The foundation of Christianity took what was then known about faith and God to a new level. A man many of us believe to be the Son of God, once walked the earth among a people of faith who were downtrodden by both the occupiers of their country and their own religious leaders.It was a horribly difficult time for a majority of the people. There was no middle class. 95% of the population could not read or write at all and many who could had skills limited to what was absolutely essential for their daily existence--existence being the key word. They obeyed, or suffered. There was no middle of the road to walk that might provide a better life for them and their families. There was no escape. You were either a member of the ruling religious class/sect, or not. A Roman citizen or a servant/slave.
Then, one man preached that He knew a better way. Follow me, He claims, and I will give you salvation. Skeptics abounded, but a few for whatever personal reason, decided He offered them a choice worth trying.
What was His plan? Its foundation was simple. Every man and woman is equal in the “eyes” of God. Therefore, the rulers were wrong and needed to be excised from society. Yet, He understood the impossibility of His mission or ministry (most of what people knew back then fell into one of two categories: commerce or religion).
He also knew that everyone had faith, needed to draw on faith to survive.
As more people followed Him, listening to His words, experiencing acceptance in ways never before available, sharing and nurturing each other, His small original group became a movement. But like anything new, there were detractors within who began to feel threatened. They understood that the authorities would not allow this new movement to prosper and grow. All men and women could not be equals.
At the time, the detractors won, but that time, killing the leader only strengthened to movement. Perhaps, this is where the power that created us all stepped in, and the faith based movement became an indelible religion that grew exponentially, underground at first, until it conquered Rome itself.
The New Testament became the documentation of all that transpired during those early years. And like anything written by men, it too was edited repeatedly until truth, half-truths and untruths blended into a homogenized version of the original oral histories.
The debate rages eternally onward regarding the divinity of the religion’s founder. For me, this is distraction from the message.
All men and woman are equals.
The founder’s purpose was the recreation of society so all of us might live together in peace and harmony. Some might see this as an impossible utopia or a threat to their way of life. The founder did not, nor did His followers.
Unfortunately, by creating religion, the ideals were honed and sculpted to fit the criteria of the men who did the creating, which was empire building. Empires do not get built by a society of equals. It gets built on the backs of the less fortunate, such as the uneducated and superstitious. It is built on their blood and sacrifice so the ruling elite can once again reign supreme.
I do not claim knowledge about, nor do I refute the claim that the founder was divine or if claiming His divinity guarantees afterlife salvation. I do state categorically, that His message has been and still is being ignored, or convoluted, and therefore, it and the religion created around it, may die the slow death of history.
Remember this: All men and women are equals. No exceptions.
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