The Impact of Jesus on Religion and
Politics
by Abdul H. Manraj
Introduction
Jesus
is probably the most misunderstood religious personality in the history of the
world. He never claimed divinity and was as human as the prophets who preceded
him. From a theological perspective, arguments can be made to support any
religious dogma regardless of which denomination one subscribes to, and
religious texts can be interpreted in any number of ways, some of them quite
nebulous, to bolster a particular argument or belief.
That being the case, this article will
approach the above subject from a historical perspective, and provide some
substantial evidence that is quite irrefutable, using both historical data as
well as sacred texts to defend the postulation regarding Jesus. The information
presented below aims to prove that Jesus was no more than a revered prophet of
God, and his “second coming” is a myth. Jesus confirmed his humanity when he reportedly
said: “I can of mine own self do nothing...”(John 5:30)
Nevertheless, millions (possibly billions) of people in the world today have a
vested interest in the “second coming” of Jesus, the very foundation of their
belief is riding on this prophecy. As such, his elevation to godly status has
some profound implications not only on religion but also on politics, with dire
consequences for the future of all humanity.
The
Status of Jesus
Jesus
was born a Jew, and since he did not preach a new religion or change any laws
(Matthew 5:17), he died as a Jew, supposedly betrayed by his own people, who
(according to the New Testament) said: “…His blood be
on us, and on our children.”(Matthew 27:25) Jesus’ disciples believed that he was
the “Messiah” or “Anointed One.” Other titles applied to Jesus were Prophet and
Rabbi. According to both the Bible
and the Quran (the divine book of Muslims), Jesus came into being through a
miraculous virgin birth, i.e., he was born without the intervention of a human
father. Both religious texts concur that God has the power to make such
miracles happen.
The
two texts differ significantly over Jesus’ status. Whereas the New Testament
elevated Jesus to divinity, the Quran emphasized his humanity, comparing his
creation to that of Adam. Jesus, the son of Mary, delivered the same message as
the prophets before him, i.e., “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one
Lord.”(Deuteronomy 6:4) Neither the word “Trinity” nor this doctrine is
explicitly found in the New Testament. In fact, the ideology developed over
several centuries after the death of Jesus. There are many factors that led to
the outcome of the Trinity concept, some of which will be briefly addressed in
this article.
Pauline
Christianity
It is believed that Jesus was born in Bethlehem,
located in present day Israel. All of the prophets mentioned in the Bible (and
Quran) originated from various areas of the Middle East. Paul, not Jesus, is
primarily responsible for the current Christian creed based on the doctrine of
the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). Saul was a
Jew who reportedly persecuted the early Christians. His name was later changed
to Paul, probably because the name Saul was associated with Judaism. One day on
his way to Damascus, Paul had a vision that resulted in his conversion.
Following this incident, Paul became the most ardent missionary of Christianity.(Noss
466-467) In his book “The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in
History,” Michael Hart lists Muhammad first, followed by Paul, and then Jesus.
Hart proposes that the honor for the spread of Christianity has to be shared
between Paul and Jesus. Apparently Paul won because he wrote more books of the
Bible than any other author, whereas Jesus did not write a single word. It
should also be noted that Paul never even met Jesus.
Since
Jesus did not write any of his teachings, historians are generally in agreement
that the writings that have come down to us in the New Testament have been
amplified with the predispositions of the early Christians, thus displacing the
original teachings of Jesus.(Noss
446) More than three centuries after Jesus was reportedly crucified, there were many
controversies and minutiae surrounding his status. Emperor
Constantine called the first ecumenical council of the Christian church in
ancient Nicaea (now Iznik, Turkey) in
325 CE to resolve the issue. He hoped that a general council would solve the
problem created in the Eastern church by
Arianism, a “heresy” first proposed by Arius of Alexandria, which affirmed that
Jesus was not divine but a created being. The council condemned Arius and
incorporated the non-scriptural word homoousios
(of one substance) into what later became known as the Nicene Creed, signifying
the absolute equality of the Son (Jesus) with the Father (God). Emperor
Constantine then exiled Arius. To differ from the official and final version of this new
theology – which essentially stated that Jesus was God incarnate – was
blasphemy.(“Encyclopedia
Britannica Online”)
Christianity later became
the official religion of the Roman Empire under Theodosius, and there were
attempts at formalization and uniformity within the church regarding the
doctrine of the Trinity. This did not stop the controversy, and there were more
ecumenical council debates between western and eastern Christians for
generations. Western Christian theology eventually dominated. The result was
that Christians, particularly in the East, who disagreed with the newly
mandated doctrine of the Trinity, were ostracized and persecuted. In some
cases, those who rejected the new doctrine were put to death as the concept
eventually took hold.
