Christian Innovation

I don’t remember if I had written this before or not, but it came to mind.

Religion, in a simple definition, is a series of techniques and rituals aimed at controlling one or more deities according to the will of humankind.

The power of the gods, real or imaginary, is an obsession for human beings, who consider it a trait of humanity to lack power and look down upon those individuals who attempt to possess such powers.

However, humans have tried to control powers beyond their reach through rituals, prayers, dances, sacrifices, and other techniques.

All religion is based on two principles:

First, the god or gods possess a will, are free to use their power but restrict it to their own desires.

Second, this divine will can be influenced and controlled.

Thus, by influencing the will of the gods, one can control their power.

This idea led to the construction of temples and the design of rituals performed by specialized priests in these techniques, who serve as mediators. A human being who requires the power of a god goes to one of these religious institutions and makes a request to a priest, who will carry out the necessary rituals to bend the power of the gods in favor of the petitioner.

A revolution in this methodology occurred thousands of years ago when the Jews developed pocket rituals. Under the paradigm of a god who sees everything and can read thoughts, they developed rituals that did not require a priest or a temple, but rather some easily transportable items such as a sacred book, prayer beads, and special clothing.

These Jewish rituals became increasingly complex and were integrated into the lifestyle of their followers, making it so few could maintain such a regulated way of life.

In response to this, Christians took this paradigm and simplified the rituals, reintroduced temples and priests, thus creating a new paradigm that was both easy to transport and easy to follow.

And in the end, we have a whole range of religions that claim to be the only ones capable of bending the will of the gods, denying the existence of foreign gods or the effectiveness of rituals from other religions.