The Christian religion in its early form is the work and expression of the Christian church. But we cannot say that, speaking of Jesus as an individual man, we know that he explicitly intended to found the Christian church.” Now that we have looked at Christmas and the views of some scholars concerning the status and historicity of Jesus, let us harvest the main fruits of our discourse.
First of all, whatever the historical status of Jesus of Nazareth, it is incontrovertible that Christmas, as it is being celebrated worldwide, has no biblical warrant. It is the crystallisation of superstitious ideas and practices drawn from ancient Rome and other Mediterranean communities that constitute the substance of the Gospels. The Bible does not contain a precise statement of the actual day and month when Jesus was born.
It follows that Christmas celebration is not based on actual historical event. We have noted already how Pope Julius 1 imposed that date on Christendom, although the Jehovah’s Witnesses have consistently refused to mark the birthday of Jesus on December 25, or on any other day, because, according to the sect, he never commanded his followers to celebrate it. A devout Christian is likely to consider it sacrilegious if anyone expresses scepticism about whether Jesus of the Gospels actually lived.
However, Christian dogmatism and sentiments apart, there is no solid evidence to back the claim that he did, or that the narratives in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are historical records of real events. Indeed, there is abundant evidence indicating that Jesus is a composite figure created from the synthesis of ancient Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman mythological traditions, blended with some strand of the messianic tradition in Judaism. These facts, and more, are well known to serious students of the New Testament.
Therefore, as believers celebrate Christmas, they should bear in mind that the event is more of mythology and fantasy than reality. And no matter how blasphemous it might appear to the faithful, they should know that there are good reasons for thinking that Jesus Christ, as depicted in the New Testament, is a myth as well. There might well have been a bohemian Jewish rabbi born around 4 B.C., who taught a form of Judaism different from the conventional version. But all the supernatural attributes and occurrences attributed to Jesus in The Bible were derived from, and are analogous to, superstitions and legends in ancient Mediterranean and Oriental worlds.
Take the story of virgin birth, which is very popular in many antiquated communities. In ancient Egyptian mythology, for instance, the god, Toth, was said to announce the forthcoming birth of a son to the virgin-queen Mautmes. In Persian mythology, Saoshyas, the future savior of mankind and conqueror of death, was miraculously conceived by his virgin-mother from the seed of Zarathustra, who himself was born of a fifteen year old virgin, Dughdova, after the latter had been visited by a shaft of light from the supernatural realm. Indian mythology proclaims that Krishna was born from the rib of a virgin who belonged to the royal line of Devaci. Even Buddha was said to have been born through divine intervention, not through the natural process. It is clear, from the foregoing, that the myth of virgin birth is not unique to Christianity.
We have examined the Christian celebration, Christmas, and concluded that it is not biblical. We have thrown doubt on the historicity of the character named Jesus, indicated that even if there was one, he probably was not born in December 25, and drawn attention to the fact that the miraculous stories in the gospels stories about Jesus also exist in other world religions. The implication of all this is that the historical basis of Christmas celebrations is extremely weak.
Evidently, belief in Jesus, his virgin birth and alleged mission on earth are both mythological and eschatological at the same time. They are mythological because the key events, such as his virgin birth and purported resurrection, are ruled out by science. They are eschatological given the fact that Jesus’ birth is ultimately meaningful because it has a redemptive mission for believers in the so-called judgment or last day when God would judge humankind. For Christians, the significance of Jesus’ birth does not lie in its historicity or in its agreement with the research findings of science. Rather, the “coming of the son of man” is a momentous event in human history since it provides a unique opportunity for humans, especially “the chosen ones,” to be reconciled with God after the Original Sin.
Yet, for an unapologetic unbeliever like me, the Jesus narratives instantiate the futile efforts of humanity to project its fears, hopes, anxieties, dreams and aspirations to an imaginary divine realm where the glaring evils and imperfections in the real world would be eliminated. It is unfortunate that a religion, which ought to help humanity grow spiritually, has become an instrument of deceit, glorification of self-indulgent materialism, and plain fraud. Ordinarily, one would wish that Christianity, and therewith, the Christmas celebrations associated with it, would be consigned to the dustbin of history. Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen any time soon, because religion is an attempts to satisfy, in a grossly inadequate and mostly irrational manner I must say, certain existential needs of humans. Moreover, as long as human beings continue to waste scare resources of the earth in planning to kill each other instead of deploying their incredible cognitive and emotional intelligence to reduce drastically both manmade and existential evils, religion will continue to play an important role in the lives of billions of people globally.
With specific reference to the Nigerian situation, it is obvious that for millions of people, this year’s celebrations would not be as enjoyable as they expected at the beginning of the year. Things are generally difficult, and the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is grappling with the serious challenges of nation building in a stochastic economic environment characterised by dwindling crude oil prices and steady decline in the value of the naira in relation to other currencies such as the dollar, pound sterling and euro.
Fortunately, Nigerians are very resilient people. Despite the hardships, people would eat, drink and make merry during Christmas. In my opinion, however, the best way to celebrate the occasion is for those that have to share with those that do not have. It is silly for one to have too much to drink, too much to eat and even throw away when there are thousands of people who do not have enough to eat and enjoy the festive season. At this time, and always, we should be our brothers’ keepers, in the knowledge that inspite of our differences, we are all members of the same family who need one another to be fully human. Merry Christmas in arrears to everyone. Concluded.
VANGUARD
END
Thought provoking write ups of Dr. Douglas from the days of his Logic classes.
Unapologetic a different thinker