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Conclusion on the creed of
Christianity
by Brother A. D. AJIJOLA (Bar at Law)
In the following arguments, I have inquired into some of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity; the examination has led to the conclusion that the dogmas of the Trinity, the Divinity of Jesus , the Divine-Son ship, the original sin, Atonement are neither rational nor in conformity with the teachings of Jesus. These dogmas came into being and Ire due to pagan influences. They show that Christianity had departed considerably from the religion of Jesus. Having demolished the alleged basis for these doctrines, it is now left for any Christian in any part of the world to refute any of our arguments on the authority of the Bible
How can one account for the difference between Christianity as preached by Jesus and Modern Christianity? This question can only answered by knowing the influence of St. Paul on Modern Christian doctrines. Since the appearance of St. Paul and his playing a leading role in the moulding of Modern Christianity, the Christian has abandoned the religion of Christ.
What is most essential for the dignity of man and social progress in freedom of thought, the very freedom which the Churches have striven through centuries of religious wars and persecutions to destroy. The progress that Europe and America have made in the fields of science, democratic institutions and social wefare has not been due to Christianity but rather as a consequence of becoming free from the strangle-hold of the Christian Churches.
According to the Christian priests, salvation from Hell depend not so much upon the manner of life people led or the good deeds they performed as upon the faith they had, as Ill as in the words of the Christian minister who changed to be preaching. In the state of ignorance then prevailing among the people this faith was hardly to be distinguished from supernatural fear. The ' Holy Man', from the Pope to an Ikare clergyman was someone to be regarded with aI and often with terror.
On these lines; the Christian Church for centuries kept the laity in subjection. For what end ? the history, when dispassionately studied, shows clearly that the church as an organization failed to use its tremendous influence on the side of justice, honour ,love and compassion. Instead, the hierarchy of the Christian Church of Rome devoted itself consistently to worldly affairs until the Pope became one of the leading political powers of Europe: and the main object of the Roman Catholic communities from the large and opulent monastery to the humble cell of the village priest was to maintain the supremacy of the papacy, claimed as no potentate has ever claimed before: universal dominion over the minds and bodies of mankind. This pursuit of worldly power maintained by the suppression of all who questioned even the least of the Church's actions was soon linked with an even greater crime against mankind-the attitude that Christianity adopted towards the spread of science, that is towards the attempt by inquisitive men to explain natural phenomena. until the seventeenth century men of genius had either to recant what they know about truth and submit to Christianity or be prepared to be tortured to death or imprisoned as the instances of Bruno, Galileo and a host oaf other reveal. The diabolical instruments of torture invented by the Spanish Inquisition and heresy-hunters all over the Christian world have no parallel in the history of mankind !
In no instance did the Christian Church encourage the pursuit of knowledge, save on when some knowledge seemed to support her own pretensions. Therefore, at best , the influence of the Church was static; at the period of the Reformation the priests were offering the people the same 'spiritual' food they had been concocting at the time of Constantine.
The reformation was the result of these faults and follies on the part of the Church. It was partly a political movement and partly a revolt by those who, awakened by their conscience and fresh developments, were dissatisfied with the monstrous growth of abuses sanctioned by Rome. The reaction against Rome was, however, of little benefit to mankind at large, since it produced the long and dreadful religious warfare that so split Europe that any potentate with some personal end to serve could, by taking the name of Protestant or Catholic, obtain a large following of the fanatical, the ignorant or the self-seeking mass of people.
The Renaissance in its ultimate analysis was a severe setback to the temporal power of the degenerate church and as the church wielded political power at that time, it reacted with all the vigour and venom at its command. Consequently, the leaders of the Renaissance become the sworn enemies of the church and soon this movement transformed itself into enmity towards Christianity which culminated in hatred and antagonism against all revealed religions, with the result that today the majority of the population in Europe and America is either agnostic, atheist or existentialist !!!
However. leaving aside the question of Modern Christian doctrines, we must now examine the Bible critically and other aspects of Christianity.
Source : "The Myth of the Cross "
(ICRA)