You may or may not be aware of the diversity and fragmentation which exists in the so-called Christian community worldwide. But likely, you would be startled to learn that, according to the Center for the Study of Christianity, in the year 2014 there were 33,000 such denominations. More startling yet, that same organization reports that in the current year, 2023, the number has risen to an amazing 45,000. Why do you suppose that is? I would ask you to give that question your most serious thought and analysis and see if you can reach a satisfactory conclusion. In addition, I would humbly ask you to share your thoughts with me in the ‘comments’ section at the end of this presentation. In the meantime, I will offer you my observations and conclusions.
In the beginning, as Christianity spread from the Middle East through and along both shores of the Mediterranean Sea, there was no specific ritual associated with it except for Baptism and the agape meal which was intended to mimic Jesus’ last meal. In addition, each settlement had its own bishop who had been consecrated by Paul and later associates. The bishop was the supreme voice and authority about all things religious within his domain.
By the year 325 AD, there were 1800 bishops within the domain of the Roman Empire. Many of those bishops seemed to have a somewhat different understanding of Jesus, and what he said and did. Some of those differences were major prompting squabbles and occasional outright hostilities. In the meantime, the productivity of those squabbling Christians was severely diminished. That caused great concern for Emperor Constantine — both his army and treasury had become severely depleted by recent wars, and he needed all the productivity he could get. Rather than further exhaust them by attempting to settle continual disputed, he had a better idea – make Christianity the official religion of the Empire. Accordingly, he called a council of bishops at Nicaea. That council resulted in the formation of the official Roman Catholic Church which later became the official religion of the Roman Empire enforced by the Roman army.
The Church thus formed was complete with hierarchy of pope, bishops, and priests. Things went fairly smoothly as long as Constantine and his son were in power. However, with the fall of the Roman Empire, that protection was lost and the Pope, who had been essentially the ‘supreme ruler’ of the entire world except for the Far east, suddenly became sequestered in a tiny area known as Vatican City. The official creeds of Christianity were as yet only partially developed. There remained much room for the theology to develop, and that development continues to this day. With the fall of the Roman Empire the protection for the church was lost, heresies were frequent, and there were constant arguments among church authorities about one concept or another. Many of those centered around concepts of the Trinity, and specifically, the Holy Ghost. Others were concerned about the specific purpose of Jesus, and more specifically, about the concept that he died for the forgiveness of sin. It might be noted here that nowhere in the Bible does Jesus make that claim.
As time progressed, a major power struggle developed between the Eastern Church and the Roman Church culminating in the first major split, The Great Schism in the 1,054. Abuse in the Roman Church became so rampant and theological differences so great that eventually, Martin Luther rebelled— Protestantism was born — all hell broke loose. The cat was out of the bag and major branches of Protestantism rapidly developed. Fragmentation was beginning and apparently is still accelerating at an astonishing rate.
The Roman Catholic Church, spreading through sub–Saharan Africa, soon learned that they could get nowhere attempting to dictate specific rituals to the ‘spiritualistic’ Africans so, the Church allowed the Africans to incorporate some of their own rituals into the Catholic liturgy. Furthermore, they allowed them to exercise ‘local control’ rather than control from Rome. The net result was further fragmentation as each tribe had a different slant on things. In the meantime, the protestants missionaries were busy converting many Africans to their way of thinking.
Based on my definition of God’s essence as ‘A Perfect Rational Being’, it is obvious to me that the very foundation of Judaism and its mimicker, the Roman Catholic Church was/is ill-grounded. Moses threatened his people with the wrath of God if they did not obey him. Later the Hierarchy of Judaism devised a scheme which became very lucrative — God must be appeased with perfect offerings which could only be provided by and offered by the High Priest, albeit at an enormous cost to the everyday Jew. Religion became a money-making machine. I am convinced Jesus’ purpose was to ‘liberate’ his people from that scourge of guilt and the financial burden imposed by Judaism –he preached ‘an all-loving’ God who needs no appeasement. The Bible is very careful not to directly disclose why the Jews wanted Jesus dead — one must extrapolate between the lines.
That religion money-machine has continued throughout the centuries. The world is filled with beautiful monstrous edifices built on the backs and meager resources of the masses under the guise of ‘making God happy’. Protestant seminaries are turning out new preachers by the dozens and guess what— each needs a new Church so he/she can ‘make their fortune’, again under the guise of ‘appeasing a wrathful God’. Furthermore, to gain attention and hopefully, constituents, not only a new building is required but also a ‘new denomination’ with a slightly different slant on various religious philosophies. Of course, each of those 45,000 in the world claims to be, either the only, or at least, the best way to heaven.
