Theos-Talk Archives (January 1997 Message tl00159)

To continue, I have recently been struck by the arrogance with
which some non-Christians dismiss Christianity as passe, and
ignore obvious signs that this is not the case.  As a measure
of cultural significance, consider this: a WorldCat search
finds a total of some 80,000 books on the subject of Jesus,
18,000 about Muhammad, 7,000 about Buddha, 200 odd about
Baha'u'llah and HPB who are regarded by their admirers as
superseding previous religions.  (Purucker at least portrays
her as a Messianic figure, and ULT seems to do the same,
although Adyar has tended to place Krishnamurti in that role
instead.)  1.3 billion believers make Christianity still by far the largest
world religion, and more importantly it has has the
greatest internal diversity with more than a thousand
different varieties.  In the twentieth century Christianity
has shown vastly more ability to adapt, be self-critical, and
embrace new ways of understanding itself and its founder than
any other religion.  Baha'i and Theosophy are particularly
lacking in these qualities, despite being quite emphatic in
seeing themselves as triumphant in a post-Christian world.

The experience of communion in that Christmas Eve service
helped me understand why Christianity is so vital despite the
dire predictions of its opponents.  There is something
emotionally powerful and simple about its basic symbolism that
have enabled it to adapt to a greater number of cultures than
any other religion.  And I suspect that the triumphalism of
nineteenth century movements that thought they'd displace
Christianity has turned sour now that their hopes have been
dashed.  There's so much bullshit among Theosophists about who
is and is not a real Theosophist, so much of the same kind of
exclusivism in Baha'i where believers are always bashing one
another as not being orthodox enough.  It was a real homecoming
in a number of ways to go to that service where the message was
essentially "We don't care what you believe, who you are, what
you've done-- you are welcome at the table of the Lord's
supper, to share our oneness with Christ at a level that cannot
be expressed in words or understood in concepts."  Jesus is
still more avant-garde than any of his supposed successors,
which is why Christianity will probably thrive in its third millennium
just as it has for the first two.

Sorry if this is incoherent-- interruptions abound.