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The Christian beliefs of Protarianism
Protarians have a particular set of beliefs and customs informed by scripture. These instruct us on how we should live out our faith every day and may be different than the way many Christians behave. In the same way, we practice an understanding of the Christian faith different than that of the “modern” church. Our desire is to strip away all the rust and man-made doctrine added to the message of Jesus and his apostles. And after nearly two thousand years, you can imagine there’s quite a bit to remove.
A general rule of thumb regarding the particulars of our faith—if it’s not specifically mentioned in the Bible, we will try to not claim it as doctrine. We may practice or believe a certain thing and call it a “tribal” or community belief—something informed by scripture—but as for what it means to be a Christian, we try to avoid insisting on things which aren’t actually in the Bible. This can be a stumbling block for some, as many denominations place great weight on what the historical Christian church has determined to be true, evidenced by the passion for creeds and catechisms.
This has led to Christian doctrine based on consensus—an aggregate collection of the beliefs of church leaders—rather than scripture itself. If history is any guide, and it often is, the consensus of man is often wrong. When it comes to matters of the hearts of men, consensus is nearly always wrong. For that reason, we try to rely on scripture alone. We are not perfect and recognize the tendency to trust consensus where the Bible may be unclear, but regardless, it is something we strive for.
The following is a list of what we believe to be true and which defines our understanding of the Christian faith. A more thorough explanation of each item is linked.
The arc of the Bible is one of darkness and light. Beauty and ugliness. Sadness and hope. Sin and redemption. Death and life. Good and evil. We believe scripture tells the story of how we came to be, how we became separated from the goodness God intended for us, what God has already done—and one day, will do—to restore what was lost, and finally, what we must do to take part in that restoration. For those who refuse, they will simply die and cease to exist in any shape or form.
We reject the notion all people will be saved. There are some who believe God will ultimately redeem all of humanity. Although a noble desire, such an occurrence would in some ways negate the need for a Messiah at all. We believe God has given us the freedom to accept or reject the gift of salvation. We believe some will reject God’s intentions and will perish, something which our Creator will mourn.
At the same time, we reject the idea God desires many of his children suffer forever in eternal torment. If you are unfamiliar with Calvinism or Reformed denominations, this belief lies near the center of their understanding of our Creator. According to their view, God specifically causes everything that has ever happened and ever will happen. In order to accept this universally, you must believe God chose your fate before you were even born. Unfortunately, this means many were chosen for hell—not because of something bad they did, but simply because, “according to his good pleasure,” as Calvin puts it, God desires they suffer eternally.
We don’t believe in the notion of perpetual suffering for those who refuse God’s offer nor do we believe he would purposefully choose his children to endure that kind of agony even if such a thing existed. The idea a loving God would willingly cause his children to suffer eternally is offensive. As one theologian puts it, “A lesson that requires an eternity to impart is a lesson that can never be learned.” We believe God desires all of his children acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah and receive the gift of eternal life through a future resurrection. We hope all will receive this gift but acknowledge many will not.
The tendency of humanity is towards superstition and mystery. We would prefer fickle gods who might strike our family down for no apparent reason. This may seem strange, but this kind of deity suits our sinful nature. For one, it takes the responsibility off our shoulders. There’s nothing we can do to change things—the gods may decide one day to give the gift of life and on another day famine, disease, or flood. Our behavior may please them one day and incur their wrath the next. Whatever their plans are, what motivates them is an impenetrable mystery that will never be known. You must fear and respect them in the hope their temper will never turn on you.
There’s another reason humans tend to worship under the veil of superstition and mystery. If the understanding of the nature of God is veiled, not everyone can understand it—something which presents an opportunity many cannot resist. For those who can understand, they receive the perception of an elevated status. They appear more devout. More learned. More in touch with the true character of God. Those who cannot understand what others claim to be mysterious or unknowable—they are thought of as less devout. Less dedicated to their faith.
Many Christians unwittingly advance the notion of a mysterious God who cannot be fully understood—not only because it lessens the burden of personal responsibility, but because it strokes their ego. Protarians recognize the tendency of humans towards superstition and gods of mystery and reject this path. We believe the first commandment (You shall have no other gods before me) was a purposeful attempt to avoid the pitfalls of creating and worshiping a mysterious God that could not be clearly understood. This is an important reason why we reject the notion God is made up of multiple beings—it creates a mysterious, incomprehensible deity no one can explain or understand.
Men attempt to obscure the nature and desire of God with man-made doctrines that make him appear mysterious, incomprehensible, or downright malevolent. We believe the Bible serves to illustrate the nature of God clearly with very little mystery. It is the revelation of God—the unveiling, the disclosure of what was mysterious but now no longer is.
A typical Christian home may have several Bibles. Some may be left over from childhood or college. Others may have been gifts or a more obscure translation used for research. Regardless, it would not be uncommon for a Christian family to have access to multiple copies of scripture. The majority of Christians and Jews throughout history didn’t have this luxury. In fact, many of them had no scripture at all. Papyrus scrolls, ancient texts which contained the writings of Moses or his successors, were copied by scribes and distributed far and wide but there were no printing presses to churn out thousands of copies of anything. Even if there had been, most people could not read anyway. A lack of printed material meant there was little reason to learn.
