Societies in which a large percentage of people have called themselves Christians, have experienced the benefit of having a much higher percentage of people in these societies who have known how far their society is from the way that Our Creator wants all human societies to be. This has led to a creative tension in these societies, which has led to almost constant change, and to ever-present reform movements in these societies. It is always popular to call for change in societies in which a large percentage of people call themselves Christians. And it always will be popular to call for change in these societies, unless someday these societies become societies that support people who are trying to follow Jesus’ commands. In other societies the belief that Our Creator always wants all human societies to be radically different from the societies that currently exist in our world, is much less widespread. Societies in which a large percentage of people call themselves Christians, have benefited greatly from the almost constant change, and from the ever-present reform movements that these societies have experienced. For example this is the primary cause of the great technical advantages that these societies have enjoyed. The almost constant change that has occurred in these societies, has included an almost constant search for more effective technologies. One recent popular analysis of the causes of technical advantages in different societies, tries to attribute the vast majority of technical advantages, to conditions that are more favorable for the development of agriculture. This analysis does seem to explain the technical advantages of societies with conditions that are more favorable for the development of agriculture, over other societies. But it does nothing to explain the great technical advantages of some societies with conditions that are more favorable for the development of agriculture, over other societies with conditions that are more favorable for the development of agriculture.
The almost constant change and almost constant striving for something better, that characterizes societies in which a large percentage of people call themselves Christians, is considered a form of insanity by our modern mental health profession. This is so because to people who work in our modern mental health profession, this striving seems to come from a mental state in which a person can never be satisfied. This seems to be true to these people because to them the way that Jesus tells us Our Creator wants us to live, seems impossible for human beings to attain. So to make their choice not to strive to attain these standards, seem more acceptable, these people do everything they can do to marginalize anyone who does strive to meet these standards. These people correctly note that it is very abnormal for a human being to try to live as Jesus tells us to live. But instead of seeing that in this instance, striving for a difficult goal, is something that we all should do, these people try to punish anyone who by continuing to strive for this difficult goal, makes them look bad.
Our goal should always be to live as Our Creator wants us to live, both because we owe our existence to Our Creator, and because we want to receive rewards from Our Creator, and avoid punishments from Our Creator. This is why Jesus tells us what Our Creator wants us to do. If there is anything that Jesus did not talk about when He preached on earth, then He and Our Creator do not care what we do in that area. Until we try to live as Jesus teaches us to live, We will still suffer greatly in ways that are entirely unnecessary, because we will still not receive the rewards that Jesus promises to people who follow Him, and we will still not avoid the punishments that Jesus tells us will come to people who do not follow Him. But those of us who live in societies in which a large percentage of people call themselves Christians, still benefit greatly from Jesus’ teachings. We should try to share this benefit with all people, just as we should also try to share the much greater benefits that will come from trying to follow Jesus. The first thing we must do if we hope to share this benefit, is to be honest about where this benefit come from. Doing this is no aspersion against any religion that currently exists in our world. All religions that currently exist in our world, have done important work to help to prepare the way for Jesus’ teachings, by teaching that Our Creator wants us to do certain things. Some religions tell us this directly, while some religions tell us this by telling us that certain actions will work better for us, than other actions. These religions also teach that each of us was created by the same force that created our world, and if certain actions work better for us, then this must be because Our Creator made our world in such a way that these actions would be rewarded. And this tells us that Our Creator wants us to perform these actions. It is an important step when any person learns that Our Creator wants us to do certain things. Because prior to learning this many people think that Our Creator does not care about what we do, or about what happens in our world. People who believe this do not look for any patterns in our world, and for this reason do a much poorer job of learning about our world. The search for patterns in our world, is a prerequisite for any significant advance in knowledge in any area. This is especially easy to see in the physical sciences. People who expect all events in our world to be random and patternless, seldom discover the patterns that exist in our physical world. What currently existing religions, fail to do, though, is to accurately tell us what it is that Our Creator wants us to do. And this includes the religion that we currently call Christianity. Because most people who call themselves Christians, do not try to follow most of Jesus’ teachings, we must admit that no current religion, tries to promote what Jesus tries to promote. The religion that we currently call Christianity, has brought Jesus’ words to many people, and has, in that regard, helped to promote Jesus’ teachings. But these words have been like a dormant seed that people in this religion have not tried to live by. For this reason it is inaccurate to call this religion Christianity. Instead it should be called, “Printing and distributing the words of Jesus, because someday people may actually want to live by those words”. If we want a one-word name that is accurate, then we will have to invent a new word that has the same meaning as this phrase. Maybe the word Christ-readers, would be a good choice. But the words Christian is inaccurate because it implies that people with this name are actually trying to follow Jesus.
Even doing this, though, has given an advantage to societies in which a large percentage of people have called themselves Christians. And many people think that mentioning this fact is rude to people from other societies. This is untrue for many reasons. The first reason is that it is never rude to try to share a good thing with someone else. To try to keep a good thing away from other people, goes far beyond the harm that would be done by rudeness, and is actually a way of starting a fight with those people. This is a part of the reason that Jesus tells us to “Give to every one who asks of you, and do not ask for anything back from one who takes from you.” (Lk 6:30 (27-36), see also Mt 5:42- 48), and this is also a part of the reason that Jesus says to us, “Sell your possessions and give alms. Provide yourself with wealth that will not grow old, an unfailing treasure that no thief will come near to and that no moth will corrupt.” (Lk 12:33), and is also a part of why Jesus says to a young rich man, “Sell all that you have and give to the poor. It will be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Lk 18:18-25, see also Mt 19:16-24, & Lk 12:33). Every war occurs because some people want something that other people posses, and because those people do not want to share that thing. Any other reasons that people say they fight wars, are just lies that people tell themselves.
