The First Century Collapse of the Christian "Truth"

Whatever promise Christianity might have had for being the one true faith ended somewhere around the year 64-68 with the death of the Apostle Paul. Paul's death put to rest the central claim of his ministry; that he and those that believed would live to see the return of Christ. We also now know something that Paul probably did not know which made Paul's revision of the Jewish messiah concept impossible. When Paul expanded the umbrella of salvation to include non-Jews he made the concept universal. Christ was the messiah, not only of the Jews, but of all mankind. The problem, of course, is that the world was much bigger than just the Roman Empire. When Paul thought he was spreading his message to all the peoples of the world he was not even close. There were peoples to the East and to the West that would not hear of about the existence of this so called "universal savior" for more than a thousand years. In fact, there were more people that would not hear the message than actually did hear it. This so called universal God kept his message hidden from a large majority of the people he was supposed to be offering salvation.

If, as some Christians claim, God was punishing the peoples of the East and West for some unknown transgression; what changed in the Age of Discovery when Christianity began to trickle eastward and westward? Quite simply, guns happened. The Age of Discovery rapidly became the Age of Conquest and the bulk of humanity received the message of salvation in a very human manner, at the point of a gun or because their king/leader converted. The very notion that Jesus was the savior, not only for the Jews, but for all mankind, evaporates to the ludicrous as soon as one sees that "all mankind" was not limited to the inhabitants surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. If the only requirement for salvation was acknowledgement of the savior, how could a universal God; at the very least, not give the majority of those people the opportunity to know this fact?

As we have seen, the reason Christianity did not end with Paul's death and failed message was that Paul had done more than simply build his new religion on the coming apocalypse. He borrowed liberally from the Jewish concept of community and exclusivity and built communal and supportive churches that gave its members a sense of belonging and a sense they were special. They were not all just sitting around waiting for judgement day. They were building an extended family. When Paul passed and his primary message failed to materialize the new Christians were already so ensconced that it did not matter.