All non-trivial religions have a core mythos.
While much of the religion may change significantly over time the core mythos stays pretty constant. To find it you need to strip away the trappings, the robes of the priesthood, the ways adherents are supposed to dress, eat, speak, or cut / not cut their hair / beards. Once you remove the institutional structures, the buildings, the rites, the authoritative and disciplinary bodies, the history, the traditions, the embellishments, the finances, and most of the teachings and common misunderstandings, you get back to the central core of the religion.
Understanding the core mythos enables one to understand how the religion understands / views / explains life, the world, the universe, existence, our role within it, and our moral situation. This is true of most philosophies of life, and most long standing institutions too. Even atheistic and scientifically based world views have a central mythos. The core mythos of religions have a significant spiritual element, usually centred around a person and their writings and teachings, or around a set of texts and events.
Christianity is a religion that came into being in the centuries following the death of its central figure, Joshua of Nazareth. Over two millennia it has developed a long history of theological development, traditions, institutions, schisms, persecutions, atrocities, sacrifices, cultures and the rest until it has become a religion of mystifying complexity, misunderstanding, and diversity. No other religion comes close to having as many sects and denominations.
It has been wisely said of Christianity that:
It began as a group of fishermen and others following a largely unknown itinerant teacher around the shores of a lake in Galilee.
From there it moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy,
Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution.
It progressed to Europe, where it became a culture.
And on moving to America it became a business.
To understand Christianity, one needs to strip all that away and understand its core mythos.
Many people have wondered why Christianity came to be the religion with the most adherents globally at the time of writing. Much of the answer lies in its history, and involves politics, wars, geography and culture and many things done in the name of Jesus the Christos, a name Joshua of Nazareth himself never used or heard. He would have been appalled by most of it.
Yet the fact remains that Christianity has also largely survived all this. Despite two millennia of changing cultures, circumstances, technologies, and politics, it still thrives. Despite the horrors of human failings, wars, persecutions, institutional mismanagement, human greed, and endless disagreements and schisms, Christianity continues.
When Joshua of Nazareth died he left behind no writings, no consistent body of teachings, and no institutions or finances. His only followers were a confused bunch of fishermen and others who’d been raised as Jews under Roman occupation in a nowhere kingdom that happened to be on an important trade route. Joshua was the Jewish name that would later be latinised by the Romans as Jesus. In short he left behind no religion, just a confused bunch of followers no longer sure where they stood with Judaism, the temple, the religious, national, or Roman authorities.
Joshua himself was of humble birth, and little fame. We do not know the date of his birth. He is unmentioned in any writings that have survived from his lifetime. The only other man of such a humble background about whom we also know so much is Socrates. We know of Socrates because his student Plato wrote about him. We know of Joshua / Jesus because his followers wrote about him.
And yet the teachings on love of this nobody who somehow came to be the most widely recognised spiritual mystic ever known, are the foundation of two of the greatest religions of the last two millennia. Both Christianity and Islam recognise Jesus as a mystic, a teacher, and a humble devout suffering servant of God / Allah. Abraham, Moses, and Mohammed may be described a prophets and war lords, but Joshua of Nazareth / Jesus led no city, tribe, or nation. Mahatma Buddha may have been born a prince and discarded it, but Jesus was no prince, no war lord, a man of no status.
This hardly seems like a promising beginning for what was to become one of the most influential religions for the latest two millennia of Earth’s history. And we also know that from its very beginnings various authorities tried to stamp out the followers of this nascent religion. Not only the religious and national Jewish authorities, and not only the various religious authorities in several surrounding states, but also the Roman Empire itself, the longest lasting Empire in global history, sought to close down, if necessary with persecution, the followers of Joshua of Nazareth.
And yet - Christianity not only survived, it thrived. In less than four hundred years it went from being illegal and persecuted, to being the central religion of the Roman Empire. And when the Roman Empire collapsed, Christianity continued to spread and gain adherents.
Why?
What’s so special about Christianity?
