The Way, By Terry Mejdrich
A reader writes: Don’t you believe in God? Don’t you believe in Christianity?
It is impossible to answer either of the questions above as stated. We would have to know, which god? Which Christianity? If we define ‘god’ as a separate entity endowed with creative and supernatural abilities, then by a conservative count, different societies have worshipped over five thousand different gods throughout history. This is certainly an undercount because many different cultures have existed leaving only scant physical traces, some mentioned only in ancient writing, and so undoubtedly many more gods were revered in cultures that are lost to history. This also doesn’t include ancestor worship, wealth (mammon), power, inanimate and living idles, Nature, and others that have served the same purpose as gods for many individuals and groups throughout the ages. People are conditioned to believe (indoctrination) that the particular god they worship is the one true god or gods. But a specific religious belief is not universal, and generally is a consequence of the culture people are a part of. The skeptic is open to, even enthusiastically looking forward to, reviewing objective proof.
Equally opaque is what exactly is Christianity? Many people will say it is a religion that Jesus started 2000 years ago. However Jesus never demanded or even implied that a religion separate from Judaism be founded in his name, never rejected Jewish doctrine, never expected or wanted people to grovel or prostrate themselves before him. Neither he nor any of his original followers ever used the word ‘Christians’ to describe themselves. (The word ‘Christians’ was first used in a derogatory sense by others who mocked them.) Jesus called himself a Jew and his message was humility, love, and support for those in need, but also a campaign against the corrupt nature of the Jewish high priesthood that conspired with Roman occupiers of Israel for their own selfish ends. According to the gospel of Thomas, the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said, was within every person and not a mystical realm somewhere ‘up there’ that you have to jump through institutionalized religious hoops to get to. After Jesus’ death, his brother James (the Just) continued his legacy with the goal of reforming, not completely changing, the Jewish faith. In around 62 AD James was killed by the Jewish high priesthood.
The early followers of Jesus called themselves ‘disciples’ and their movement “The Way.” These dedicated followers compiled at least twenty-five different ‘gospels’ and thousands of opinions and anecdotes about Jesus during the first few centuries AD (CE). They had many different ideas as to who Jesus actually was including a wise moral and mortal teacher, a resurrected prophet, an angel sent from God, God Himself, or a separate divine being apart from all others. No New Testament bible existed until three centuries after Jesus’ death when the Roman emperor Constantine commissioned an official codex from church leaders. Early church fathers rejected nearly all other writing not included in the resulting official manuscript and those who promoted the ‘false teachings’ were stripped of their influence, excommunicated, and exiled. When the Roman army destroyed Israel in 70 AD, the center of the Jesus movement in Jerusalem, called the ‘Mother Church’, was decimated. The movement then shifted to Roman Empire under the control of Roman citizens—ironically the same Roman Empire that had killed Jesus and decimated the Jewish people. Over time, an emerging all male clergy rejected and did their best to destroy all gospels but four. As the movement gained power, the focus of those with influence shifted from individual spiritual awakening to creating and protecting a dominating and unquestioned institution with a hierarchy of male bishops and with a leader who claimed spiritual infallibility.
Evolving out of tumultuous arguments and Christian-against-Christian 'holy' wars, there are thousands of different flavors and interpretations of ‘Christianity’ today, most claiming to have the inside track on the mind and intentions of their God. Many are different enough to have been the cause of centuries of bloody warfare and millions of human deaths based on the gulf between them. Some people reading this may remember when it was considered a sin to venture into a Christian church denomination other than your own. Today we have the Roman Catholics, Orthodox, the new ‘liberal’ churches, various branches of Protestant, the evangelicals, the megachurches, Mormons, hundreds of cult followings. Some seek to be inclusive; others are more like exclusive cults with elaborate initiation rites. Some encourage humility and social justice; some are merely a catalyst for haughtiness. Some preach the ‘prosperity gospel’, a convenient and effective way for ministers to siphon money off of trusting believers for their own personal gain. Then you have the new Christian Nationalists who believe they can facilitate the return of Jesus through violent means, and who fail to comprehend the irony. You have those, including Christian Nationalists, who believe they can bring about the coming of the ‘end times’ by ‘fulfilling prophecy’ and only those who believe as they do will be spared the coming torment by escaping ‘up’ to heaven via the ‘rapture’, even though the rapture was never preached until the 1800s and only by a marginal few and gained popularity in the U.S. mostly through fictional novels. Yet, every one of the promoters of those differing opinions are confident of their certainty.
So pardon my confusion. Logically, if the message of Christianity was a clear and concise and important statement from an inerrant and infallible divine source rather than one fashioned by agenda-driven fallible men two thousand years ago, one would think there would not be thousands of divisions and viewpoints, no holy wars, no ambiguity, no intolerance or bigotry or misogyny within its ranks.
The gospel of Mary Magdalene and the gospel of Thomas, that honor the contribution of women and emphasize Jesus as a wise teacher and encourage inner reflection rather than fealty to an institution, were rejected at the creation of the official New Testament codex and even well before because they did not fit into the mold of the institutionalized authoritarian-driven religion the early church fathers were determined to create. But the lost gospels didn’t fade away entirely, so a spiritualist might conclude the ancient texts have resurfaced just as some progressive voices in society are ready to receive them.
