Origin of Scripture

Image by LoggaWiggler from Pixabay

No other species pratices religion to the extent humans do. Without a doubt, this is due in large part to the unique capabilities of the human brain. We still have much to learn about language in animals, but none of them seem to be able to tell stories like humans can. Certainly, none of them can write. 

Archeological finds show that religious practices among humans may have started even before the ability to speak. The ability to speak must have accelerated such practices, but that is nothing compared to the emergence of written language. We are now in historic time and our knowledge is on much more solid ground.

The earliest writers must have had a vast body of stories from their oral traditions to work with. There are a few things all the stories have in common, but most of the details are different from place to place and from time to time.

For example, just about every religion has some kind of creation narrative and supernatural beings or phenomena. A lot of them also have an end-of-the-world narrative. They often have guides for practices on how to worship deities or rules on how to live such as the Golden Rule. At least a dozen religions have some version of the Golden Rule.

The ancients did not just write, they also traveled and their stories traveled with them. Sometimes they merged over time with stories in other places and formed new religious practices. Large volumes have been written about how concepts from one religious practice appear in others. 

When we talk about the classics, we really just mean ancient Greek and Roman literature. Today we also have classic symphonies, opera, evergreens or rock music. Certain movies also make the transition from one generation to the next. School curriculums usually include poems or novels we now consider classics as well. So who gets to decide what texts get labeled classics? Indeed, who gets to decide what texts are included in the Bible? Well, that is a whole study all by itself, so we will leave that for another day.

Human Nature

Humans are the only species to practice religion in any kind of significant way. Religion is closely linked to emotions and language. We don't know much about either in animals yet. What we do know is that in humans they have developed to levels far exceeding the capabilities of all other species. The human brain can do things no other species can. The development of language, especially written language, is the basis for most modern religious practices. "In the beginning was the word," says the gospel writer, John.

Humans have extraordinary imaginative abilities. They can use it to get answers to all kinds of questions. If they can't find a logical answer, they can make one up. The ancient Bible writers recorded things like the creation story or the nativity story we all know and love. More modern writers from Plato to Josephus, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Marx and many others have produced works we continue to draw on for inspiration to this day.

Another aspect of human nature is our tendency to be social. A few species live mostly apart from one another, but most do not. The degree to which humans form communities varies. How we do that has changed over time. For example, Friedrich Engles writes in Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State about how the concept of family has developed over time. That helps us explain how religions change over time despite the efforts of a powerful priesthood to prevent it sometimes in alliances with powerful principalities.

Sometimes we refer to communities beyond our immediate families as churches or just plain communities, another religious concept that takes different forms in all times and all places. The human tendency for belonging serves to meet both emotional needs such as security and physical needs like food or shelter.

Origin of Religion

 In the Middle Ages, the crusaders used religion as a pretext for war. The Inquisition was a brutal way to punish people who questioned the teachings of the church. For some reason, religion seems to stir up very strong feelings in people. Conflict has always been prominently present at least in our Western culture.

In more modern times, some of the answers to conflicts in the church have changed. People began to simply leave. You Lost Me, wrote David Kinnamon back in 2016. James White spoke about The Rise of the Nones in 2014. Fed up with the eternal squabble, some people began to identify as “spiritual, but not religious.” What they probably really meant was “religious, but not that way.” 

There is no way to know for sure, but there is evidence that some form of religion has been around since the early humans began to walk the earth. Some will argue that religion is part of human nature. Others will say that there is no such thing as human nature. Either way, it is hard to deny that some form of religion is and always has been present in every human culture on the entire planet. 

If you have been around other Christians for a while you can probably already see that our understanding of religion in general and Christianity in particular is quite different from what you are used to. Some of the things we teach here at New Covenant House may rock some deeply held beliefs. For some it may be a painful process of unlearning. For others, it may be a relief to find that there is an alternative. It doesn’t change the core values of Christianity, however, quite on the contrary in fact. What we are trying to do is to return to the original meaning of the teachings of Jesus, but to apply them to our present condition.

Hello 2025

Clearly we didn’t reach all our goals last year, but that doesn’t mean we are going to give up. What we need to do is make a plan for what we will try to accomplish this year.

Our why is not going to change. The world is still broken and in need of repair. Our what isn’t going to change either. We are still going to love God and love one another. It is our how that can and should change.

First, our challenges:

• Our audience is spread out worldwide
• Our theology is unique even among other Christians

The big lesson last year was to become more clear about who we are so we can better communicate it to others. 

Therefore, although it may seem repetitive at times, we will continue to be posting Sunday morning service videos. In addition to videos about the basics of our faith, we will also add some about how we practice that faith here at our Christian intentional community, New Covenant House. 

You cannot practice community alone. I would like to make our time together more interactive with some time for discussion and deeper learning. The easiest way to do that is to join with others. Cultivating Caring Communities discuss intentional communities every Tuesday at 7:30pm Eastern and we are invited to join them. Let me know if you are interested.

We will leave the third discipleship level for the future when we have one or two more residents here. This is the one that prepares new leaders for replicating what we are doing now. 

Finally, our Foundations document needs to be updated with the lessons we have learned last year and what we have planned for the future. Let me know if you are interested in working with me on that project.