Leaving all the history, politics, compromises and concessions to convenience and power aside, I suggest it is simply because the Core Christian Mythos is as powerful, flexible, appealing, and credible, as any that has ever been offered in all Mankind’s thousands of attempts to come up with religions, creation myths, and explanations for why things are as they seem to be.
Despite the fact that relatively few people, including all too many Christians, couldn’t even clearly state the core mythos, it is the power of this core mythos that has held Christianity together for two millennia. It has inspired millions to lead better lives. It has inspired uncounted people like Mother Theresa, aka Saint Theresa of Calcutta, to devote their lives to caring for others.
One might have hoped the CK Oracle could have simply included a link at this point. Surely there must be innumerable statements of the Core Christian Mythos described in innumerable books. Surely it’s just a case of picking some important references from The Bible and embellishing them with a little additional clarification. Surely Joshua / Jesus made it clear to his followers. Surely everyone who’s heard of Christianity must know it’s core mythos. Mustn’t they? Don’t they?
Apparently not. And perhaps it’s not so strange either. If you ask a million people to tell you the core beliefs and mythos of the six religions of the world with the largest following, how many people could do it? Celestial Koan can’t. I’m still researching four of them. It’s no easy thing to strip away the peripherals and work out what the central unchanging mythos actually is. Most of those million people wouldn’t even be able to tell you what the six major religions are. It’s no easy thing to encapsulate and describe the core mythos of a religion even when you know well.
Isn’t it covered by things like The Apostle’s Creed?
No. A creed states what the core beliefs are, but it doesn’t give them context. It doesn’t explain the central story and world view that links them together.
And there’s plenty of people, including Christians, disputing whether Satan and Hell even have a place in modern Christianity. They have a central place, but the misunderstanding arises because so many Christians do not understand Satan, Heaven, Hell, or the Core Christian Mythos.
A question was asked on Quora.
Does the devil want to rule the world, or to destroy it?
An atheist predictably responded that neither God nor Satan exists.
God, aka Jehovah, Allah, Brahman, etc., is central to most religions. Satan, aka The Devil, Beelzebub, Lucifer, The Tempter, The Antagonist, etc. is also central to many religions.
When I read it none of the answers was correct for any religion. It seemed that most of the answers came from a Christian orientation, but none of them correctly stated that Satan isn’t interested in either, and why not.
Among the libraries of books written about Christianity, there must surely be some that correctly state the Core Christian Mythos. It’s not particularly arcane of obscure. Despite the many confusions introduced by other interests, ranging from kings wanting their people to know they will go to Hell, a place of torment and flames for ever, if they don’t obey the king, to capitalists wanting to sell us more at Christmas, the mythos does still come through, if you are listening with discerning wisdom. Unfortunately, CK does not know of such a book to serve this purpose. While one can learn much of it from such time tested works as Paradise Lost and Pilgrim’s Progress, and the 66 to 80 odd books of The Bible, most people aren’t going to be able to read such works and discern it as they might from modern writings.
But the wisdom to discern has always been in short supply
So here’s my best attempt to express the Core Christian Mythos. Inadequate perhaps, but the best I can do.
Does the devil want to rule the world, or to destroy it?
The Devil / Satan is not interested in ruling the world or destroying it. Anyone who thinks either has no understanding of Satan’s position or what he is trying to do. Reading Paradise Lost might help. Reading the start of the book of Jobmight help.
Satan is an angel.
Satan was the foremost greatest of all angels, greater than Gabriel or Michael.
Satan was the most magnificent of all the angelic host, the most beloved of God, and God’s most loving and devoted servant.
AND ALL SATAN WANTS TO DO IS GET BACK TO THAT STATE.
Satan wants to please God. Satan doesn’t want to destroy anything, hurt anyone, harm anyone, or displease God.
And Satan is still free to enter Heaven and speak with God at any time.
So what’s the problem? Why is Satan on the wrong side of the fence, and why did a third of the other Angels join him. I mean they’re all angels too. Why would they be so convinced that Satan was right that they would side with him?
What’s the dispute about?
The issue is that God is a god of absolute, unconditional, and eternal love. And he created a special creature - Mankind. The Adam and Eve story can be regarded metaphorically, but the core truth of the story is absolutely foundational to understanding Christianity, and the Christian position on Evil, Free Will, sin, suffering, Heaven etc. You can’t understand the relationship between God and Satan without it.