It is impossible to answer either of the questions above as stated. We would have to know, which god? Which Christianity? If we define ‘god’ as a separate entity endowed with creative and supernatural abilities, then by a conservative count, different societies have worshipped over five thousand different gods throughout history. This is certainly an undercount because many different cultures have existed leaving only scant physical traces, some mentioned only in ancient writing, and so undoubtedly many more gods were revered in cultures that are lost to history. This also doesn’t include ancestor worship, wealth (mammon), power, inanimate and living idles, Nature, and others that have served the same purpose as gods for many individuals and groups throughout the ages. People are conditioned to believe (indoctrination) that the particular god they worship is the one true god or gods. But a specific religious belief is not universal, and generally is a consequence of the culture people are a part of. The skeptic is open to, even enthusiastically looking forward to, reviewing objective proof.
Equally opaque is what exactly is Christianity? Many people will say it is a religion that Jesus started 2000 years ago. However Jesus never demanded or even implied that a religion separate from Judaism be founded in his name, never rejected Jewish doctrine, never expected or wanted people to grovel or prostrate themselves before him. Neither he nor any of his original followers ever used the word ‘Christians’ to describe themselves. (The word ‘Christians’ was first used in a derogatory sense by others who mocked them.) Jesus called himself a Jew and his message was humility, love, and support for those in need, but also a campaign against the corrupt nature of the Jewish high priesthood that conspired with Roman occupiers of Israel for their own selfish ends. According to the gospel of Thomas, the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said, was within every person and not a mystical realm somewhere ‘up there’ that you have to jump through institutionalized religious hoops to get to. After Jesus’ death, his brother James (the Just) continued his legacy with the goal of reforming, not completely changing, the Jewish faith. In around 62 AD James was killed by the Jewish high priesthood.
The early followers of Jesus called themselves ‘disciples’ and their movement “The Way.” These dedicated followers compiled at least twenty-five different ‘gospels’ and thousands of opinions and anecdotes about Jesus during the first few centuries AD (CE). They had many different ideas as to who Jesus actually was including a wise moral and mortal teacher, a resurrected prophet, an angel sent from God, God Himself, or a separate divine being apart from all others. No New Testament bible existed until three centuries after Jesus’ death when the Roman emperor Constantine commissioned an official codex from church leaders. Early church fathers rejected nearly all other writing not included in the resulting official manuscript and those who promoted the ‘false teachings’ were stripped of their influence, excommunicated, and exiled. When the Roman army destroyed Israel in 70 AD, the center of the Jesus movement in Jerusalem, called the ‘Mother Church’, was decimated. The movement then shifted to Roman Empire under the control of Roman citizens—ironically the same Roman Empire that had killed Jesus and decimated the Jewish people. Over time, an emerging all male clergy rejected and did their best to destroy all gospels but four. As the movement gained power, the focus of those with influence shifted from individual spiritual awakening to creating and protecting a dominating and unquestioned institution with a hierarchy of male bishops and with a leader who claimed spiritual infallibility.
Evolving out of tumultuous arguments and Christian-against-Christian 'holy' wars, there are thousands of different flavors and interpretations of ‘Christianity’ today, most claiming to have the inside track on the mind and intentions of their God. Many are different enough to have been the cause of centuries of bloody warfare and millions of human deaths based on the gulf between them. Some people reading this may remember when it was considered a sin to venture into a Christian church denomination other than your own. Today we have the Roman Catholics, Orthodox, the new ‘liberal’ churches, various branches of Protestant, the evangelicals, the megachurches, Mormons, hundreds of cult followings. Some seek to be inclusive; others are more like exclusive cults with elaborate initiation rites. Some encourage humility and social justice; some are merely a catalyst for haughtiness. Some preach the ‘prosperity gospel’, a convenient and effective way for ministers to siphon money off of trusting believers for their own personal gain. Then you have the new Christian Nationalists who believe they can facilitate the return of Jesus through violent means, and who fail to comprehend the irony. You have those, including Christian Nationalists, who believe they can bring about the coming of the ‘end times’ by ‘fulfilling prophecy’ and only those who believe as they do will be spared the coming torment by escaping ‘up’ to heaven via the ‘rapture’, even though the rapture was never preached until the 1800s and only by a marginal few and gained popularity in the U.S. mostly through fictional novels. Yet, every one of the promoters of those differing opinions are confident of their certainty.
So pardon my confusion. Logically, if the message of Christianity was a clear and concise and important statement from an inerrant and infallible divine source rather than one fashioned by agenda-driven fallible men two thousand years ago, one would think there would not be thousands of divisions and viewpoints, no holy wars, no ambiguity, no intolerance or bigotry or misogyny within its ranks.
The gospel of Mary Magdalene and the gospel of Thomas, that honor the contribution of women and emphasize Jesus as a wise teacher and encourage inner reflection rather than fealty to an institution, were rejected at the creation of the official New Testament codex and even well before because they did not fit into the mold of the institutionalized authoritarian-driven religion the early church fathers were determined to create. But the lost gospels didn’t fade away entirely, so a spiritualist might conclude the ancient texts have resurfaced just as some progressive voices in society are ready to receive them.
61-69, M