It may seem odd today, but the majority of Christians throughout the past two thousand years have come to their faith having never read a single verse of scripture. They may have heard it recited to them, but even that recitation may have been from someone’s memory, something learned in childhood. Through the internet, we have instant access to any verse of scripture from any translation or language, but most believers have relied on hearing the word rather than seeing it.
The inherent messiness that came with such a lack of Bibles would seem to bode poorly for the Christian faith. But it thrived. Without readily available access to scripture, the number of Christians increased daily. This is because the story of the Bible resonates with people. Along with the miracle of Creation and the witness of other Christians, the story the scriptures describe is what people remember. The characters, their journey, their troubles and victories—all of these things are ultimately how the story of the Bible affects people. All of these things can be conveyed through oral tradition, songs, paintings, the written word, the spoken word—among numerous other channels.
To suppose that Christianity would be lost without the Bible is to impugn the supremacy of God, who may accomplish his will however he desires. This is important because much of the man-made doctrine that has come to define Christianity relies on the nuance of a particular Bible translation. To presume every translation that has ever existed is “God-breathed” and free from error is foolish. We know they have not always been perfect, and to believe every Bible—every translation we have in our homes right now—has zero mistakes and zero inaccurate interpretations might seem to place more faith in man than God.
There is a tendency amongst the Christian church to treat scripture as if it’s magic. As if verses might be invoked against evil in the same way a wizard might wave their wand and utter some obscure Latin phrase. As Christians, the sixty-six books of the Bible represent the authoritative word through which we define our faith. The stories and letters, the songs and Psalms convey an understanding of God’s intent for our lives. But they are not the only way. Through the Holy Spirit, the reading of scripture can convict and convey whatever God desires, the same thing which can happen through a million other things God may employ at any given moment.
Nearly any Christian will tell you the gospel message is something along the lines of “we’re all sinners and Jesus died on the cross so we might go to heaven instead of hell.” On any given Sunday, you will be hard pressed to hear a sermon that doesn’t talk about sin or the crucifixion of our Messiah. If asked, most people will tell you Jesus spent the majority of his life teaching about the forgiveness of sin. According to that belief, the point of the Bible is to let people know they are sinners destined for eternal misery if they don’t acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Protarians understand the Bible differently. For starters, sin may certainly play a role, but it is not the only theme in the story. Most people don’t know Jesus spent much of his time talking about something different than the forgiveness of sin—the kingdom of God. In the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, it says “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.” Jesus wasn’t going around teaching everyone about how their sin would one day land them in hell forever. He was preaching about something much different—eternal life through resurrection. And resurrection into a new type of domain, something they’d never seen before. An eternal empire of peace and prosperity where Jesus would rule as king.
People had paused their entire lives to follow Jesus. They had stopped what they were doing, left everything behind, and devoted themselves to learning his teachings and repeating to others what they had seen and heard. Thousands of people would gather to hear him preach. But it wasn’t sin or burning in hell that captured their attention. It was the promise of resurrection and eternal life as a citizen of the kingdom of God—that’s the message everyone came to hear.
For many of those who listened to the words of Jesus, this was quite the surprise. The majority of Jews didn’t believe in the afterlife at all. For them, death meant death. The end of all things. Resurrection was the one hope they had beyond their earthly lives and Jesus promised it to them front and center. This is why thousands of people followed him around. Not because they thought their sins would be forgiven, but because there was hope for life beyond death. Hope they might see their loved ones again. Hope their lives could have meaning that extended past the short time on earth they’d been granted.
This hope—eternal life through resurrection into what Jesus called the kingdom of God—is the expectation which gives Protarians so much joy. We do not believe people have an immortal soul, a spiritual essence that existed before you were born or lives on after your death. We believe this concept is not a part of Christianity but was, instead, an idea injected into our faith by people captivated with Greek philosophy and metaphysics. Because of that, we treat the resurrection of Jesus as the most significant event in his ministry. His death on the cross as atonement for our sin was an incredible gift, but it was the fact God resurrected him from the dead which gives us even more joy.
We believe in this specifically because we believe Jesus was completely, literally, absolutely dead—just like we will all one day be. We do not believe he was partially dead, or a half of his essence was dead, but, being a person just like us, he was dead. And yet, God raised him back to life. A miracle believers will also one day experience. If Jesus was a god, or God himself, his resurrection would seem both confusing—because deities are immortal and can’t die in the first place—and underwhelming—because deities aren’t like us. How does the miraculous resurrection of a deity have anything to do with us regular humans?
Instead, human resurrection is the focus of the gospel message. From the very beginning in Genesis when death first became a reality to the end of Revelation, when death will no longer stalk us—the Bible, and all the scripture it contains, points to the reality of what awaits us if we reject God’s offer, and what awaits us if we accept.
