On Julian the Apostate
With the advent of Science, information technology and the rise of the age of reason, Christians today are finding it hard to justify their faith. Popular books like Dan Brown’s Da vinci code and documentaries like The Lost Tomb of Jesus all seek to debunk the "myths" that christians all over the world hold so dear to their hearts…beyond reason and rational doubt.
According to the Christian creed, Hebrews 11:1" Now
faith is a
well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of
the reality of things which we do not see.". It is hard if not near
impossible for people of a different persuasion or creed to accept
that.
It doesn’t help that right wing fundamentalist/Creationists/evangelical christians are potrayed so negatively in the media for their uninformed views that is largely faith-based. However, contary to popular beliefs… This battle of faith vs reason and the justification of Christianity has long been fought since the founding of the faith.
One of the earliest anti-christian authors was Flavius Claudius Lulianus, otherwise known as Julian the Apostate. Julian was a Roman Emperor who succeeded the throne of Constatine I & II. Though raised and schooled in Christian philosophy, he was aggresively critical of this new faith that was imposed on the Roman Empire by the reigning emperor. He had good reason for this for his family save himself was massacred at the hands of Constatine II, his overzealous christian cousin who ascended the throne shortly after the death of Constatine I and wanted to be rid of all Roman pagan roots.
After rejecting christianity for neoplatonism, Julian sought to curtail the rising influence of Christianity in the empire. He labelled them Galileans, referring to their province of orgrin to highlight the fact that they belonged to a local sect typical of most other religions in the empire. His most famous work (which i posted in the previous blogpost) was Against the Galileans, a philosophical argument against the validity of the christian faith.
Being a devout Buddhist and an atheist before accepting the faith, I could identify with him his struggles and his logical perceptions with regards to Christianity. (I welcome you to read it and form your own opinions, though i must caution is a long read) Why would the God of all men place such power and prestige on a small nation like Israel? To me, it seemed like a perfectly fashioned excuse for genocide when the jews took the land that once belonged to the Canaanites. Why would a God who claimed He loved and created the world place one of his sons in a sect that was doomed to be annihilated?
Also, Julian juxataposed the glaring differences between Judaism and Christians. Quoting St. Paul, he questioned Paul’s claim that if God was the God of all Gentiles, why then did He then claim to be the God of Jews first? He speaks with respect of the God of the Hebrews, admires the Jewish
discipline, their sacrifices and their prohibition of certain foods,
plays off the Jews against the Christians, and reproaches the latter
for having abandoned the Mosaic law; but he contrasts the jealous,
exclusive Hebraic God with
the universal Hellenic gods who do not confine their attentions to a
small and unimportant portion of the world.
Reading his treatise, I have to be honest that I have more doubts about my own faith than I am able to share. However, I take comfort that Jesus teaches that all it takes is faith the size of a mustard seed in order to move a moutain. If this was true, my commitment many years ago to believe in his love and sacrafice is justified and suffice for me.
I guess faith is something that cannot be rationalized or quantified due to its lack of form or anything of tangible value to observe. However, it can be experienced and I hope the agnostics or atheists friends I have will one day discover it for it is a very important if not the most important part of being human.
Cheers,
Julian the Believer