Mankind is indeed a very special creature, and has God-like potential, but - we fail constantly. We fail to live up to our potential. We fail to love one another or God. We fail to listen to Him or obey Him. God created us as His special creatures and He loves us, but we consistently fail to love Him.
Satan loves God and thinks this isn’t good enough. Satan believes Mankind does not deserve to be so loved. Satan has always loved God and done his absolute best to serve Him. And Satan believes such love and loyalty and good service should be recognised. But God continues to love mankind.
God loves sinful, failing, disobedient, and unloving mankind so much that He is even prepared to send his son Jesus to suffer and be killed by them, just to create a pathway for Mankind to return to God’s love.
Satan thinks this is an obscene cheat. Satan thinks Jesus should never have had to put up with such treatment from men. Satan believes Mankind should love and recognise how wonderful God is, as he does, and damn well get on their knees and obey him. Satan doesn’t think sinners deserve to enter Heaven and dwell eternally with God. Only perfectly loving and obedient beings, like Satan, should be allowed to do that.
In short Satan has a teeny little problem with pride, and a huge, huge, huge problem with love.
Satan thinks love is absolute, eternal …. but NOT unconditional.
Satan thinks that at least to a tiny weeny little extent, love should be earned. Forgiveness is OK, but there should be LIMITS.
And that’s the stumbling block between God and Satan. God loves unconditionally. No matter how wrong, how fallen, how imperfect, how rebellious, how evil, cruel, unkind, unjust, a human is, God still never rejects him, never stops loving him. Satan thinks that is wrong.
Jesus understands God / is God. He was willing to die so that God could be reconciled with every Human Being no matter how badly he (implies she also throughout) has sinned.
Satan hates that God and Jesus have this thing. Satan believes Jesus let God down by failing to insist that Human Beings fall into line or suffer. It’s disrespectful to God. And for God to humble himself and suffer as Jesus did. What Mankind has done is, in Satan’s eyes, unforgivable. God should love Satan more than mankind. And yet - God continues to love His Son and his Human creations more (or so it seems to Satan) than he loves Satan.
Satan made this point forcefully to God. Satan made it clear that he believes God deserves better, to be loved properly, as Satan loves Him, and that God should love those who love him more than these wretched Human Beings.
God disagreed. God continues to love Humans, and Earth is a special creation of His. He cares about it.
And a third of all the angels in Heaven agree that Satan has a valid point. And about half of the rest are inclined to agree, but aren’t quite going to go to the point of rebelling against God.
So, if you like, the whole dispute is about a minor technicality as to whether love actually has to be completely and totally unconditional, or whether there should perhaps be a limit somewhere. A point of no return beyond which someone can no longer be accepted, loved and forgiven. How bad does someone have to be before God will reject him? God’s answer is - I never will. Satan thinks that is unreasonable, in fact, impossible. There Has to be a limit to how far this Wonderful God he loves is prepared to humiliate Himself to accomodate these unworthy Humans (sons of Adam).
Heaven is where God’s Will is perfectly done. You cannot dwell in Heaven unless you absolutely love God, and are absolutely willing to do His Will with joy.
Which has created a stumbling block for Satan. he loves God, yes. But he isn’t in agreement with God about how Human’s should be treated. So -Satan has had to decamp from Heaven along with all the angels who agree with Him.
All Satan wants to do is get back to Heaven. But to do that he either has to acknowledge that he is wrong, and that snivelling sinful Humans should be loved as much as Satan, or … he has to get God to acknowledge that Satan is right and God was wrong.
AND THAT is what it is all about. And if you read Genesis and Job and the temptations of Jesus carefully, you will see that.
When God created Earth and put Humanity (Adam’s line) in charge of taking care of it, Earth was in Heaven - it was a place where God’s Will was perfectly done. It was the Garden of Eden, a place of Paradise, where Adam knew and walked with God every day, and there was no suffering and sin and death.
