Ever think about forming a religion? Back in the day that was the thing to do. There was no TV, no Internet, no Facebook. Man is a complex creature. One of the things that elevates man above the rest of the animal kingdom is the perception of patterns, either real, or imagined. Two things happened when mankind peered up at the stars. First he perceived patterns, and next, he began to theorize just how those patterns got there.
Everyone knew that spring followed winter, then summer, then winter again. When he first came down out of the trees and began to chase gazelles man understood that said gazelles moved around in an orderly fashion and if he was to eat gazelle on a regular basis he had to be aware of this pattern They got "Who moved my cheese" down to a fine art and didn't wait for the herd to come to them. Later on, when man learned he could cultivate food from the ground the herd lost some of its importance because fruits and nuts would get you through the winter, but suddenly those lights in the sky took on a whole new meaning.
Vegetables didn't grow in the winter. Understanding that winter would end, and spring would follow became paramount, but just exactly when was the question. The length of the day, phases of the moon, and temperature change were all major factors in a great life and death equation. If you plant too soon the plants would not sprout, and too late, they would whither. They knew that as winter abated the days would grow longer, warming the earth. At one point night and day would be equal. Look up in the sky, observe a full moon round about that time, add thirty days for good measure, and it's time to plant. Very important day! Let's just call is Easter or Passover for the sake of argument.
As the plants grew here came the gazelles back. They needed to eat, and would return for food. The clan would be waiting. Meat and potatoes! Wise men who could nail this cycle with accuracy became important in the tribe. And, since they did it by reading the moon and stars logic dictated that whom ever put the moon and stars up there simply must be tight with the wise men of the tribe. Moon and stars, plus a wise man equals Salisbury Steak! We'll call these folks "priests."
This system rocked on for years. Wise men became as or more important than the chief of the tribe by virtue of the need to survive. Now, let's mix in another factor. Just for argument's sake lets visualize a village with cabbage and meat loaf coming out their ears and about ten miles away there's a tribe I'll call the Obamaites. Now, their pencils weren't quite as sharp as the first village so the food was a tad bit scarce. Their wise men weren't all that wise so they resorted to feeding the people bull poo poo instead of Ribeyes. This got old in short order. The chief of this tribe rose in importance. He couldn't raise a watermelon but he sure could make a spear! And he could organize these starving fellows enough to walk that ten miles, stick said spear into someone, and steal the food. Basic rule of nature right there. There are always going to be "haves" and there will always be "have nots." If the "haves" become complacent the "have nots" will always come over the hill and take what they want without benefit of work. A well fed "have not" is never a good thing. They still won't work and now they have ATTITUDE! Let's call that "entitlement." And the bonus feature is the "have nots" will cart off a few of those well fed "have" women, too. Jus saying.
From these humble beginnings you eventually get a well developed church and state. In every society that survived you would have a bunch of wise men, looking to the stars for guidance, and a strong man looking over the hill for "have nots." To make a long story short this eventually boiled down to a place called Rome. Rome had a highly developed culture of cultivation and commerce with the full and certain knowledge that there would always be "have nots" over the next rise that needed their butts kicked. The Romans took it to the next level so instead of waiting for some bunch of starving savages to come storming over the hill they went LOOKING for them, paid butt kicking forward, and called it an empire.
Now, there were other organized civilizations who didn't take this lightly and resisted, not that it did them much good. Like the Greeks. Highly literate, fairly well fed, nice chicks, but in the final analysis Rome stomped a mud hole in them and walked it dry. The Romans had another talent, too. When they stumbled upon aka culture that had a good idea they just stole it, and called it their own. This is important. Remember it. This flock of bikers didn't care which god you prayed too, so long as you prayed, paid, and obeyed.
During their conquest of all they could lay their grubby hands on they stumbled across Israel. The cradle of civilization, and if that's not an oxymoron I'm not a white boy from Austin. The Romans had finally found a bunch of people more savage than they were. And the Jews had everything reversed. In Rome the strong guy ruled the roost, while in Israel the wise guy actually held sway, and the king had to at least tip his crown to them or suffer the consequences, usually the wrath of God, or so it would seem. And, oh yes, they had ONE god. This system may look good on the surface but the end result was Israel getting their butts stomped on a regular basis. That's what developed the Jewish knack for doing business well. They HAD to! If they couldn't get along with whomever was in control at the time they knew they wouldn't get along very long.
