuns when I asked about things that didn't make sense to me. Wasn't hell, but experiencing a mass many years later because I had to attend a funeral, I had many issues with it. I could never go back to that, but still consider myself basically Christian--mystical Christian, if you will. It's been heavily distorted. No doubt about that, but despite that, it has been a good in the world which is why I think it is hated and demonized by evil people to this day. Maybe the hell you experienced was the perfect path of growth for you. Ultimately, that is the purpose that evil serves in the world. It's the adversity that provides us with opportunities for growth.
Ed