From a secular perspective, Christianity feels “anachronistic.” The suffering of the era when Jesus lived was physical and existential: hunger, disease, and colonial rule. Today’s suffering is different. It takes on complex forms, such as alienation amidst abundance, identity confusion, and the rift between the virtual and the real. The environment has changed and the human hardware has evolved; so why must we continue using an obsolete OS (Operating System)? This sense of disconnection is the decisive reason modern people perceive religion as a “museum artifact.”
The Stubborn Claim: Forms of Suffering Change, but the Essence Does Not
Christianity argues that while the shell of human suffering changes with the times, the core “deficiency” remains the same. The despair of a hungry person two thousand years ago and the emptiness of a modern person scrolling through social media both share the same root: “anxiety from failing to find the meaning of existence.” Theology asserts that Jesus’ teachings are not policies meant to solve the social issues of a specific era, but rather a fundamental antidote to the universal human conditions of “anxiety” and “death.”
Fossilized Teachings or Eternal Truths?
The reason we feel uncomfortable with the demand to follow Jesus’ teachings is that they come across as “norms” or “regulations.” However, if you dissect the core of those teachings, they contain values that are surprisingly timeless: love, forgiveness, sacrifice, and self-emptying. Christianity points out that no matter how much advanced technology humans enjoy, they remain beings who are wounded by relationships and tormented by their own selfishness. Thus, the logic follows that the command to “love thy neighbor” from two thousand years ago remains a valid “grammar of relationships” even within the complex social networks of today.
Why Is There No New “Update”?
Nevertheless, the thirst remains: “Why not speak to us again in the language of the present?” To this, theology refers to Jesus as the “final revelation.” It is an audacious declaration that because God has already reached the pinnacle of what He wished to say to humanity, no further messages are necessary. Instead, the responsibility of translating that message into a modern context has been handed over to the humans living now—theologians and believers. This serves as a defense mechanism: the manual isn’t outdated; rather, the incompetence of the agents who fail to interpret it for the modern age is the problem.
Ancient Wisdom or Obsolete Dogma?
Ultimately, it returns to a matter of choice. If one believes that the tens of thousands of philosophical texts and modern psychology accumulated by humanity can replace the teachings of Jesus, then Jesus is merely one of many sages of the past. Conversely, if one believes there is a “hunger of the soul” that cannot be satiated no matter how much human technology advances, then those ancient teachings become, paradoxically, the most cutting-edge alternative.
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