“Look,” said God to his favourite angel,” isn’t it wonderful? Aren’t Human’s wonderful? I love them so.”
Satan disagreed. “Adam doesn’t love you as I do. Humans don’t do your will because they love you, they simply don’t know anything else. They’ve never been tempted to disobey you. Let me show you.”
So Satan tempted God’s beloved created creature and - yup, Adam (Humanity) decided to do their own thing rather than obeying God.
Which means Earth and Humanity was no longer in Heaven. You can’t be in Heaven if you aren’t doing God’s perfect Will. So there was a separation between God and his precious creation. Earth is now outside Heaven. Sin, separation from God and death are in the world.
And God wants it back. He wants mankind and the Earth back in Heaven.
Satan says you can’t have it. Whatever you say God, mankind and the Earth will never be part of Heaven.
For mankind and Earth to become part of Heaven again God’s Will has to be perfectly done in Earth as it is in Heaven. (Which you may recall is a line Jesus taught his followers to say in their prayers to God every single day).
Satan says - no. No matter how much a man tries to be obedient to you God, when the chips are down and I really apply the screws he will ALWAYS end up being selfish and doing what I tempt him to do. Always. Every single time. no matter who he is. So you either have to admit that mankind and the Earth can never be part of your Kingdom of Heaven, or you have to accept that beings who don’t do your Will can be accepted in Heaven, which really means it’s no longer Heaven and no longer perfect, and God is no longer in charge of Heaven.
And so God gave Satan leave to tempt mankind and prove his point.
And that’s a small part of what the Book of Job is about.
And Satan has succeeded in making every champion God loved sin. Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Sampson, David, Solomon and the fictional Job - kind of etc. etc. At some point when Satan really applies the pressure, they fail. It’s really hard to be perfect. And yet God cannot accept anything less than perfection. God does NOT compromise. Love is unconditional or it is not truly love.
“It’s impossible,” says Satan. “You are an unreasonable God. You demand that your beloved Human created beings obey you perfectly. They can’t. They are imperfect creations and they are not capable of loving and obeying you perfectly. Your laws and expectations are unjust. Your creation is imperfect. You have to let them go, or admit you are wrong and compromise.”
“No,” says God. “My laws are just. I will never compromise. My creations have perfect God potential. No one can abide in Heaven unless they are perfect, love perfectly and unconditionally, and do my perfect Will. It must be so or I am not a perfect God.”
“So how can imperfect mankind ever get back to Heaven?” asks Satan.
“I will send my own Son,” said God. “He will live as a fully Human being. He will have no advantages. yet he will keep my Will and commandments perfectly. He will love me perfectly. He will love God, love others, and love himself, perfectly.”
Hence the beginning of the gospel of Mark. Just read the first two chapters. Jesus - perfect unsinning being accepts the baptism of John for the forgiveness of sins, and takes on the sin of the world. Satan’s response is to immediately tempt him. If he can just get Jesus to do one tiny little selfish thing for his own sake. Any tiny thing. Just feed himself. Just for one moment use his special status as the Son of God to satisfy his human weakness, then Satan wins his case. He has proven that God is unjust, unreasonably demanding, and that Humans are a flawed creation. God cannot reject us for failing to be perfect when no one can be perfect.
But … Jesus resisted all temptations and didn’t fail. He proved it is possible for a Human to be perfect. And he created a path by which sinner can still make it back to Heaven.
Satan doesn’t want to rule the Earth or Destroy it. ALL Satan wants to do is get God to admit that He was wrong. Satan plans to keep the Earth out of the Kingdom of Heaven until God admits He was wrong. If Jesus would have simply acknowledged Satan as ruler then Satan would have gladly given everything back to God. He just needs God to be reasonable, to compromise, to admit He was wrong, and then Satan and his fallen angels can return to Heaven and everything can be harmonious again.
But God is perfect, uncompromising, and right. He will never cease to love us unconditionally. Which is just as well for us.
So Satan continues to tempt. We continue to fail. God continues to love.
But Satan doesn’t want to rule or destroy. He just wants God to admit He was wrong in loving us unconditionally, and expecting us to be perfect and love God as He loves us.