There’s a civil war in process in these United States, and religious belief is at the heart of it.
Specifically, the evangelical Christian community is split into two factions, and both have been sniping at each other for the past four years. One faction follows the teachings of Jesus Christ, while the other one follows the teachings of Donald J. Christ. The latter asks questions of the patriotism of the former, while the former asks questions of whether the latter are true Christians. It is only a war of words, to be sure, but it has gotten heated on occasions.
One point all evangelicals agree on, however, is that their Jesus was the “son of God” and that he took on human form to redeem humankind from the errors committed in the Garden of Eden story. But is this true? For the past two centuries, biblical scholars have been divided over the question of the existence of Jesus. Was he a real person or a mythical one? As always, we must check the historical record for the answers.
First of all, Christianity was a heretical spin-off of Judaism. The Jews of ancient Israel longed for a Messiah to appear before them and overthrow their oppressors, i.e. the Roman Empire. The Rabbinical Council, the moral authority of Israel, perpetuated this belief in order to maintain its control over the populace; but it took care to reject any candidate put forward, because a candidate who was successful in winning the populace over would have put the Council out of a job. It’s laughable that today’s clergy preach endlessly about the Second Coming of the Son of God while secretly they hope he stays in Heaven and not steal their thunder.
Palestine/Israel was a Roman province two millennia ago, and its people had to obey Roman laws and pay Roman taxes. The nominal head of state was Herod the Great (reigned 37 BCE – 6 CE); but the real power was exercised by the Roman consul, Pontius Pilate, who ruled with an iron fist. The Romans did not tolerate revolution/sedition, either in word or in deed. Anyone who protested Roman rule publicly was summarily executed by crucifixion; and anyone caught taking a body down from a cross without authorization was heavily fined.
There were revolutionaries in Palestine/Israel. They called themselves the “Zealots” and organized during the reign of Herod the Great. Their goal was to return to the glory days of Kings David and Solomon and restore the Temple of Solomon. In 6 CE, they staged a revolt and committed numerous acts of sabotage and assassination against both Roman citizens and any Jews they deemed to be “collaborators.” Naturally, they were labeled as “terrorists” by local and imperial authorities and avoided capture by any means available in order to escape the aforementioned punishment. Their last stand occurred in 73 CE at Masada, where they committed mass suicide rather than being taken prisoner.
Interestingly enough, although the Romans came down hard on political dissent, they took a benign view on religious organizations. As long as a person obeyed the laws and paid his taxes, he was free to worship any god(s) he chose and practice any religious rituals he cared to. The Romans had their own pantheon, of course, but other cults, mostly from the eastern provinces of the Empire, were taken up by Roman soldiers who found them more satisfying psychologically than the tired old gods of Rome. Chief among these was the savior-god cult of the Persian god of light, Mithras, which was to become Christianity’s main rival for the hearts of men.
Some biblical scholars thought that Saul of Tarsus, a.k.a. Paul the Apostle, was a Zealot. Certainly, he persecuted those Jews deemed collaborators before his alleged conversion on the road to Antioch. The Zealots had split into two factions; one preferred direct action while the other advocated subterfuge. I suggest that Paul was persuaded by the subterfuge faction to change his tactics; that was his true conversion. Eventually, he became the leader of that group and its chief propagandist. They decided to form a new religion as a front for their political ambitions. Paul’s letters to the various churches contained coded messages to those in on the secret, directing their activities and raising funds to purchase weapons for the Final Battle against the Romans.
The new religion was a hodge-podge of elements from older religions. The Zealots borrowed heavily from Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, Persia, and even Rome for their doctrines, e.g. the Trinity, the Twelve Apostles, the Eucharist, and, more importantly, a savior-god who died and was resurrected. The savior-god was called the “Christos” (Greek for the “anointed one”) and was passed off as real as any other god. Once the goal of ejecting the Romans from Palestine/Israel, so the plan went, the front group would be abolished.
Unfortunately for the Zealots, the defeat at Masada left no one to reveal the subterfuge for what it really was. Converts to the new religion who were not in on the secret had to muddle on as best they could. Thus, they created churches, and elaborated upon the basic doctrines, and sent missionaries out to preach their gospel to all the world.
Imagine: One of history’s major religions might have been history’s greatest hoax.
To be continued