Godwin Nii Armah-Okine Writes: To My Ghanaian Christian Friends | There Is Nothing Special About YOUR Christianity

For the past year or so since I became somewhat outspoken with my beliefs, I’ve gotten into several arguments with several of my Christian friends. And without fail they all have a certain level of smug superiority about them; we have the right way, and you don’t, it sounds like to me. And PS: you’re going to burn in hell fire

I tolerate that most of the time, because it’s a little sad that they do not see the glaring irony of a loving father sending most of his children to burn in a lake of fire; for ETERNITY. Still, it doesn’t stop me thinking of a way I could get the reasons across for Christianity’s ordinariness in the grand scheme of man’s religious history.

So looking at all the religions man has made up in our history, what makes Christianity special? Nothing, I argue. We have certainly taken it as seriously as nations take the world cup, but the likelihood is that Christianity is just one in a wide expanse of man-made religions, and the reasons for you being one are more fortuitous than anything.

So why is Christianity nothing special?

Man Has Always Had Religion

It’s the oldest social institution, I dare say; though don’t quote me on this one. For Millennia, man has battled many obstacles, and man has always found a way to explain them away.

In the past, when nothing was known about the natural world, it made sense to explain away earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and other massive disasters that occurred arbitrarily and led to massive loss of life as the works of an angry god. We are pattern seeking mammals, the scientists like to say; meaning to us a bad explanation is better than no explanation.

It was always comforting to think there was a deity watching over what was a pretty merciless existence, and to think that we could do something about it, for example, through sacrifice, human or otherwise. That sense of having some say in what would happen to us was very important to us, and why we kept creating gods in our image.

So religion is nothing new, almost every society has had a form of it before. 2,000 years ago, some people built on the supposed works of a Jewish prophet, formed a church, which was lucky enough to get the backing of the Roman Empire at a point. 2,000 years of unimaginable violence later, it is the world’s largest religion.

So Christianity is just one in a very crowded field of religions, it’s just lucky enough to have the most adherents, but that does not make it any more valid, or invalid, than the thousands, probably more, of other belief systems man has made up throughout our history.

History And Geography Is The Only Reason You’re One

One of religion’s biggest flaws, to me at least, is that whether you get a chance to be saved is entirely dependent on who gave birth to you, and where. And considering that they all believe they’re the one way to salvation, they all cannot be right, can they?

Assuming we live in an alternate universe, where the British never decided to colonise the entire world, you would not be a Christian, my friend. You would be sacrificing to Asaase Yaa or whichever deity we also managed to make up in our past, and be hoping you can die an honourable death so you join the ancestors afterwards.

So because the British came here centuries ago, visited unimaginable suffering on us as a people, and left us with the legacy of their religion, all of a sudden we know the best way to heaven? That seems like a horribly contrived, despicable, and atrocious way for God to get people to know about him.

Some parts of Ghana never assimilated the Christianity either. If you had been born in the north you would most likely have been a Muslim, and some people retain their traditional beliefs. If you had been born into any of those houses, you would still be in the schnapps pouring business.

My point should be made by now, I think. The only reason you’re a Christian is because of our horrible history of colonisation, and the house you got born into. Sure there are the exceptions, genuine converts and the like, but those are too few to make any sort of meaningful impact on this analysis.

So the Indians are Hindu, Saudis are Muslim, Tibetans are Buddhists, and the British are, or rather were, Christian. It’s a mostly secular state now, but they’re the only reason you’re a Christian, my friend.

I guess I can’t begrudge your geographic serendipity giving you such bold confidence.

It’s So Obviously Made Up

This is an old point, the one Mzbel made that people wanted to chew her alive for; but it does not make it any less true. Christianity is so obviously a mash up of religious myths and legends of the time, though I guess it’s a little digging that can get you there, and if there’s one thing my country people hate its research of any kind.

Most of the elements in the Jesus story were tropes that had been used in religious myths for thousands of years before Christ. The special prophet, whose birth was foretold, son of God, born of a virgin, had followers, performed miracles, tempted by the devil, wrongfully executed, rose on the third day. Etc. These were all done to death by the religions predating first century Palestine, and the gospel authors tapped into that rich history to create the legend of Jesus.

It’s like if I was writing a story now; I’d borrow from Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Jane Austen; all the great authors of prose, drama, and poetry in the rich history of literature.

It’s all available on the internet, just one click away if you’re genuinely interested in knowledge. This article is a start, there is one linked within that one which goes into more detail. But best of all, Google can tell you anything you want to know.

You cannot blame them, the gospel writers, they did what any good author would do; but we can blame those 2000 years later who still decide to hold their words as divinely inspired truths.

So the next time I get a condescending look or statement from a Christian friend, they would find this article of mine in their inbox the next day. If you read it with an open mind, I doubt it; but if you should, you’ll probably see, as I do, that Christianity is just another of man’s attempts to explain the unknowable. Remarkably well done, which should explain its longevity, but no more true or false than the millions that have already predated it.

I rest my case.