After about four hundred years the Jews had patched up the Torah so much it looked like Obamacare on steroids. It took a temple, hundreds of priests (remember those guys?) and a boatload of goats just to keep the house a rocking. Enter Yeshua bar Joseph, we'll call Him Jesus for short. He came out of nowhere and had a formula that would make the Torah work. His only problem was he would make it work for the PEOPLE not the priests. He walked to Jerusalem to present his idea but forgot the sage advice, "Don't go messing with them Jews without no money!" They had ONE down to a science. ONE trip, ONE trial, and ONE cross, which they were more than happy to bribe the Romans into providing.
One thing I forgot to tell you. Jesus had a hit! His message was so universal anybody who heard it could remember it, and they didn't even have to write it down. Along about 70 AD the Romans called in the chips and the Jewish stock market crashed. Matter if fact, it crashed so bad it took the Jews around two thousand years to come back because they weren't quite sure if them bad boys were gone! After the sale of the Temple that little bunch of followers left by Jesus DID begin to write, and boys and girls, they were open for business. Three hundred years after Jesus was killed there were more scrolls than than applicants at the food stamp office. And they were all expounding a different idea of just who, or what Jesus was.
One thing I have to let you know is long about this time Rome was falling apart at the seams. Hey dudes, even the Beatles broke up, ok? They had been into wine, women, and song for a while and frankly the song got old. A man name Constantine came along. No matter what you think about him, old Constantine was a Roman, and he was a politician. He had an empire, if you could call it that, which was embroiled In a civil war to end all civil wars and would end any unity of the empire that was left. His army was not the largest, not the best equipped but Constantine fell on a solution. He looked up in the sky one day and saw a sign. See how we eventually get right back to this? He told his men to paint that sign on their shields and THAT sign would save the day. Well, that, and a pretty slick move at a bridge DID save the day, and to make a long story short he ended up with a condo in Rome.
So, Constantine had his victory, but over what? A crushed economy, an infrastructure that wouldn't allow someone to purchase a loaf of bread without getting robbed, and those nasty old "have nots" still piling up at the border. What to do? Well, you count to ONE! This "Christians" had a semblance of order, but they couldn't really agree on much, had no money, and they were tearing up the message of Jesus much as the Jews had torn up the Torah years before. He had all the leaders of this church meet with him to try to hammer out what the message of Jesus really was. Now, go back to one of our simple rules. Constantine was the strong man, and during this get together he was footing the bill. He didn't care what the end result turned out to be so long as there WAS an end result and he wanted it NOW! He didn't give a flip about the theology so long as it went around in circles. HIS circles!
Voilá, the Catholic Church! Structured, orderly, all tied up with a pretty little bow, kinda like the Roman Empire. Darnedest thing I ever saw. Can you imagine that? A consummate polititian like Constantine imposing his ideas on a bunch of broke preachers? Never saw that one coming did you? He even sent his mother to Jerusalem to scout out historic sites that were to be revered by believers. She didn't have any knowledge of history, or archeology, but her boy WAS running the country so all she had to do was squat and point and sacred locations just popped up out of the ground. She could say some rise was where Jesus was crucified, and even though the locals knew it was really the dump, they were smart enough to keep their mouths shut and paid, prayed, and obeyed.
The Empire would rock along for just about one hundred and fifty more years and the Germans put an end to the whole sorry mess. But, and this is a big but, students, that bunch of preachers now had organization. Even the Vandals and the Visigoths knew when you were in Rome do as the Romans do, and those Romans now had tall hats and a business plan straight from the last great emperor of one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known. And Constantine had left them a blank check. Constantine had taken a Roman beer party and called it Christmas. Remember I told you Romans had no problem with plagiarism? They took a position called emperor and called him the Pope, and they took a sword and called it a cross! And if that's not slick promotion have I got a bridge for you!
Not that there weren't men and women of faith down through the years who held to what Jesus REALLY taught; folks like Joan de Arc, and Martin Luther. Christianity would strive and survive, but it's real survival would be in the hearts and minds of those who had truly assimilated the real message of Jesus. Son of Man or Son of God, that message was profound. Now there is a whole new breed of "have nots" coming over the hill, and if you be real quiet, look up at the stars, and just listen you might just hear the voice of Constantine telling us, "Better paint them shields, boys. There's nothing new under the sun"
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