It’s interesting though, studying some of the predecessors of the Christian doctrine. There are tons of Greek mystery cults wherein initiation rewards its members, but it’s hard to say with what. Some magical engravings describe directions for getting “out of hell” and “into heaven” in the afterlife, some engravings that exist intentionally say the opposite of those directions (counter-magic?); some Tragedies depict the Mysteries absolving blood guilts, which like sin in the Bible can sometimes transfer through generations. Those Tragedies specifically have a lot to say about justice, the truth, and law, and they tend to stay pretty ambivalent.
Oof, all this just to say that it is [i]odd[/i] how widespread doctrine can become. I’m mostly rambling though lmao
Religion is a funny thing and it almost always looks crazy from the outside. Christians are (despite what their martyr complex tells them) currently enjoying a great deal of acceptance and religious dominance and they seem to fall back on that widespread acceptance of their theology to dismiss challenges which expose problematic elements of their theology.
