For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe… They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.

– Epistle to Diognetus (2nd century Christian apologetic text)

Christianity is complex. On the one hand, it’s a literal interpretation of God’s wishes directed by a man thought of as His actual son, given Divine wisdom directly to share with humanity for their salvation. On the other hand, it’s a prescribed way of life, like its forebears and contemporary rival, Judaism. In the ancient world life was tough, people died on a regular basis from filth and malnutrition. Religions were the handbooks of how to survive the dystopian landscape that was regular life for the have nots, all the while those with means survived by keeping things tight for their small groups.

The hebrews built an impressive cultural fortress around a world that was trying to assimilate them to the point of extinction. It’s remarkable how well they achieved safety in numbers by sticking together through endless trials. Take Judaism out of history, which removes Christianity as well, and imagine a world today run by dictators and ruthless armies, one that had 2,000 years to perfect. This interpretation is more than fair. It’s obvious.

Let us say that God does not exist, but the religions and cultures do, as most people believe; the world is infinitely a better place for it. Yes, philosophy may have concluded the same ideas over time, but the issue with philosophy is that it doesn’t have the boots on the ground impact on the common man like religion does. We take for granted the simple minds of uneducated people that would not have grasped the complex language of philosophers. Religious teachers made it simple for them to understand, and when they didn’t they made it more simple, do this and don’t do that.

The secret sauce was coercion; not necessarily overt, but the built in one that comes with belief systems. “God said so” is a powerful motivator.

Although humans eventually reached the Age of Enlightenment, all knowledge passed through the filter of religious beliefs and practices; not just parts of it, all of it. Philosophy as a standalone system would still need the coercion of psychological enforcement, as it does today. In 2026, we must embrace the process that was the last 2,000 years. We must praise the Jews for infusing our world with God and morality. We must praise Jesus for having the balls to stand up to entrenched traditions and corrupt governments to say, “hey brothers and sisters, there’s a better way”. 

Don’t dig religion, that’s cool, but ignorance of its foundational significance in the making of our modern world is a failure of blind institutions and the overbearingness of zealous believers with pigeonholed concepts, like Christianity. ‘Citizens of Heaven’ is a better way of stating the wish of God. Doesn’t matter how you get there, what matters is that you get there at all. Ditch religion, but choose a way of life of the best parts of health, philosophy, knowledge and religious ‘principles’. Become a citizen of the temporal world, of the good guys, here and now, on the planet earth, whilst making preparations for the afterlife, i.e. life after your death (yes it exists).

The basic premise is, what you do know, what you are now, will be manifest in part two when you transcend your earthly form into an existence without a material body to dwell in God’s ether; call it heaven or the cosmos or whatever you like, names means nothing there for it is what it is regardless. Think of the end result, then pick the path to getting there. God is selective, just keep that in mind.

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©2026 Pastor Robert Perez | A.R. Perez | All rights reserved