Oh I disagree, all men are equal in the eyes of God is what early Christianity was all about, and it was subverted by the Romans and others. Having that kind of shenanigans in your religion does not lend itself to hierarchical control. The Sermon on the Mount, as an example, is all about equality in the eyes of God. Turning the other cheek does not mean what you, likely, think it means.
The fact is that IN PRACTICE Christianity was never about empowering the masses on a political level or taking down the class structure of ancient times.
You can tell me how the Devine right of kings is a corruption of the intent of the religion, but you don't have the authority to just dictate the "correct" interpretation of the bible, Certainly not more so than the early popes and scholars from long before we were born.
If you're going to tell me their interpretations weren't correct, and you don't accept their authority to decide these matters, then you should understand that also applies to YOUR modern interpretations. You also lack the authority to dictate these things.
So therefore it's completely useless to try and decipher the "correct" meaning from a religion, and it's instead far more useful to study how they were actually implemented IN PRACTICE. Because those practice are what created our modern world.
The fact is throughout most of western history the concept of people being equal before god was looked at as a spiritual matter.
The king was equal to a peasant in the sense that they would both face judgement after they die, they could both be sent to hell, they could both earn a place in heaven, etc...
But this idea that equality before god should translate into the real world and that people should be treated equally by the state is a very modern concept that would have been completely foreign to someone in the middle ages.
Equality under the law, and the idea that people pick their own leaders rather than god picking them are also major shifts that have occurred in the last couple hundred years.
That idea is the result of the declaration of independence, constitution, and ascendency of the USA, not the result of Christian theology.
No one wants to think their way of life (free citizen with the right to vote) is against the will of god, So people in this country who were born within this system went back and re-interpreted what they needed to in order to say that this was actually the correct interpretation of ancient scripture all along.
The truth is the scripture is so vague and cryptic, and says so much on so many subjects that practically anyone can come up with a theological argument to support anything, and have a solid backing in scripture to support those ideas.
If commies win and completely take over the country, Get ready for communist Jesus who told his followers to redistribute all their belongings to the poor to become the new "correct" interpretation of the bible that was there all long, and no one understood it correctly until now.
Without the step of equality before GOD, there would be no equality under the law, or people picking their own leaders. The enlightenment thinkers, and John Locke in particular, took the logical step, and that step was predicated on equality before God. Oh there was democracy of a kind before Christianity. Solon's reforms were a form of democracy, but those reforms were based on practical matters such as giving as many people skin in the game as possible, not a philosophical or spiritual truth.
Oh I disagree, all men are equal in the eyes of God is what early Christianity was all about, and it was subverted by the Romans and others. Having that kind of shenanigans in your religion does not lend itself to hierarchical control. The Sermon on the Mount, as an example, is all about equality in the eyes of God. Turning the other cheek does not mean what you, likely, think it means.
The fact is that IN PRACTICE Christianity was never about empowering the masses on a political level or taking down the class structure of ancient times.
You can tell me how the Devine right of kings is a corruption of the intent of the religion, but you don't have the authority to just dictate the "correct" interpretation of the bible, Certainly not more so than the early popes and scholars from long before we were born.
If you're going to tell me their interpretations weren't correct, and you don't accept their authority to decide these matters, then you should understand that also applies to YOUR modern interpretations. You also lack the authority to dictate these things.
So therefore it's completely useless to try and decipher the "correct" meaning from a religion, and it's instead far more useful to study how they were actually implemented IN PRACTICE. Because those practice are what created our modern world.
The fact is throughout most of western history the concept of people being equal before god was looked at as a spiritual matter.
The king was equal to a peasant in the sense that they would both face judgement after they die, they could both be sent to hell, they could both earn a place in heaven, etc...
But this idea that equality before god should translate into the real world and that people should be treated equally by the state is a very modern concept that would have been completely foreign to someone in the middle ages.
Correct, Christianity only covers equality in God's eyes. That, however, is still a major major shift, particularly in antiquity.
Equality under the law, and the idea that people pick their own leaders rather than god picking them are also major shifts that have occurred in the last couple hundred years.
That idea is the result of the declaration of independence, constitution, and ascendency of the USA, not the result of Christian theology.
No one wants to think their way of life (free citizen with the right to vote) is against the will of god, So people in this country who were born within this system went back and re-interpreted what they needed to in order to say that this was actually the correct interpretation of ancient scripture all along.
The truth is the scripture is so vague and cryptic, and says so much on so many subjects that practically anyone can come up with a theological argument to support anything, and have a solid backing in scripture to support those ideas.
If commies win and completely take over the country, Get ready for communist Jesus who told his followers to redistribute all their belongings to the poor to become the new "correct" interpretation of the bible that was there all long, and no one understood it correctly until now.
Without the step of equality before GOD, there would be no equality under the law, or people picking their own leaders. The enlightenment thinkers, and John Locke in particular, took the logical step, and that step was predicated on equality before God. Oh there was democracy of a kind before Christianity. Solon's reforms were a form of democracy, but those reforms were based on practical matters such as giving as many people skin in the game as possible, not a philosophical or spiritual truth.