Greek mythology had a good run of over 2,700 years, with its
believers strongly following the appropriate gods.
The Middle Eastern mythology
of Christianity is trying to make as good of a run as it approaches 2,000 years
of existence.
Christianity may have a more difficult time of matching the Greek’s
longevity however. While Greek mythology just had to convince uneducated
peasants about its validity, Christianity has to go up against an educated
populace as well as modern science.
While in ancient Greece using leeches to treat an illness seemed
like modern science, nowadays we prefer taking aspirin because science has
proven it can help.
How Christianity has made it this far is largely due to adaptability.
For example, in the old days sports were forbidden by Christians with
lawbreakers getting put in stocks or worse. Today, there are church sports
leagues where you are given trophies for winning.
In the past, Christians insisted that no one should go out and buy
a new shirt on Sunday as their god would get upset (Blue laws). Today there are
ads in Christian magazines for fine “Sunday go to meeting” clothes sold in
stores open on Sunday.
Some things may be too difficult for Christianity to adapt to
however. Much of it stems from its rigid belief in their holy book, The Bible.
The Bible itself has a challenge in that it is comprised of
heavily edited chapters taken from a very selective number of early writings.
It’s composed of two books, the Old Testament and the New. The Old is hewed
largely from the early Jewish texts like the Torah and the Talmud as well as
other texts selectively chosen to fit their needs.
The New Testament is very
selective texts written 75-100 years after the Christian deity Jesus died. In
other words, the book is like writing a biography about your great, great,
great granddad based on a few letters you found in your basement.
There are a lot of inaccuracies, even though strict adherents
swear it is perfect. For example, how did Judas die?In Matthew it says he hung himself, in The
Acts it says he fell down (as in on his sword) and his innards spilled out.
Christianity also tries to adapt to our modern world by attempting
to portray itself as a much friendly religion than ancient ones, known for
bloodletting and killing in many forms. However, according to their Bible, it
sure looks like their god is pretty bloodthirsty.
Hard core Christians believe humanity is only about 6,000 years
old. This might be difficult to adapt to as science is pretty adamant that
humans have been around hundreds of thousands years longer.
And then there’s the great stories in the Bible that just seem
difficult to fathom. For example, Noah’s ark? Unicorns? Zombies?
I'm in the center, back row
So the Christianity mythology will have tough sledding in the
years to come, but should make it a little longer as like other mythologies,
they use indoctrination and training to keep it going. Yes, like most American
youths I got to experience this from confirmation classes, to rigid church
attendance. I think that because of this I don’t mind if other people have a
belief in a mythology/religion, but through the years I finally broke free. So
as we approach the pinnacle of Christian celebrations (don’t miss the Thurber
Brigade’s annual Story of Christmas) believe what you want, but please, stop
putting those damn fliers on my car window and knocking on my door at
dinnertime to enlighten me.