Another reason it is not rude to mention that many good things come from Jesus’ teachings, is that most people who call themselves Christians have still benefited so little from Jesus’ teachings, compared to how much any person will benefit from trying to follow Jesus’ teachings, and because for most of human history, the people who benefit most from Jesus’ teachings, will be just as likely to live in any society in our world. One reason for this is that 2,000 years is a tiny period of time when compared to the amount of time for which people will benefit from Jesus’ teachings, in the future. We forget that we are still at the dawn of human history. If we think of the total time that human history will last, as equivalent to a day, then the nearly 2,000 years that have passed since Jesus came to earth, are equivalent to far less than a second. Maybe this is why so few people in our world try to live as Jesus tells us to live. To learn that following Jesus, will always help us more than it will hurt us, is a process that takes many generations, with each generation learning an little bit more, and then passing on what it has learned to the next generation. Now, I believe that our world has finally come to the point at which large numbers of people will start to try to follow Jesus’ teachings, and I believe that we who are alive today are now expected to do this. Jesus says to us, “Whoever has been given much, much will be demanded of that person.” (Lk 12:48). We who are alive today, are the people who are the people to whom much has been given. We have been given innumerable advantages that make it much easier for us to live as Jesus teaches, than it was for people in the past, to live as Jesus teaches. And for this reason much more is demanded of us, than was demanded of people in the past. Maybe Our Creator has not expected most of the people who have called themselves Christians in the past, to be able to follow Jesus. Because less was given to these people, maybe less was demanded of them. People who have called themselves Christians, have preserved Jesus’ words. (Without these people, those of us alive today, would not be able to read or hear what Jesus said). And maybe this is as much as Our Creator expected from these people.
And another reason it is not rude to mention the benefits that have come to societies in which a large percentage of people have called themselves Christians, is that it is important that we all learn from the past, and that the first step toward learning anything, is to see as much of the truth as we can see, about that thing, as we can see. Jesus shows us the truth about what Our Creator wants. This is something that we could not learn on our own. The truth about what human beings have done in the past, is something that we can learn on our own, though, if we will try to be honest and forthright about what has happened in the past.
We show a strong tendency not to do this. One way in which we exhibit this tendency, is by replacing informative names with misleading names. One very disturbing example of this, is the dating system that we use. In creating any system of dating, it is essential that a certain year be chosen as the year 0, and that dates after this year be determined by counting forward, and that dates before this year be determined by counting backwards. Many different years have been chosen in many different dating systems, and the reasons that different people have chosen to use different years, is an important part of history. Until recently the names used in our dating system, told us why people chose the year that was used in our system. Every year after the year zero was followed by the initials A.D., and it was common knowledge that these initials stood for the Latin words “Anno Domini”, and that these words meant “Year of Our Lord”, And every year before the year zero was followed by the initials B.C., and it was common knowledge that these initials stood for the English worlds, “Before Christ”. These initials told us that the year zero was chosen in this system because it is believed to be the year in which Jesus Christ was born. This is an important historical fact, that most young people probably do not know, because in recent times the initials A.D. have been replaced by the initials C.E. (which stand for the English words, “Common Era”), and the Initials B.C. have been replaced by the initials B.C.E.. (and we are told that these initials stand for the words “before common era). The claims that these words make, are simply false. There is no sense in which human history became more interconnected or more common at this date, and this date was not chosen in common by different groups of people in our world. These are the only two meanings that a young person would think of when hearing these terms, and both of these meanings are false. The only true thing that a young person might think about these terms is that they are nonsensical words that mean nothing. We have replaced terms that helped us learn about history, with terms that instead obscure that history. We do not change history by doing this. All that we change is whether or not we know history. We intentionally make it hard for people to learn history, and by doing so, we make those people, more stupid than they would be otherwise.
The only honest way in which we can use new names in our dating system, is to choose a different year zero. And maybe this should be done. The date on which Jesus was born, will still be just as important, whatever name we call it by. And there have also been many other important events in human history, that might be chosen as new year zeros. The first time that people used writing, is one very important date that could be chosen, and so is the first time that people engaged in farming. Both of these dates are uncertain for people alive today, and for this reason would have to be estimates, but archeology tells us approximately when these things happened. Or maybe people would want to use a new year zero is chosen, though, it is foolish for us to injure ourselves by using names that make it harder for us to learn from the past. We might wish to change many of the things that have led to this dating system becoming a worldwide system. The primary reason this happened is because European nations ruled over the rest of the world through a system called colonialism. It is important to remember that this happened, though. And trying to hide from this fact, only makes us more likely to take part in similarly unfair systems of governance in the future. Learning from the past, is something that we desperately need to do. And that need includes learning both from things we are proud of, and from things we are ashamed of. As long as history is true, it is something that we need to learn from. I hate the fact that this dating system, associates Jesus, with colonialism. Colonialism is so antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, that it would be hard to imagine two sets of ideas more different than these two. Still, we should never try to hide from the truth, and the truth is that people who used the terms “Anno Domini”, and “Before Christ”, did create the system that we call colonialism. And though this system had great evil in it, I have no desire to try to hide this fact. One of the most valuable things about Jesus’ teachings, is that these teachings can help evil people become good, if those people will admit their evil, and work hard to transform that evil into good. This is what I hope will happen in the future. But if we try to hide from the past, then this will never happen.