The Europeans were immersed in
paganism when Jesus was born, and it took about eight centuries before all of
Europe finally accepted Christianity as their creed. During such a lengthy
period, it was only natural that some pagan beliefs and practices were
incorporated into the new religion. For example, December 25th was a
popular Roman holiday that celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of the
resurgence of the sun, which heralded the rebirth of spring and summer. The
birth of the sun became synonymous with the birth of the Son of God, which is
now commonly accepted as Jesus’ birthday. The actual birthday of Jesus cannot
be precisely determined, as Christians did not begin to reckon time before and
after the birth of Jesus until about six centuries after he was born.(Noss
450) Another example of a pre-Christian ritual is the veneration of the
evergreen tree in western and northern Europe, particularly in Germany during
pagan times, so the “Christmas tree” was added to the birthday celebration of
Jesus.
For thousands of years prior to the
birth of Jesus, the Indo-Europeans had developed a tripartite ideology. At the
highest level was a “sky god,” who sees all human activity from his heavenly
abode. The second part of heaven reflected heroic warriors and raiders
supported by a war/thunder god. The third part of this Indo-European belief was
the pursuit of happiness – a universal human trait.(Winn
4-5) This tripartite scheme was prevalent in many aspects of Indo-European
culture, and is evident even today. Examples include many nations’ flags that
are made up of three colors, and governments that are divided into three branches
– executive, legislative, and judicial.
Pre-Christian
Europeans ritually sacrificed humans to their pagan gods.(Winn 45-47)
As the
Europeans gradually started to move away from paganism and adopt their newly
discovered Middle Eastern religion – Christianity – the
idolatrous tradition of human sacrifice blended harmoniously with the new
theology – the sacrifice of God’s only begotten son for the sins of all
humanity. The
tripartite hierarchy that was so embedded in Indo-European culture for
thousands of years played an influential role in the development of a doctrine
based on a triune God, viz., God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit.
Was it a
Crucifixion or Cruci-fiction?
According
to the Bible, Jesus was not the only “Son of God” – there were others as shown
in the verses below (italics mine):
“That the sons of God saw the daughters
of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.”
(Genesis 6: 2)
“There
were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons
of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare
children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
(Genesis 6:4)
“And
thou shalt say unto Pharoah, Thus saith
the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:” (Exodus 4:22)
“I
will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son;
this day have I begotten thee.” (i.e., David – Psalms 2:7)
“They
shall come with weeping, and with supplications, will I lead them: I will cause
them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not
stumble: for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”
(Jeremiah 31:9)
“Which
was the son of Enos, which was the son
of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the Son of God.”
(Luke 3:38)
The
Bible also states that a man can only die once: “And as it is appointed for men
to die once, but after this the judgment.”(Hebrews 9:27) For Jesus to be
resurrected shortly after his death, he would certainly have had to be divine.
The chronology shown in the verses below are hardly any indication that Jesus
died on the cross. According to the New Testament (Matthew 27:45-46), Jesus was
placed on the cross by the 6th hour (around noon), and he (God
incarnate) supposedly cried out: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
He was taken down by the 9th hour (around 3:00pm), only three hours
later. This was rather peculiar, in fact, Pilate marveled that Jesus was dead
already after being on the cross for only three hours.(Mark 15:44) Since it was
Friday and the Jews were anxious to bury Jesus before Saturday – the Sabbath –
his crucifixion and burial were apparently expedited.
None
of Jesus’ faithful disciples were there for him in his time of need, so they
apparently did not witness his death as the New Testament tells us “all his
disciples forsook him and fled.”(Matthew 26:56 and Mark 14:50) Jesus was placed
into a sepulcher hewn out of rock, and a stone rolled unto the door of the sepulcher.(Mark
15:46) Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils (Mark 16:9),
went to visit the tomb to anoint his dead body.(Mark 16:1) This was rather
bizarre given that upon death, rigor mortis and decay starts
immediately.
