Jesus Myth

There is too much fuss about the crucifixion. Worshiping a dead man on a cross as if that’s the meaning of his life: to get a nailed to a cross at age 33. Jesus, like Joan d’Arc, was killed by frightened men. Jesus threatened the worldview that said we are all separate and God is far away. He said we are all gods and we are related in a bond of love.

The story of Jesus is a myth but the attempt to make the story a fact has killed the myth. A living myth gives meaning and zest to life. Myths are not made up of facts but symbols and images. Such stories can’t be factually verified. Fundamentalism is the result of insisting that the mythic is the factual. Thus, four example, Christian fundamentalists claim that the world was created in seven 24-hour days by an off-planet deity. And that man has dominion over the earth, which means that the earth is a resource to be used as man sees fit.

“It's all a question of story. We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story. We are in between stories. The old story, the account of how the world came to be and how we fit into it is no longer effective. Our challenge is to create a new sense of what it means to be human."

~Thomas Berry~