There are three main viewpoints regarding the final judgement of God. Some people, often called universalists, believe God will one day save all people. They believe a loving God would not create a world in which any of his children might suffer eternally in the fires of hell. Because of that, they hold to the notion God will one day redeem everyone—from the venerated saints to the diabolical killers of the world. Every one of them will one day bend their knee and acknowledge Jesus as king.
Another group of people believe God would never punish anyone eternally, if at all. This body of believers is well represented among the modern Christian church, who believe God is love and a loving God couldn’t possibly exact the kind of wrath upon his children the Bible often portrays him doing. He may impose small corrections here and there, but at the end of the day, everyone ends up in the same place—heaven (except for maybe the really bad guys). Often these people also have a problem with the concept of sin in general. They may accept God clearly laid out his desire for mankind and the rules they should obey in the Bible, but will argue these were rules for another time and another place. Today is a different age, where people are more accepting of each other’s behaviors. Because of that, sin becomes, for them, the act of not loving—or not tolerating—what previous generations may have thought of as wrong.
A third group of people believe not only does God punish some his children eternally in the fires of hell, they believe he created them specifically with that purpose in mind. Calvinists or Reformed churches profess to believe God chooses some of his children for never-ending torment, not because of any wrongs they might commit in their life, but because it pleases him to do so. As ludicrous as it may sound, this understanding of the nature of God is explained specifically in the Westminster Confession of Faith (III: iii, v, vii), a para-scripture reference commonly cited by this particular group of Christians.
Protarians understand God a bit differently than any of these viewpoints. We believe God is just. We believe he is fair. We believe he, along with Jesus, will one day judge everyone. This means no one gets a free ride. All will be held to account—from the saints to the worst sinners the world has ever known.
For those who refuse to repent of their sin, who continue to reject their knowledge of Jesus as Savior and Messiah, God will judge them—fairly. In all likelihood, they will die forever. There is no immortal soul to carry on for them, in hell or heaven. Because the scriptures tell us God loves us more than any of us might love our own children, we believe God will offer every possible opportunity for us to repent of our sin and choose eternal life.
We believe it is God’s desire all of humanity would accept his offer of eternal life. We also accept it is likely some will refuse to acknowledge Jesus as King. Unfortunately, these people will one day cease to exist. We believe God will weep for any of his children who die in this way, just as we would our own.
Protarians hold to a fairly simple understanding of the Bible. We reject anything which adds unnecessary complexity to God. We believe humans have spent much of their time clouding the nature of God for their own benefit, be it intellectual arrogance or to satisfy man’s desire to shape God into his own image. This meaningless complexity is most easily visible within the doctrine of the Trinity, a concept which never appears in scripture but instead, is inferred from an assortment of verses stitched together in such a way to make it sound more convincing.
Theology is rarely useful to anyone other than theologians. Intellectuals may enjoy the philosophical debates theology presents, but for the other 99% of Christians, it only serves to confuse. Protarians believe the Bible story was meant to be easy to understand. This includes the fall of man, the gift of our Messiah—Jesus, and even the nature of God. Theologians tend to confuse what was a simple narrative anyone might hear and relate to.
The gospel story, as it is written, will not puff up anyone’s pride. It is fairly easy to understand and retell to others. It takes no special knowledge or college degrees to make sense of. God employed metaphor to help us wherever our brainpower might fall short. Unfortunately, others will always show up and begin questioning what are obvious answers.
Soon after Jesus died and was resurrected, the community of people who called themselves Christians began to break from the simple teachings of Jesus. Philosophy had become a popular field of study and the musings of those fascinated with abstract metaphysical pondering began to infiltrate both Judaism and the Christian beliefs that followed.
Most churches believe in the Trinity, a polytheistic understanding that insists God is composed of multiple beings. This belief was in keeping with many of the popular philosophical teachings of that time period. Some held that God was made up of as many as 30 different beings, or emanations, as they called them. Judaism had, with the aid of the first commandment, held that God was one. They prayed the Shema (Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one).
The influence of philosophers—who espoused a popular way of thinking about the world at that time—would change this. Over the next three hundred years, they insisted Jesus was not a man, but some other divine being—an angel, perhaps. Eventually, they began insisting Jesus was some sort of god, which led to the insistence Jesus was actually God himself, albeit in some other form. Decades passed and eventually, another being was added to the collection—the Holy Spirit—almost 400 years later.
They also infused their understanding of Plato and came to profess the immortal soul—the notion that every physical body has a spiritual essence attached to it in a way that cannot die but instead can migrate from one place to another. This sabotaged the hope resurrection offered, for what good was resurrection if no one ever truly died? It also created the perception that these souls would go to heaven or hell forever after they died, a confusing notion for Christians who believed in the resurrection of the dead into the kingdom of God: What would happen to the souls of the resurrected? Would they return from heaven into their earthly shells, or would they stay put, existing in their own realm separated from the bodies they served?
