Man-made God

Man-made God Featured

Lito Monico Lorenzana
LML Polettiques
14 December 2023
Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS
Fourth of a series

OUR second hypothesis demonstrated that the stories depicted in the Abrahamic religions are not originals, plagiarized from even more ancient epics, man-made, not deity-inspired, implying that religion itself is man-made. Which brings the consequential conclusion that man created God — not the other way around (The Manila Times, Nov. 22 and 29, Dec. 6, 2023).

This column dwells on Christian dogmas as the author is Catholic by accident of birth. Spain brought the sword and the faith to the Philippines, and therefore, Ang Panginoon is revered — the one true God! This conversation will unavoidably touch the other two Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Islam. If this columnist had been born to parents in Jolo, Sulu, chances are that I would be of the Islamic faith and submit myself to Allah (SWT), the one true God! And if born of Jewish parents, I would profess the Jewish faith and worship Yahweh, the one true God!

Part 4 of this series is a scrutiny of scriptures, particularly the Gospels. It may be noted that the New Testament is a derivative of the Old Testament from the Tanakh, comprising revelations through the laws of Moses and the life of Jesus. In the Islamic tradition, the revelations came later to Muhammad, claiming these to be final.

Offhand, this is not an intellectual dissertation on the First Cause or the Supreme Architect of the cosmos or the Maker of all things that are. Thomas Aquinas, who took First Cause as the fundamental premise of all his proofs, will not be dissected here. Cosmological arguments, an assertion that the existence of the universe implies the existence of a first cause, often referred to as God, Yahweh or Allah, require a longer and more focused essay beyond the scope of this column. The question, therefore, "Is there a Higher Power?" will be answered obliquely based on empirical evidence gleaned from these sacred biblical gospels and revelations.

The four canonical gospels

The Christian Bible is composed of several books. But the four gospels in the New Testament written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are its core. The first three are referred to as the "synoptic gospels"; they look at things in a similar way and how their stories are told. Often, these narratives are sequenced with identical syntax and wording. They were written from around AD 65-90, while John wrote his around AD 90-110 — after Jesus' death and resurrection in AD 33.

The Bible has two parts: the Old Testament, written before Christ was born, and the New Testament, all written after his birth. Altogether, there are 66 books. The four gospels, along with other writings, were later compiled into the New Testament. The specific process and individuals involved in its compilation are not fully documented, but it is generally believed to have been a gradual process over several centuries, with early church leaders and councils playing a significant role in determining which writings were included.

Process and politics of canonization

The canonization of the gospels was a complex process and involved formal and informal debates and discussions within the early Christian communities. If one examines the seven ecumenical councils over the centuries, from the first Council of Nicaea, convened by the Christian-converted Roman Emperor Constantine in AD 325, to the second Council of Nicaea in AD 787, four centuries later, hammering out Christian dogmas, one may appreciate the not so subtle politics permeating theological discussions by fallible early bishops of Christendom. As in any assembly of great minds but conflicting views, this first council resulted in the first consensus of Christian doctrine called the Nicene Creed. This resolved disagreements on the divinity of Jesus as "...the Son having been 'begotten' by the Father from his own being, and therefore having no beginning; or else created out of nothing, and therefore having a beginning..." The presbyter Arius, from whom the heretical term "Arianism" comes, lost his case; 250-318 bishops voted against Arius and two of his supporters. The three were banished.

The final form of the New Testament Canon, which includes the four gospels along with other books, was largely settled by the 4th century, with details varying somewhat between different Christian traditions.

Other scriptures

There were other written scriptures aside from the four canonical gospels. There were the scriptures of Judas and of Mary Magdalene which are part of a collection of ancient texts known as the Gnostic Gospels. These were excluded from the Bible for reasons of questionable provenance, authorship and authenticity. But more importantly, they present a different theological perspective compared to the canonical gospels. They contain teachings and beliefs that were considered unorthodox or heretical by the emerging mainstream Christian Church and early Christian communities. The developing orthodox Christian theology in the 3rd and 4th centuries was at odds with these Gnostic Gospels.

The early Church leaders and councils responsible for compiling the New Testament had already made their decisions regarding which texts to include, reinforcing the prevailing theological leanings of the Church fathers. A premium was placed on association with Christ's disciples and apostles when considering inclusion in the canonical gospels. The Gnostic Gospels, save for Mary Magdalene, lacked this apostolic connection. On the other hand, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene presents Mary Magdalene in a prominent role and contains teachings attributed to Jesus; nonetheless, it was not included in the New Testament. Magdalene is a woman and could be the wife of Jesus, which would have been anathema to the male-dominated keepers of the emerging doctrines of Christendom.

The devil is in the details

Richard Dawkins, author of the book "The God Delusion" (Harper Collins Publishers, 2006), posits that "...strong evidence for human [rather than divine] creation can be found in the religious texts that do appear in the Bible. They are full of historical inaccuracies and self-contradictions and are based on faulty source material."

Luke says that Mary and Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth when Roman Emperor Augustus ordered a census. And while a census did indeed occur, it happened in AD 9, long after Jesus was born.

In the Old Testament, the Jewish flight from Egypt is a major biblical event, but there is nary a mention of it in any historical record at that time, suggesting that the Exodus did not happen at all.

The genealogies of Jesus differ. Jesus' lineage is traced through King David's son Solomon in Matthew's and through David's son Nathan in Luke's.

Jesus was crucified on the first day of the Jewish Passover, according to the synoptic gospels; John placed the crucifixion on the day before the Passover.

The four gospels contradict each other in the description of the resurrection, particularly the identity and number of women who visited the empty tomb.

All these seem minor faux pas, but not according to Christopher Hitchens, author of the controversial book "God Is Not Great" (Hachette Book Group USA, 2007): "...the canonical gospels were cherry-picked by the Church to reinforce their view of Jesus' teachings. Such selective inclusion of certain religious texts clearly demonstrates the Bible's man-made design. Far from God creating mankind, it is we who, in fact, created him."000
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