So, the obvious question would seem to be, why? I believe there are two main reasons. First, not one of them can define the essence of the God of whom they teach and preach. Second, there’s too much money to be lost by acknowledging a singular God who resides in everything. God must remain a wrathful God who demands appeasement — for most Christians, Jesus offered that appeasement, at least partially. Everyone talks about God as though they know what they are saying, but I’m here to tell you that ‘there is a different God for every person’. Without an essential definition, nothing has meaning including God — they all are myths.
I’ve said it ten thousand times before and I’ll say it again. If there is a God, and I believe there is, it is a perfect rational being. Notice I said, “I believe there is”. Absolutely no one can prove the existence of a God. Neither can anyone disprove it — it is simply a matter of faith. However, faith must be based on something tangible. That ‘tangible’ for me is the perfect rationality exhibited by the perfect truth system that exists in this universe. There is no truth in this universe outside that perfect truth system. Then Philosophically, I am justified in accepting the concept of a Perfect Rational Being.
Contrary to all Christian belief, God cannot change nor be changed. God cannot be pleased nor displeased. God cannot be hurt nor helped. God is Perfect love — he must, by his very nature, love (accept) all his creation the way it evolves in ‘perfect fashion’. We humans change, we hurt and help each other, we are pleased and displeased — God is Divine Love. That, my friends, was Jesus’ message to us — they killed him for that heresy.
Now, I’m no dunce. I know that most of you who have read thus far are bowed up in the back like a fighting tomcat, incensed immeasurably by what I have said about your ‘perfect religion’. In fact, many of you might even scorn or avoid me the rest of your lives for belittling your religion so. Just as I, you were taught by your parents and preacher/teachers that adherence to your religion offered the only absolute perfect pathway to heaven — all the other 45,000 were/are dead-wrong. To you, I may be a scoundrel beyond all toleration. Likely, that very picture has been painted for you — the very bulwark of your existence —the very audacity of me to criticize it.
Very few are open-minded enough to engage in meaningful discussion of exploring different concepts of our existence rather than the ‘fairy tales’ we all have been taught as factual for one very specific reason — power, control, and money. Just let the money well dry up and see how much your preacher cares about your salvation. Just observe the world as it stands at this very minute. It is on the brink of total extinction over differences in religious and ideological beliefs — and we all share the blame. Will that condition ever change? Not likely, because until now there has been no pathway to likeminded thinking and understanding — everyone’s God is different.
The God presented to us in the Bible represents the collective imagination of those who dreamed it up. He is a strictly human-like God whose existence and attributes are based on mythology, astrology, and imagination. Without the benefit of one bit of scientific knowledge, that’s all those dreamers had to go on. Of course, as we have seen, without the benefit of an essential definition of that God, everyone is left to conjure up his/her own individual concepts. That is the reason for my justification in saying “there is a different God for each human who has ever lived — and that, my friends, has made ‘all the difference’. With that understanding, like-mindedness among us is a total impossibility. Therefore, peace is a total impossibility.
So, how do we have like-mindedness about God? We must have a heretofore unavailable definition of his Essence.
Throughout the centuries many great minds have pondered that question unsuccessfully. The one essential ingredient missing from them was a knowledge of the basic makeup of the entire universe. None knew that everything in this universe is made of identical perfect particles of energy known collectively as quanta (pl. For quantum). A quantum is the smallest particle of energy with the following characteristics: it cannot be subdivided; there are several varieties with names such as photon, electron, quark etc.; none can be distinguished from its counterparts; each is perfect in both form and function; none can be either created or destroyed by man; and collectively, they represent and contain all truth (knowledge) in this universe; they constitute the ‘perfect truth system’ in this universe.
A few years back, I was fortunate enough to come upon that needed scientific information, and instantly knew that I was able to irrefutably define God’s essence—God is A Perfect rational Being. I can’t prove it, but I accept that those quanta represent the Perfect Rational Being which we call God – they are God.
With that understanding, it is quite obvious that God is in all his creation. God is not the imaginary grizzled old man-like figure sitting somewhere in the sky overlording his creation. God is his creation. God resides in every quantum of his creation; otherwise, it could not be.
That knowledge and understanding would instantly allow us all to become like-minded. Of course, that knowledge and understanding would instantly invalidate all known religions. Will it ever happen? Not in our lifetimes – too much loss of power, control, and money.
If you have not read my books, Wilderness Cry, Peace in Spirituality, and Provocative Catholic, I strongly urge you to do so – hopefully, you would become likeminded with me and others, and spread the word. Those concepts and understandings are mandatory for peace. All my books, including Growing Up in Fancy Farm Kentucky are available from me (handg@comcast.net) autographed and from Amazon-Kindle.
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WILDERNESS CRY by Hilary L Hunt MD 