We believe in the priesthood of all believers, which means Jesus is the intermediary between us and God. The priests that existed in the Old Testament—those people knowledgeable in the Law and ritual acts of cleansing and sacrifice—are no longer necessary. Jesus has taken that place, and now all believers can be considered priests in their own right. They can go straight to God with any requests they may have. They can ask for forgiveness from God directly—no middle man (other than Jesus) required. Much of the modern Christian church rejects that notion. Instead, it has re-instituted complex hierarchies between man and God, relegating the role of Jesus to something much less than he should be.
These are just a few significant differences between Protarians and the modern Christian church. It is our view many of the beliefs of the modern Church are man-made distortions of the Bible, introduced inadvertently—or not—through theology and philosophical contemplation.
It is difficult to unwind all that has been done wrong by many respected church fathers. The Trinity, the immortal soul, the re-introduction of priests and mediators between man and God—they’ve all served to hamper the beautiful, simple gospel message contained within scripture.
We believe the Bible has clearly placed the impetus for salvation on man. Scripture is full of statements where God promises to do something if man does what he is asked. Some systems of belief suppose God chooses some people for salvation through an opaque process only he can understand. We reject that. We believe it is up to humans to make the effort to obey God, to repent of their sin, and to humble themselves enough they can accept Jesus as their Lord and Messiah.
Images of horrible suffering in hell have permeated Christianity for hundreds and hundreds of years, a belief which originated when metaphorical depictions of what life apart from God’s will was like were taken from the Bible. The church, eager to exploit fear for power and control, insisted these wild portrayals were literal stories of what awaited those who rejected God. Hell became an actual place, a vision of eternal fire and suffering—something which has caused generations of believers to become generations of atheists, a fate predetermined for nearly anyone told God hates many of his children and created them so they might experience endless misery and pain.
In modern Christianity, the kingdom of God described by Jesus has come to mean a metaphorical state of existence we are currently experiencing, albeit stilted or minimized for the time being. We believe it is a literal kingdom that does not currently exist at all but one day will. Another metaphor: In Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus taught that we should not resist an evil person. “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”[Matthew 5:39, English Standard Version.] This example of kindness and forgiveness has been taken by some to mean Christians should never defend themselves or their families from harm.
Throughout the Bible are metaphorical examples and illustrations of things that, if taken literally, can lead to very different understandings than the author intended. In the same way, there are commands and stories within scripture meant as literal warnings or examples. The modern church has taken what we believe to be literal warnings against sexual immorality and tried to recast them into metaphorical warnings about something else. At the same time, they have taken metaphorical descriptions of what life without Christ would be like to mean God punishes his children in ways purposefully designed to cause maximum suffering. And not just for a time being, but for eternity, no matter what kind of apology or repentance happens along the way.
As Protarians, we try hard to differentiate between what the authors of the Bible meant literally and what was intended to be symbolic. Confusing these two things has led to a much different version of the Christian faith than what Jesus or his apostles intended.
Many denominations of Christian faiths ascribe value to their beliefs simply because of historical documents within their churches. These beliefs may have originated from respected elders in the church hundreds of years ago, but if the church has agreed to a viewpoint on something—and it has the backing of the majority of its members—most people will accept it as true purely because of the weight of consensus.
A church member may make the case against a particular point of view because it directly conflicts with scripture. In response, they’ll often hear, “But this is what we’ve always believed.” No matter the scriptural support their argument contains, no matter how conflicted the established opinion is with the Bible, many people will accept the existing belief purely because of historical precedent.
“The church has always believed in the Trinity,” someone might say in response to you questioning why they believe in that particular doctrine so fervently if it doesn’t appear anywhere in the Bible. The Trinity has featured heavily amongst Christian belief for a long time, but it wasn’t always this way. In fact, it wasn’t until over 350 years after Jesus had died that the church formalized their belief in a three-personed God. During the previous two centuries, there was frequent debate about who Jesus was (a man, an angel, a god of some sort, a manifestation of God, or possibly God himself), but even that argument would struggle to reach a consensus.
Regardless, the church did not always believe in the Trinity. There was a period of at least 300 years when it did not exist at all, and even once talk of it began, there was confusion and bickering over what it actually meant—discussions that continue even to this day. As Protarians, we do not care if a particular belief has existed for 1 year or 1,000 years. We do not care if it was authored by someone who was the smartest person on the planet. If it clearly contradicts what the Bible appears to indicate, we are going to question it.
We accept many doctrines or beliefs exist mainly because they benefit someone or a group of people. We acknowledge many modern church beliefs are still held today not because they have the full support of scripture, but because they have a sense of prestige to them—either from someone famous who authored or defended that belief, or because a large group of people profess belief in it. Protarians have no such history or esteemed leaders—no sacred doctrines we can defend based on anything but whether it aligns with what scripture suggests or not.
Protarians accept a literal interpretation of the first commandment: You shall have no other gods before me. This means we honor God’s insistence he is one. This was a profound difference from the polytheism of surrounding religions at the time. Egypt had many gods. Rome had many gods. But the first commandment also was meant as a prohibition against the Greek philosophical understanding of God which would come later. This viewpoint transformed what was the one God into a wild, multi-part deity—sometimes as many as 30.
