Religion is a topic that stirs up a rainbow of emotions, yet it is really not impossible to understand why we have it and why it does what it does to people. Some see it for what it is while others accept it as infallible, therefore we have the Atheists and the Theists.
Recently I read a letter in Cayman Net News entitled "Jehovah's Witnesses' bait and switch deception" which, in a nut shell, was based on the organization "updating" its teachings of the "imminent rapture" from 1914 and catapulting it to into more recent times; in other words: Jesus soon come! The writer laments: "Millions of members and non Jehovah's Witnesses family members have put their lives and even their vital health-care on hold, believing in the Watchtower's false "promises" of the imminent rapture." And calling for the deception to stop.
"Jesus is soon coming!" is the crux and mantra of Christian religions and is tied to Capitalism - check the US dollar bill - In God We Trust is not there for decorative reasons.
Lose the mantra and Christianity loses its meaning and hold.
The Jehovah's Witnesses are not the only ones guilty of this catapulting/apologizing for the supposed imminent return of the Christ Jesus.
Another well established organization did the same thing in the 1990's. Their predecessors were certain that 1844, or there about, was the Return of their Lord and Savior. In the 1990's they made an apology for it, took away specific date but still kept the mantra.
How many others have done this I do not know, but one thing is certain, if you read the Bible it plainly states that Jesus' followers were looking for his return in their lifetime, not 2000 or 3000 years later on.
To understand more about Christianity and how it came to be we need to know more about how Christianity came about and why it has evolved into what it has today.
I would refer the interested reader to a short list of books on the topic of Christianity; there are many more references: "101 Myths of the Bible - How Ancient Scribes Invented Biblical History" by Gary Greenberg, President of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York
"The Bible Unearthed - Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts", by I. Finkelstein and N. A. Silberman.
"The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel", by Mark S. Smith "Lost Christianities: The Battle for Scriptures and The Faiths we Never Knew", by Bart D. Erhman Some one once wisely stated that to know your future you need to know your past, this goes as well for religion.
I am in no way condemning any one who wants to believe, because we will believe what we want to believe, but I am a firm believer in not covering up the real truth of any thing good or bad, especially the origins of Christianity - all sides should be available for viewing not hidden or condemned because it goes against the agenda.
C. Hunt Smith