Anyway,
as it turned out, the stone covering the tomb was moved (Mark 16:4 and Luke
24:2), the sheets that the corpse was wrapped in were unwound and left in the
sepulcher (Luke 24:12 and John 20:5-7), and the body was missing. Mary
Magdalene saw a gardener near the tomb who turned out to be no other than Jesus
in disguise.(John
20:14-16) He initially jested with her about why she was weeping and who she
was looking for. She in turn questioned Jesus (thinking he was a gardener)
about the body and asked if he may have removed it. Jesus followed up by just
uttering her name: “Mary” and she immediately recognized her teacher and
responded: “Rabboni.” The disciples disbelieved
when they heard that Mary Magdalene had seen a live Jesus.(Mark
16:11) In fact, Jesus came and stood in their midst (John 20:19), and they were
terrified and thought they were looking at a spirit.(Luke 24:37) Jesus assured
the disciples: “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me,
and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” He then
proceeded to show them his hands and feet, and asked if they had any meat as he
was hungry. Jesus was offered some fish and honeycomb and he ate in front of
them.(Luke
24:39-43)
All
indications are that Jesus did not die on the cross; the evidence from the New
Testament just doesn’t support it. Why was Mary Magdalene going to anoint a
decomposing corpse? Why was the stone covering the tomb removed and why did
Jesus need his decomposing body (unwrapped from the linen clothes) for his
resurrection? In fact, a sympathizer – Joseph of Arimathaea
– claimed Jesus’ body from Pilate and laid it in the sepulcher that he (Joseph)
owned. He also rolled the stone that covered the door of the sepulcher.(Mark
15:43-46) Why was Jesus so well disguised as a gardener that even Mary
Magdalene did not recognize him? Obviously Jesus was not afraid of dying twice,
he did not want the Jews and Romans to recognize him since he was a condemned
man. Does a “resurrected God” need food? Mary was not looking for a corpse; she
was seeking a live Jesus so she could take him (not it) away.(John
20:15)
Muslims posit that the above concurs with the
Quran which states: “…They slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so
unto them; and those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have
no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for
certain.”(Q4:157) Given that the verses cited from both the New Testament and
Quran suggest that Jesus did not really die on the cross for the sins of all humanity,
should we expect his return? Besides the second coming of Jesus, we should be
expecting another prophet too since the Bible tells us: “Behold, I will send
you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord.(Malachi
4:5)
The
Second Coming of Jesus and Armageddon
Armageddon
is mentioned in the Bible only once: “And he gathered them together into a
place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”(Revelation 16:16) The Book of
Revelation is also known as the Apocalypse of John, and is the last book of the
New Testament. It is the only book in the New Testament that is apocalyptic in
nature.(“Encyclopedia Brittanica
Online”) Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus have been refined into a
terminology known as “The Rapture,” even though the word “rapture” does not
appear anywhere in the Bible. It is difficult to decipher and coherently follow
the chronology of events that will lead to the expected Rapture, since the Book
of Revelation (although attributed to John) seems to be a collection of units
by various unknown authors toward the end of the first century CE. The
“Rapture theory” was developed using books from both the New Testament as well
as the Old Testament, in particular Daniel and Ezekiel. According to the
Rapture theory, an anti-Christ (who represents the Devil) will emerge and rule
the earth, and there will be much tribulation. Jesus, clothed with a
vesture dipped in blood, will descend with armies from
heaven upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his
(Jesus) mouth will be a sharp sword, and with it he will smite the nations, and
he shall rule them with a rod of iron.(Revelation
19:13-15)
Christians
are not the only group expecting the second coming of Jesus; Muslims are also
on the lookout for his return. While the Quran states that Jesus survived the
crucifixion, it says nothing about his second coming – though Jesus’ death is
implied at some later stage in his life.(Q5:117) Muslims supposedly derive the
“second coming of Jesus” theory from sayings attributed to the prophet
Muhammad, documented more than 200 years after his death. It is interesting
that Muhammad, who claimed to be the last of God’s prophets, would have
mentioned Jesus’ return. As Islam spread in the Middle East, the Arabs
generally belonged to two groups: Christians and idolaters. No doubt the
stories about the second coming of Jesus were circulating. Some of the early
Muslims, no less adept at embellishment than their Christian counterparts, took
the same stories and gave them an “Islamic twist.” Christians are expecting
Jesus to return, destroy an anti-Christ, and save a limited number of
Christians who accept him as their savior. The majority of Muslims in the world
today believe that Jesus will return and kill an anti-Christ, and save the
Muslims who will be going through turbulent times under the yoke of this
anti-Christ. At the same time, Jesus will supposedly clear up all of the
confusion over his status, i.e., announce to the world that he (Jesus) is only
human. Besides Jesus, Muslims are also expecting another leader known as “the
Mahdi,” who will appear just before Jesus. This “Mahdi” is the equivalent of
Elijah in the Bible, who is supposed to appear prior to Jesus. There is ongoing
speculation regarding the identity of the anti-Christ, and the search
for this elusive devil continues.