Most Christians are now familiar with a stripped-down version of that—the three-part deity they call the Trinity, but we believe the purpose of the first commandment is to specifically forbid man-made conjecture about the nature of God. He is one—a single entity. As Creator of all things, we refer to him as the Father, just as Jesus does throughout the Bible. He is not three things. He is not thirty things. He is one thing, just like scripture says, over and over.
The modern church believes Jesus to be either a deity or God himself in human form. Because scripture never describes Jesus as being half-God, half-man, neither do we. Because scripture refers to God and Jesus as clearly distinct and separate entities (1 Timothy 2:5), so do we. We believe God is immortal and invisible, which means we do not believe he can die or be seen. Because we believe Jesus truly died—and that thousands of people physically saw him with their eyes—we don’t believe Jesus can be God. God is not a person. Jesus is.
Despite its Jewish roots, the early Christian church was surrounded by competing religious faiths that would frequently intersect. Sometimes these beliefs would get incorporated into what was considered foundational to Christianity. Jews expected their messiah would be a man, so for those who believed Jesus was the Messiah, it was natural for them to understand him to be a man. As the movement grew to include people from other faiths, those who called themselves Christians would begin to think differently of Jesus.
In Roman culture, it was typical to think of great leaders as gods—sometimes even while they were still living. Temples were built in their honor and their deaths and birthdays were marked by special occasions—parades, festivals, and rituals of sacrifice. Given Jesus’ notoriety and his frequent convergence with Roman culture, it is surprising he was never worshiped in this way while he still lived. After he was crucified, talk of deity began to swirl. Jewish believers may have resisted, but there were many others—Gentiles, no doubt—who, given their Roman upbringing, had no problem recasting Jesus as a sort of deity.
Another popular school of thought during that time was called Gnostic Christianity. Heavily influenced by the Greek philosophy of Plato, Philo, and Simon the Magician, these Christians turned the exploration of God into a metaphysical art form. They reimagined God in countless manifestations—complex systems of belief full of symbolism and hidden meanings. It came naturally to them to imagine Jesus as one of many other deities who might slot into the bigger cosmological picture.
Jesus was thought of as a man during his life—the scriptures clearly paint such a picture. Jesus described himself as a separate being from God, as a servant to the Father, as someone who didn’t even know what the Father knew. He never described a relationship with the Holy Spirit in this way, just himself. Regardless, it’s clear the notion of Jesus as any sort of divine being didn’t really catch on until long after he was crucified and resurrected.
Some people have a problem with the notion of worshiping a man. The Bible is full of people showing respect or reverence for things other than God and unfortunately, the English language only has one word to convey a variety of different meanings. The way in which we worship God is different than Jesus because they are different. We worship the Father as God because he demands our worship. We can freely worship Jesus, not because he is God, but because he is Lord and King.
As mentioned elsewhere, the notion the Holy Spirit is a separate “Person” or entity from God is never mentioned in scripture. We believe the Holy Spirit to be the personification of God’s power, will, or action. In that way, the Holy Spirit is the Father. It’s just a metaphorical way of talking about the Father’s power or will when it interacts with us directly.
The way in which the Bible treats the Holy Spirit confirms this. Many books and letters in the New Testament open up with a similar salutation: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. If the concept of God as a three-personed deity was prevalent at the time, it is strange they never employ a greeting that mentions all of them. Instead, it is just God and Jesus. Romans. 1 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. Galatians. Ephesians. Colossians (Father only). 1 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. Titus. Philemon. James. 2 Peter. 2 John. Jude.
Out of all these books that open with a greeting, only one of them—2 Peter—mentions the Holy Spirit. Everyone of the others includes God and Jesus alone. It’s not they didn’t care about the Holy Spirit. It’s because a mention of God was just as good as a mention of the Holy Spirit—wherever God worked, it was his Holy Spirit being made visible.
This is likely why the Holy Spirit is never worshiped directly. This is also likely why the Holy Spirit is never prayed to directly. The Holy Spirit is not a deity or being separate from God but simply represents his power, will, and action.
The forgiveness of sin was not something new. God frequently offered a path for forgiveness, long before the crucifixion of Jesus. The permanent, all-inclusive forgiveness of sin featured in the New Testament is an incredible gift from God. It required an incredible sacrifice from Jesus. But still, Protarians don’t believe it should be the focus of the gospel message.
Much of modern Christianity is obsessed with sin. Pastors preach emotional sermons, their main goal to work listeners into a heightened state of self-loathing. Many lyrics of worship music use poetic metaphors to illustrate human’s fallen state. The Reformed church even has an entire pillar of their belief dedicated to adequately describing the totally depraved nature of man.
At the same time, the more progressive wing of the church nearly refuses to talk about sin or forgiveness at all. For them, sin is the refusal to accept others’ deviant or destructive behavior as normal or positive. Forgiveness is the gift oppressed people may occasionally—at their discretion—offer their oppressors.
