Science & Materialism Vs. A Religion About Jesus & The Weakness of Both, Part 4

This week we continue our study of Urantia Paper 195 - After Pentecost, which is a succinct summation of the spread of Christianity as a religion about Jesus. Last week we read Section 3: Under the Roman Empire, this week we will tackle Section 4: The European Dark Ages.

This section reveals that "The individual was almost lost before the overshadowing authority, tradition, and dictation of the church." Why does the individual matter? It also states that "A new spiritual menace arose in the creation of a galaxy of “saints” who were assumed to have special influence at the divine courts, and who, therefore, if effectively appealed to, would be able to intercede in man’s behalf before the Gods."  We ponder where authority, tradition, and dictation exist today? Do our media and celebrities provide us with a modern-day galaxy of saints?

This section tells us that, "Christianity was sufficiently socialized and paganized that, while it was impotent to stay the oncoming dark ages, it was the better prepared to survive this long period of moral darkness and spiritual stagnation." We wonder how socialization and paganization prepared Christianity to survive and how the Renaissance was able to dawn amid the authority, tradition, and dictation of the dark ages?

This section also states that Christianity originated out of the unintended transformation of the religion of Jesus into the religion about Jesus, going through "Hellenization, paganization, secularization, institutionalization, intellectual deterioration, spiritual decadence, moral hibernation, threatened extinction, later rejuvenation, fragmentation, and more recent relative rehabilitation." Can we adopt a positive view that turns a “checkered past” into a pedigree?

Please join us for more great study of this remarkable paper!