Often leaders of a religion or movement lose control over its progress and development. When Jesus proclaimed his teachings, he was a Jew. Although he was aware of the revolutionary content of his messages, I doubt he was consciously wishing to create a new religion. He wanted to reform a religion that, in his view, had lost touch with human nature. In other words, he was redefining and refining his own religion, and it is mainly through the influence of myth and interpretation that Christianity as we know it today came into being.

Christianity and the Importance of Myth

Christianity has relied on myth from its very beginning. Now I do not consider myths wrong, misleading, nor a lie. I just claim that myths are not grounded in facts but that they go beyond them, the same way a symbol transcends the object represented.

That said, I doubt Jesus actually believed that he was begotten from the Holy Spirit and his virgin mother. Jesus may have seen himself as the Son of God, but I do not think he took it literally. He claimed that he was speaking with God’s authority, that he was sent by Him, and he called Him his Heavenly Father, but so does everyone else in prayers and we do not necessarily consider ourselves God’s begotten or genetic children.

Although Jesus saw the necessity and the relevance of his own death for humanity, he did not state that his death occurred for and because of our sins. Christianity, in fact, looks at the death of Jesus less as his own sacrifice of life, but rather as a sacrifice on God’s part, giving up His own begotten son. Then again, this argument may be thin as Jesus would be at God’s side after his death, so, in my view, it would be more a reunion than a separation.

The myths around Jesus were created long after his existence, and he had little part or influence on their content. The gospels were based on oral accounts written a long time after the incidents. As any story changes from source to source and over time, so other information may have been added to the retelling of the Gospels.

It is a human tendency to embellish and exaggerate, and this might have been an implicit part of the gospels. Also, one should keep in mind that in order to recruit an unbelieving and suspicious crowd, it worked best to appeal to their imagination and to overemphasize the miraculous aspects of the incidents. As a result, myth must have been added to make the story more appealing but not necessarily more credible.

The Role of Interpretation in the Christian Belief System

Interpretation served as a means of active commentary and an explanation of Christ’s actions. By putting his deeds and his beliefs in perspective, people gained more access to the religion. The actions of St. Paul made this new religion universal and open to everyone, since it became accessible to the Gentiles and was not limited to members of the Jewish population only.

Through the continuous interpretation of events and the establishment of official Christian doctrine, Christianity was born. Yet it seems an inherent contradiction that Jesus who resisted doctrines in the first place should have his teachings framed in dogma.

To what extent does this new Christianity accept the poor and the rejected, such as prostitutes? If all are children of God, then why would the Church separate the believers from the non-believers? And what about redemption, eternal paradise and burning hell? Did Christ subscribe to these views? Did he believe them? Was he, after all, a Christian in the modern sense?

These questions are open to debate. To think about them in a critical manner does not mean that one is not Christian. If Christianity is nothing but given dogma and a regurgitation of what others think and believe, then we can safely claim that Jesus was not a Christian in that respect. If we approach issues with open minds and hearts beyond religious creeds or belief systems, then we are closer to the message of love and acceptance that Jesus wanted to teach us in the first place.