The
concept of Armageddon predates Christianity and Islam. Zarathustra, founder of
Zoroastrianism, was a Persian, who it is believed was the first prophet to preach
monotheism. Estimates of Zarathustra's birth range from 660 BCE to 6,000 BCE.
Zarathustra preached that there was a supreme God (Ahura
Mazda), and an evil spirit (Ahriman). There
was also a serpent king (Zohak) under the
influence of Ahriman. The apocalyptic process is
remarkably similar in Zoroastrianism, a battle foreshadows the end of the
world, then there is a waiting period followed by a second battle that
vanquishes all evil, followed by a peaceful era. Zarathustra’s version of
Armageddon is derived from an even older version in Indo-European myth.(Winn 209-211)
Current
Religious and Political Implications
Many
evangelical preachers today allude to our tumultuous times, and advocate that
the current global situation is ripe for the second coming of Jesus. TV
evangelists reach an estimated 60 million regular viewers (a conservative
figure) in the United States, who (according to a Nielsen survey) believe that
nuclear war is inevitable because the Bible predicts that planet earth will be
destroyed by fire.(Halsell 11) These
Christian evangelists are staunch supporters of Israel. They believe that an
alliance with Israel is imperative so that they can do God’s work, i.e., help
to create a chain of events that is necessary in that region (based on their
interpretation of the scripture) for the second coming of Jesus. These Jews and
Christians are strange bedfellows indeed, given that according to Christian
doctrine, Jews (along with every other non-Christian in the world) are doomed
to damnation unless they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Fundamentalist Christians constitute a sizeable voting block
in the United States, and no sane politician can ignore them. These
fundamentalists exercise considerable sway over the U.S Congress and Executive
Branch.(Halsell
163-167) They also influence U.S foreign policy in the Middle East, pressuring
the U.S government to perform a delicate balancing act. Since evangelists and
their followers believe that peace in the Middle East is against God’s will and
counter
productive to the emergence of an anti-Christ and the
return of Jesus, politicians have to be careful not to appear too much in favor
of peace while at the same time try to prevent a global conflagration from
igniting in that volatile region of the world. There was a recent media report
that one such evangelist – Jack Van Impe – claimed
that the Office of Public Liaison for the White House, and National Security
Advisor Condoleeza
Rice, contacted him for advice regarding the Middle East.
Conclusion
Throughout
history, millions of people have been annihilated due to religious polemic.
God’s prophets all preached a consistent message, essentially for us to do good
works given that we will all be held individually accountable on the Day of
Judgment, based on the universal adage: “as you sow, so shall you reap.” People
continuously engage in rabid arguments and violent conflict over the most
esoteric of religious differences, sometimes even within the same religion,
even though the commonalities among the monotheistic faiths far outweigh the
theological disparities. Jews, Christians, and Muslims – or more precisely
various sects within the three religions – believe that they have exclusive
rights to heaven.
The
majority of Jews, Christians, and Muslims are awaiting a savior: the Jews their
Messiah, and Christians and Muslims the return of Jesus. It is incomprehensible
that the gentle and peaceful Jesus, who reportedly said: “Blessed are the
peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9), and
who advised people who are smitten on one cheek to turn the other cheek
(Matthew 5:39 and Luke 6:29), would descend from heaven to save a select group
and eradicate millions of innocent people. The “divinity / second coming of
Jesus” theory may arguably qualify as the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on
mankind, and there is a great danger that the “Rapture” or “Armageddon” could
manifest itself as a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” Although a minority,
hardliners from the three Abrahamic faiths – Jews, Christians, and Muslims –
are trying to create an atmosphere of spiraling violence that could possibly
lead to massive destruction and conflagration on our planet. If they get their
way, there will be no savior on the horizon with a sword protruding from his
mouth (somewhat paradoxical), but hundreds of millions of very disappointed –
and possibly dead – people.
Bibliography
Encyclopedia
Britannica. Encyclopedia
Britannica Premium Service Online: Nov,
2003
Halsell, Grace. Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists
on the Road to Nuclear War. Lawrence
Hill & Company: 1986
Hart,
Michael H. The 100: A Ranking of the
Most Influential Persons in History.
Citadel Trade: Nov, 1992
Noss, David S. A History of the World’s Religions. Prentice Hall: 11th ed. 2003
Pickthall, Mohammed M. The Meaning of the Glorious Koran. Kazi
Publications: 2002
The Bible: Authorized King James Version. Oxford University
Press: 1997
Winn, Shan M. M. Heaven, Heroes, and Happiness: The
Indo-European Roots of Western Ideology.
University Press of America: 1995
Posted December 27,
2003. The above term paper was submitted for a religion class
at George Mason University in the fall semester of 2003.