Recently I watched a TV program about finding a hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold objects in a field in England just outside of London. They came from the period 300 to 500 AD and appear to be the spoils of war between the Anglo-Saxons and other people living in the area as the Romans pulled out of England and left the country to be taken over by whoever was strongest.
I found it interesting that mention was made of the "Christian" Anglo-Saxons warring with the pagan tribes of England. Besides fighting for the land they wanted, they were fighting a religious war against the pagan gods. They felt, because of what the church had told them about Jesus and the Bible, that they worshiped the one true God. This is evident in almost all of history’s wars, think of the Crusades. These were ignorant people by our modern standards, but they had a powerful idea that they were on the side of the one true God, who was creator and ruler of the world. I say the world because they did not know about the Universe 1600 years ago.
Some Christians today make much about the fact that over time (2,000 years) Christianity has spread all around the world, and many Bishops, Councils, and religious people have continued to build on and explain the faith and beliefs of Christians, so there must be something to it. In fact, most Christians still feel that they worship the one true God who created our world, and because Christianity is the predominate religion of the world is evidence that they are correct in their beliefs.
But the real history tells a much different story. Until about 250 years ago, we had almost no real history of the Christian religion. We had the history that the church wanted us to have, but real history and understanding of what happened and how it happened -- no, we didn't have that. For example many still think the Bible is the actual word of God, and that the four Gospels are recorded history written by eyewitnesses, to give just one small example. And we now have discovered many other Gospels written about Jesus in those ancient times.
Christianity today is a religious system based loosely on what little we know of the life and teachings of the man Jesus. Does this mean that all Christianity is bad or false? Of course not, some of it is very good, and the correct and best way to live your life and treat all other people. Does this disprove the existence of the connection with life and with all other people that we feel but don't yet understand? Of course not, the connection with all life that we feel is real and was built into us by the millions of years of evolution that has resulted in what we now call humans.
What Christianity and the church leave out of their teachings is that evolution, knowledge and understanding has not stopped. We are still evolving, discovering and learning, and we will always evolve into higher and higher forms of life. What will the human race be like in 500 years? 5,000 years? Let alone a million years. Our job is to work together to see that earth lasts that long so humanity can find out.
What Matters Most………..is the understanding that Christians 5,000 years into the future will be nothing like the Christians of today. I seriously doubt if they will still call themselves Christians. People in the year 7010 will have some beliefs, some faith, but if the world lasts that long, they will have a better understanding of the way to relate to one another and the planet, and maybe other planets as well, on which they will live. Think about the year 7010 during this Christmas Season as you go to church instead of letting all your thoughts go back to Bethlehem 2000 years ago. Realize that to grow and change to make the year 7010 possible, we might just need to let our faith and beliefs grow and change along with the times. The man whose birth we celebrate on December 25th challenged the thinking of the people of his generation to a better way of living. Our challenge today is to follow his example and do the same.
© 2010 #22 Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467
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