While sin is the reason humans are separated from the will of God, destined for eternal destruction should they not repent and refuse to recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior, we believe the possibility for eternal life, promised to those who acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, is God’s greatest gift. Within the environment of worship or praise, the hope we have for eternal life—and the otherwise inevitability of death—is our focus. This is why thousands of people followed Jesus, from town to town. Not because he promised them their sins would be forgiven, but because of the promise of eternal life. Being able to see your loved ones again. Never having to say good-bye. Not dying into nothingness forever. This is what captured people’s attention.
The Protarian gospel approach is to focus not on sin, but on what death means. With the popularity of the concept of the immortal soul, there are many people who do not fear death in any way—no matter their religious beliefs. They have a general sense our lives on earth are fairly meaningless compared to the eternity we will spend in heaven—an inevitable end for everyone except the cruelest tyrants of history. We believe this philosophical indifference to death to be one of the most important things to overcome in our Christian witness.
Protarians believe death is forever. We believe death represents the end of life, a terrible sadness for anyone to anticipate or experience—either for themselves or their loved ones. The modern church celebrates death because they believe those people are released from their earthly shells into a celestial plane of heaven, their infinite bliss the envy of everyone still living. This is not a biblical concept and sabotages the work of Jesus on the cross. We should fear death. We should mourn death. But we should be full of joy and expectation that one day our Creator will raise us from the dead into new life, into the kingdom of God.
If someone believes they have an immortal soul, they will not fear death. If they do not fear death, they will not cling to the hope of eternal life that Jesus, through his death and resurrection, afforded us.
Because we believe eternal life is only possible through a future resurrection, we don’t believe you have an immortal soul that carries on forever no matter what happens. This means we do not believe you “go to heaven” when you die. And in the same way, we don’t believe anyone “goes to hell” when they die. We believe when someone dies, Christian or not, they are literally dead and will remain dead—until the return of Jesus. It is at that time God will judge and provide bodily resurrection to those who were “saved” for that moment. Those who have rejected God’s offer will not be resurrected and will remain dead forever (Some scripture seems to suggest all will be resurrected and face judgement). We believe this is what Jews at the time of Jesus believed.
We do not believe in the concept of an immortal soul which exists apart from the human body. When you are conceived, the miracle of Creation begins. A new life comes into existence—from nothing. You did not exist as a soul before then, looking for a physical home. You were literally created from nothing into life. In that same way, we believe when you die, your life ends. There isn’t another spiritual version of yourself released from your body to float in space forever. Just like you are literally created from nothing, you die into nothingness—part of what makes Creation so miraculous.
This means we don’t believe Christians go to heaven when they die, a difficult concept for many believers to accept. We don’t believe the Hollywood pearly-gate and white-puffy-cloud version of heaven—as a destination for Christians—is a biblical concept. We accept the existence of the heavenly realm described in the Bible but do not believe Christians have an immortal soul that separates from their body and is transported into heaven whenever they die. We believe when you die, you are dead until—if you are a Christian—you are resurrected into the kingdom of God.
Similarly, we don’t believe eternal suffering in the fires of hell to be a biblical concept. People have always been uncomfortable with the notion of a loving God sending people into eternal torment for thousands of years. In the Old Testament, there is something called Sheol, which was used to indicate a place of the dead. In the New Testament, there is something referred to as Gehenna, a place which was associated with child sacrifice, among other horrors. Over the years, various Bible translations have replaced these two terms with a more generic word—hell—a term that has allowed what were once powerful metaphors to become literal embodiments of a fictitious place filled with torture and never-ending agony.
Heaven and hell, as depicted in movies, paintings, and stories for the past millenium, are not biblical. When you die, you are dead. You do not go to heaven if you are good, and you do not go to hell if you are bad. You are dead until the return of Jesus, when you will be resurrected into eternal life. We believe that in the Bible, salvation refers to being saved—being set aside—until that time.
A common sentiment which runs through many sermons and hymns is a longing to “go home” to heaven—a yearning to leave one’s earthly shell behind and advance to the next level of existence within the celestial realm. Protarians do not accept this as a biblical view. This is a concept that comes from the philosophical pondering of Plato and other metaphysical intellectuals. It has nothing to do with the hope for resurrection and eternal life described in the Bible.
We believe all of Creation—the wonders of life on earth, the vastness of space and time—is one of God’s greatest gifts. One of his greatest wonders. The idea that Creation is something to despise, something we should desire to leave, is offensive. The earth and all of its wonders are as beautiful and magnificent as anything we may ever see.
In a similar way, many Christians treat their existence on earth as expendable, a temporary station of life that is merely a sideshow to the real performance which will one day take place in heaven. Protarians treat our life on earth as much more precious. We believe each day of life we receive is a gift beyond measure, to be enjoyed and cherished. The notion our earthly lives are not supremely important is wrong.
