Caodaism A Brief Survey and Refutation

By Richie Cooley

Caodaism is a new religion, organized in Vietnam last century. Today it boasts millions of believers and is officially recognized by the state. What does this religion teach? How does it compare to evangelical Christianity? What lessons may be learned from its popularity?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richie Cooley
• Release date: Oct 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005375386

Richie Cooley

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Caodaism

A Brief Survey and Refutation

by Richie Cooley

Licensed by:

Richie Cooley (2021; edited: May, 2022)

Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 International

Table of Contents

I. Introduction: Fearing Demise

II. An Overview

III. Core Doctrines and Rebuttals

IV. Conclusion: Evangelism versus the Evangel

V. Citations

Before getting started, let’s review a few notes…

Bible Versions…

*Old Testament Scripture is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE® (NASB), copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

*New Testament Scripture is taken from the English Majority Text Version. Translated by Paul Esposito. Copyright © 2011.

Writing Style…

*British spelling is often used, except for the quoted material, which normally employs U.S. spelling.

*Divine pronouns are normally not capitalized, unless they appear that way in Bible versions or other quotes.

*As a general rule, words that appear in brackets within quotes are not found in the original texts, and were added by the translators or are my personal comments, etc.

*Special Note: For the sake of conformity and simplicity, any statement made about the facts of Caodaism are derived from the book, Caodaism: Frequently Asked Questions¹. This book is an official publication and acts as an English catechism of sorts.

I. Introduction: Fearing Demise

An interesting article circulated last week. There is fresh archaeological evidence that Sodom and Gomorrah were indeed destroyed by a heavenly inferno, just as the ancient book of Moses reports…

In the Bible, God was said to have been enraged by the wickedness of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, raining fire and brimstone upon them. Now there seems to be hard evidence that a heavenly event really did happen around that time. The cosmic calamity laid waste to the Jordan River Valley’s northern shore, razing a huge 100-acre city to the ground. It also exterminated other cities and multiple small villages. There would have been no survivors.

The epicenter of Jordan is located at what is today known as Tall el-Hammam. An ancient palace was flattened, along with the perimeter walls and other structures. Detonation occurred about 2.5 miles above the ground. Even at that distance, the blast created a 740 mph shock wave. It would have leveled most of the buildings. None of the 8,000 residents would have survived the initial blast or the rock melting temperatures that followed.

Human remains suggested they had been blown up or incinerated, with extreme disarticulation and fragmentation of bones. We saw evidence for temperatures greater than 2,000 degrees Celsius, says study lead author Professor James Kennett of the University of California at Santa Barbara, in a statement.

An international team also found building materials and pottery shards melted into glass. Mud bricks had heat bubbles. These are all indications of unusually high temperatures,