(7 minute read)

(From the previous post): The Gnostics would be labeled heretics. Yet, they were instrumental in the development of orthodox theology in the Christian church. This was particularly true about the question of good and evil. The Gnostics believed that the world was materially evil. They thought much of it was to be avoided. The apologetic leaders reacted by defining the goodness in the world created by God. Eventually, they also defined the doctrine of the Devil.

• The Devil was created by God and is inferior to Him
• The Devil’s power is fleeting and his knowledge is limited
• The Devil is the tempter of Adam and Eve and Jesus
• The Devil’s kingdom is already broken AND will be broken again(?)
• The Devil’s punishment has already begun but not yet complete

For more than 2,000 years, this belief about evil and the ruler of hell has been universal. It is found in all Christian denominations.

Conclusion

The purpose of creating myths is to offer narratives about truth that are easy to understand. These narratives are meant to be memorable. They convey a truth or value of a culture. Aesop’s fable (myth) of the tortoise and the hare is one of those stories most of us are familiar with. “Stay the course, slow and steady wins the race,” is the truth or value the reader learns.

The problem with reconciling truths is that they were never aligned with the Christian afterlife myths. These myths were not created to explain human universal truths. Instead, we are left with something equivalent to centuries of layered “pretzel logic.” To justify a set of beliefs based on a system of rewards and punishments explanations were strained at best.

Does any of it make sense given what we know about the world we are living in? Is the human brain naturally set to still believe in things we can’t see? Does this belief take precedence over what we can see?

Other than to admonish Christians to live a life doing no harm to others, what possible universal truths exist about the myth of Satan and Hell? The answer is none because these were mechanisms not meant to work like typical myths. These are fabrications made up out of thin air. Their purpose is to justify the creation of an unseen world and its creatures. These entities do not exist for any purpose other than to scare the bejesus out of people.

To be Christian means that one is willing to believe in an unseen world. In this world, an unseen cosmic battle continues to rage. This battle involves unseen forces of good and evil. To this day Christians of every persuasion invoke Satan as the great manipulator. They use this concept for mainly non-believers and heretics and whomever they perceive as their enemies, .

How modern Christianity arrived and uses this information took centuries of cultivation. According to the Christian faith, Satan’s basic role is to be an obstructionist to whatever is God’s will. The Christian Satan is not merely an emissary sent by God to stop us from misbehaving. He is a full-fledged unseen but “real” entity. He is an angel of the highest order. He leads a past, present, and future rebellion against God and his chosen ones.

If the survey numbers are correct then there can only be one conclusion. People are really buying into this.

Of course what adds to the delusion is that, once again, there is a multitude of mistranslations. There are also many misinterpretations from the Hebrew Scriptures to the Greek Septuagint and then to the Latin Vulgate.

There is a common mistranslation that literalists love to point to, Isaiah 14:12-15. In this passage, the author tells the tale of a great fallen earthly prince. The fallen prince, according to literalists, is actually a veiled description of Lucifer, as translated from the Latin. Satan is an angel who led a rebellion against God. He was thrown to the earth as punishment and now rules the underworld known as hell. But that is an assumption. It is based on looking through the lens of Dante’s Inferno and the 17th century CE John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

In Paradise Lost, Milton details the epic battle between Satan and God to control the destiny of man. The poem details the battle between good and evil fought across the “three realms” of heaven, hell, and earth.

Many might struggle to see the connection between Lost and the modern perception of Satan and hell. However, one reading of it is enough to see the similarities.

Like Inferno, not one of Milton’s Lost imagery is sourced from scriptures either. Ask any Christian today to describe the afterlife and they will unwittingly describe Dante and Milton’s work. They have become embedded not only in Christianity but Western thought as if they were one with scriptures. But they are not. They to do this through misinterpretations of Hebrew Scriptures by looking at them through the lens of Dante and Milton.

The Christian sect of Judaism made its split from the faith. They did so with a religion that was yet to be completed. The only evidence we are left with are the writings of that first century church. When we closely inspect those them, we believe that their daily hope was for Jesus’ imminent return as the Christ. They hoped he would bring God’s heavenly kingdom to earth.

As time waned so did the hope of seeing this new kingdom. Hope gave way to reality. The founders of the new religion faced death before tasting heavenly victory on earth.

“What happened to those that passed on ahead of us? What will happen to us should we see death before obtaining eternal life?” …was now the pressing question. The Christian myths needed to be broadened to include answers to these and more.

The expanding myths of the afterlife include heaven and hell began centuries later. Countless “theologians” altered these myths. As a result, God and Satan, as well as angels and demons, emerged.

The impact of these myths are still felt in the Western world to this very day. How much of an impact? Many Americans are leaving their religious affiliations at the doors of mainline denominations. Yet, six out of ten Americans are superstitious enough to believe in the existence of an unseen world and all its inhabitants.

No semi-intellectual teenager or adult would argue the existence and reality of a Santa Clause. Yet, American Christian adult men and women still prefer to stay childlike in their beliefs. They believe in a world that never existed, does not exist now, not ever will exist.

I have searched for the same answers to the questions asked by our ancestors since the beginning of time. This is a topic I don’t approach lightly. It’s not because I am afraid of the consequences of being wrong. You expect that from someone who has grown up in the Christian faith. Growing up identifying as Christian is all I literally know.

The writings found here may be interpreted by some as coming from someone being smug. Others will say he has an axe to grind. Others will label me a heretic and reprobate. I can assure you that I am aware of those allegations and more. Frankly there isn’t anything that anyone can say to me that I haven’t already said to myself a thousand times.

But none of those labels mean I’m wrong.

Those who are not willing to have their faith questioned have stopped visiting these posts a long time ago. They have their own reasons for that decision. Those of you that have stuck with it I’m sure have various reasons for doing so.

I know what it’s like to wake up from the deep sleep of Christian myths. I hope I can help others in their transition.

When the alarm clock goes off at 4 a.m. and you’re finally willing to live in reality, it can be life altering. If your faith and the faith of your fathers doesn’t work anymore, the conclusion changes everything.

But to be awake?

I can promise you there is nothing like it.

Thank you for Reading The Emerging Christian Myths

Sources

• Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan, First Vintage Books, 1995
• Charles Panati, Sacred Origins of Profound Things, Arkana, 1996
• Jeffrey Russell, Satan, Cornell University Press, 1987
• Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, W.H. Freeman and Co., 1997
• Russell Short, Gospel Truth, Riverhead Books, 1997