God gave us both the gift of life and the gift of Creation to enjoy it within. To treat either of these things as anything less than a miraculous blessing is wrong. We do not praise God for the blessings of a future existence in some other spiritual plane. We praise him for our lives right now, here on earth. We praise him for the future gift of eternal life he has promised, here on earth. This is our home. We were designed to live here. Mankind has fallen, of course. There is suffering and misery because of it. But God has let us know Creation will one day be restored—that is the kingdom of God Jesus preached so frequently about.
This will take place on earth—not some spiritual analog of what we currently live in, but the planet we all inhabit right now. It will feature one holy nation where Jesus, our Messiah will rule as King. All that is broken will be put back together. All that has been laid to ruin will be rebuilt. All that has been turned hideous will be made beautiful. And the glory of this new Creation—and all who live in it—will never end.
You may notice that beyond the belief in the future kingdom of God, heralded by the return of Jesus, we do not have statements about the specifics of the end times. This is on purpose—we believe the Bible’s explanation of this subject makes it difficult to reach a clear consensus. Because of that, we do not make specific statements of faith regarding the arrival and order of end time events—something referred to as eschatology.
Protarians are forbidden to make such public proclamations. Even Jesus admitted he did not know the timing of God’s plans. Only God, the Father does. We believe a difficult future awaits Christians who adhere to a strict interpretation of the Bible. Yet still, we refuse to make predictions about specific dates or years when end time events may occur. We acknowledge with the 2,000 year anniversary of Jesus’s death and resurrection soon approaching, the temptation to speculate on such things will increase. We also acknowledge Christian history is littered with charlatans and false prophets (and their thousands of embarrassed followers), convinced they fully understood the will of God.
We acknowledge the Bible is not completely clear on the specifics of end time events. For that reason, we do not speculate on timing and we do not make particular claims about exactly what will happen and in what order. Protarians humbly accept we cannot fully understand these things and will shun anyone who believes otherwise. Nevertheless, we anxiously await the return of Jesus and any other events of eschatological significance.
This statement is meant to assert our belief God has not predestined or predetermined every event that will ever occur. We believe humans have a free will independent of God’s will—able to mock and sin and rebel in such a way that angers God. It is nonsense to suggest God would be angry and full of wrath at what he, himself ordained to happen. In a similar way, we believe his joy would be lessened—even completely eliminated—if we were not able to freely choose what he has gifted us.
Some systems of Christianity believe humans have a free will—but one which only allows them to commit evil. According to this belief, humans can freely choose to murder and kill at their pleasure but the slightest act of good—even a mother comforting her crying baby—would be impossible without direction intervention from God. Others suppose humans have free will except for one thing—their ability to become a Christian. We reject the Calvinist view God has chosen certain people for eternal punishment—through no fault of their own—before they were even born.
As Protarians, we believe God has designed us to be autonomous creatures. Like all living things, we have instincts. Some of these instincts, like the desire to worship, drive us toward him. Others, like the desire to worship ourselves, drive us away. Regardless, God may use whatever events or powers he needs to accomplish his will. Sometimes certain people (or groups of people) are chosen and equipped for a special task. The Bible refers to such people as elect. God could even direct these people towards salvation if he so chose. For most people, God placed the responsibility for accepting his gift of eternal life directly upon them.
There are Christians who believe because God is sovereign, nothing can happen outside of his will. Because of that, they are forced into believing God causes all things to happen for his “ultimate good.” According to this way of thinking, even though what he’s doing may appear to us to be malevolent, in actuality it is good—simply because God is doing it.
This is much different than suggesting there is a greater good at work. Imagine this scenario: A school bus gets stuck and is hit by a train, killing 15 children. This is obviously a very horrible thing. But a bridge is out further down the railroad track. Without the 15 children giving up their lives in this event—orchestrated by God—the train would have plunged into a river, killing many more people. Those children dying was a horrible event, but God had a greater good in mind we just couldn’t see at the time. It is fairly easy to understand why horrible things might happen within this context. A particular event may seem horrible, but were we to have the same cosmic perspective as God, we would see it prevented something even worse from happening.
For some Christians, this analogy falls short because of their belief God sends many of his children to suffer in hell. What greater good could possibly come from this? Eternal punishment means it serves no purpose. No one can learn their lesson and later repent if they suffer forever in hell. Some believe their torment serves as a warning so others don’t make the same mistake—a prisoner swap, of sorts, where the goodness of a single soul saved somehow outweighs the horrors of never-ending agony for thousands of others. This is a difficult thing to accept when you also believe God chose them for this punishment in the first place.
Eventually, many Christians arrive at an uncomfortable conclusion: God’s ways are so mysterious that what we might consider evil or demonic, he might consider good—albeit in a way we just can’t understand. Within this mindset, we just have to accept we will never be able to understand the mind of God and that his goodness may not align with what we think of as goodness. “God doesn’t love everyone,” Reformed theologian A.W. Pink once wrote in his most famous book—a statement perhaps a bit too kind to the deity the author envisioned. According to Pink and others like him, not only does God not love everyone, his joy would not be complete without millions of souls suffering eternally in hell. It may seem demonic to us, but this is their understanding of the nature of a mysterious God.
