Christians That Hate Christ

The mocking of Christ, by Carl Bloch

Historically, Judaism has never been a proselytizing religion, that is, it has never been a religion that sought to convert all men so that they could be saved, as is the case with Christianity and Islam, the two great proselytizing religions of the world. There was also a great period of proselytizing in Buddhism, with missionaries being sent from the Indian subcontinent not only to China, but to the far West, even reaching the Hellenistic world. Another religion that sought converts and even rivaled Christianity for a few centuries was the one started by the Persian prophet Mani, who made an amalgam of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Gnosticism and Christianity.

There is indeed conversion to Judaism, but unlike the other religions mentioned, the Jewish religion itself does not seek to convert anyone. This does not imply an exclusivity of salvation, especially since this term does not apply to Judaism in the same way that it applies to Christianity and Islam, for example. Gentiles, that is, non-Jews who live righteous lives and follow the laws of Noah, are considered pious according to Jewish belief. According to Jewish belief, their souls will not be cursed or anything of the sort, on the contrary. Therefore, there is no great need for conversion of men within their theology.

However, if Judaism were to become a proselytizing religion today, it would gain tens of millions of converts in the first few weeks, through millions of Christians who disdain Christ and focus their doctrine almost exclusively on the Old Testament, which they have appropriated to themselves to the point of considering themselves the true Israelites. The ascetic principle, which in addition to being historical among the early Christians is very well founded biblically in Matthew 19:10-12, 1 Corinthians 7 and 1 John 2:15-17, is completely rejected by Christians who hate Christ. They also reject the total primacy of faith in Christ as opposed to the Law of the Demiurge, as attested in Galatians 3:23-25, 1 John 5:19 and 2 Corinthians 4:4. For these Christians, Jesus did nothing more than confirm the most horrendous laws of Leviticus, the most Dantesque events of the Exodus and promise material gains, which is totally contradicted by the biblical Jesus in Luke 12:33 and Matthew 19:21-24.

There is no room in here for a detailed explanation of twenty centuries of development of the Christian religion. A very rough summary will suffice. During the first three centuries after Christ, there was no established orthodoxy and groups with different interpretations considered themselves Christians in the same way and even participated in the same cults. From the second century onwards, with Church Fathers such as Irenaeus of Lyon, groups such as Marcionites and Gnostics began to be condemned, and the Christian orthodoxy began to emerge, which is shared to this day by the four great divisions of Christianity, which are, in order of size: Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy.

Despite the numerous differences that have separated these groups throughout history, all of these denominations are Trinitarian, that is, they consider that there is only one God that exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The differences are largely due to the way each of these large groups interprets the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit; but, again, it's no use going into these differences right now, especially since they seem ridiculous to us today; and I agree that they really are.

But, beyond the aesthetic and theological differences, there is a difference in practice that is quite important: the approval or rejection of the ascetic principle, something that has never been a dogma that everyone should obey, but has always been well regarded in the eyes of the main Christian churches for 1500 years. It is true that none of the major denominations approves asceticism for everyone — something that occurred in Marcionism, Gnosticism, Bogomilism and Catharism — since this would imply the eventual death of all humanity through the refusal of procreation. But there are many ascetics and monks in the Catholic Church, and also in Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. Only one of the major Christian divisions was initially based on a total rejection of the ascetic principle: Protestantism.

And even among Protestants, some groups emerged that emphasized the ascetic principle through the sharing of property, unrestricted solidarity, and total denial of one's own will to live. However, among Protestants, more specifically in North America, deplorable interpretations of the Scriptures also emerged, interpretations that denied even basic principles of the Reformation, such as the refusal to sell indulgences, that is, the selling of salvation by the clergy. The iconoclasm of the Reformation, although supposedly maintained, is also denied, since there is a clear adoration of the aesthetics of luxurious material goods among these Christians. There is no point in complaining about the golden palaces of the popes and cardinals, which also represent a perversion of the Christian message, if the alternative to this is the idea that God rewards his representatives on Earth with mansions, fancy cars, and yachts.

From there, it is only a short step to completely denying the New Testament. This is what we see among some contemporary Christians who treat Paul's epistles as proof that the first Christians broke with the ancient covenant between God and the Israelites, and consider this an error, in an inversion of Marcionism and Gnosticism. While Marcionists and Gnostics defended the God of Jesus and rejected the Demiurge of the Old Testament, some contemporary Christians defend the Demiurge and reject the God of Christ. They want so much to be Jewish, they want Jesus to be just a footnote confirming the Old Testament, that they are willing to throw out practically the entire New Testament and its apostles. They are inverted Gnostics and Marcionists, worshippers of the Demiurge.

What I am writing here is not a criticism of Judaism, which is really a religion that does not advocate asceticism, just like Islam and Zoroastrianism, but a criticism of certain Christians in particular who believe they know more about Judaism than the Jews themselves. It is no wonder that they often run into problems when they travel to 21st century Jerusalem and start preaching on the streets, thinking they will be able to convert the Jews who live there. It is even more bizarre to think that, in historical terms, the eagerness of these Christians to associate themselves with Judaism is very strange, given that the leaders of the Reformation were quite critical of Judaism, starting with Luther, who, in addition to being merely critical of theological issues, was extremely anti-Semitic in his actions.

Nor do I defend the rest of Christianity against Protestantism, because there is little point in preserving the ascetic spirit of self-denial and giving to the suffering for a few practitioners, while maintaining an enormous archaic, dogmatic and oppressive structure for the majority of believers, a structure that values ​​theological purity more than the living experience of Christ's example. Yes, there are friars who go around the world comforting the poor without asking for anything in return. There are monks who deny their will, too. But there is more corruption, abuse and violence. Those who are more like Jesus within these non-Protestant denominations do not absolve them of their evils.

Hence my position that the Reformation was a great missed opportunity from the point of view of a pessimistic religion or philosophy. The ascetic principle is what makes even the least educated among us notice the similarity between figures like the Buddha and the Christ, while also making them realize that Buddha and Christ do not fit well with the other world-affirming prophets. Certain religions and philosophies are more anti-cosmic, that is, they follow the idea of ​​Christ or Buddha, while others are not anti-cosmic at all, that is, they follow the idea of ​​Adam, Moses, Zoroaster and so many other prophets and patriarchs who affirmed the world of becoming.

If we truly want to follow the idea of the Christ or even the idea of the Buddha, we must understand that this world is suffering and it is up to us to meditate on it and our place within it, as well as to treat others as brothers and sisters in suffering, companions in misfortune. To do this, we do not need to believe in anything supernatural, nor in fantastic stories written thousands of years ago, nor in dogmas or theologies, nor in the idea that we will be saved or that there is life after death. We just need to understand that becoming and suffering are synonymous, and that we are all intimately connected to each other by being here in this desperate situation.

by Fernando Olszewski