Protarians reject this understanding of God. We believe God is both loving and just—in ways that we can comprehend. We do not believe God rejoices in the eternal suffering of a single child. We believe he mourns their destruction, should they ultimately reject him. We believe the things we think of as good and righteous, such as loving your children and sacrificing yourself for others, God also believes to be good and righteous. We reject the idea God is anything but loving and just. He may pour out his wrath on his children, but if that happens, we believe it would be for a very obvious reason that instructs us and helps us to better understand his will.
The New Testament contains some requirements for leaders in the church (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, 1 Peter 5:2-3). Elders, as these people are considered to be, must be the husband of one wife and not prone to drunkenness, among many other qualifications. Protarians consider elders to lead not only their church, but their tribe as well. In fact, because a stable church is so difficult without the unity of a strong tribe, their tribal leadership comes first.
The modern church has an entire hierarchy of offices and positions—roles not described in the Bible, but created entirely by man. Some of this hierarchy was created in good faith to help protect their churches from charlatans and misguided fools. Other positions were formed specifically to give certain people higher status or more power over others.
Protarians reject this understanding of leadership. We acknowledge the role seminaries and ordination have played in perpetuating religious dogma over the years. We understand the role theology has played as it complicated the simple gospel message and served to hide what God had intended to reveal to all.
We believe there is one mediator between God and man—Jesus Christ. Tribes and churches will have leaders, no doubt, but we reject the notion that other, specially trained people are required for us to fully grasp what the Bible means. We acknowledge the hierarchy of Creation as God intended it and realize certain men are suited for leadership in ways others are not. But we reject the addition of any hierarchy between man and God based on educational achievement or academic credentials within the church setting.
We do not believe one becomes a Christian when they are baptized—we accept they become a Christian when they repent of their sin and believe and confess that Jesus is the Messiah. Baptism is a beautiful act of ritual cleansing that has been performed for thousands of years. It represents a public confession of your faith to your community (and beyond) that you have repented of your sin and are confessing Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Because of that, baptisms should be celebrated as joyful occasions. For anyone who has the mental capacity to repent of their sin and confess their belief in Jesus, they should undergo baptism. If anyone wants to publicly express a renewal of their commitment to serve Jesus or the church, there is nothing wrong with them getting baptized again—so long as the pretense of superstition is avoided. We believe the Holy Spirit can use public baptisms both as a tool to encourage others to similarly profess their faith, and as a call to repentance for others.
In a similar way, we believe Communion to be another symbolic act that can help us recall the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the forgiveness of sin God granted us through this act, and most of all, the promise of eternal life we now enjoy because of those things. We reject any superstition regarding the elements of Communion and the effect they may have on those that consume them. We believe the Holy Spirit can use Communion as a tool for reflection and as a way to direct our thanks for Jesus, his sacrifice, and the hope his resurrection brings us.
There has been much debate over the frequency of Communion ceremonies, but Protarians refuse to engage in this conflict. Some tribes or churches may want to perform it every week, while others may do it once a year around the time of Passover, as it happened in the Bible. It is simply a preference people will always differ on, and the attempt to justify someone’s particular stance with scripture often ends up accomplishing nothing but belittling the Bible for others.
Christenings and infant baptisms are often touching events where parents dedicate the lives of their children to God, to Jesus, and the church. Extended families are invited, giving many who haven’t been to church in years a reason to return. Such occasions may seem like innocent events that do not harm but Protarians specifically forbid this practice.
Infant baptism is foremost a ceremony of Christian superstition. It is conducted because parents are afraid if their infant dies before they are able to be baptized (later, as a confessing adult), they will suffer eternally in hell. Because we reject eternal suffering as even a possibility, we refuse to engage in this ritual. We believe God is loving and just and so, we refuse to do anything that insinuates he would treat an innocent child harshly or with contempt.
Secondly, the Bible never suggests children or infants be baptized. Besides the fear of a fiery hell, the justification for this practice involves some of Christian theology at its worst—a multi-step spiderweb of scripture references that, when cobbled together, give the strained appearance perhaps God intended such a thing to happen. A simple reading of the Bible would never permit such an awkward tangle of interpretation. The New Testament says for us to repent and be baptized many times throughout. It never says to baptize your children, no matter what they believe. And so we don’t.
Finally, infant baptisms rob believers of the joy of publicly expressing their faith in this beautiful way. They never get to enjoy the profound blessings of being encircled by friends and families as they repent of their sin and profess their belief in Jesus. An infant is unaffected by baptism—it does nothing directly to change their lot in life. To believe otherwise is blatant superstition. For the confessing believer, gathered in fellowship with those they love and are loved by, it may—through the Holy Spirit—have a profound affect on them all.
Traditionally, the Sabbath was considered the seventh day of the week—what most would call Saturday. Protarians acknowledge many have grown accustomed to worshiping on Sunday, the first day of the week, something some attribute in part to the timing of Jesus’s resurrection. We also acknowledge that bickering over the legitimacy of one day or the other has served to weaken the Christian faith.
Because of that, Protarian tribes or churches are free to choose on which day they prefer to worship.