Ruthra tapped his fingers lightly on the table, signaling to the professor. He nodded, realizing his procrastination, exchanged a friendly smile, and began to speak.
– So, I hope you have not forgotten about the beginning," he smiled, raised the index finger of his left hand demonstratively upwards, and said instructively, "in the beginning was the word. I beg your pardon, it was a joke, in terms of my beginning, – he smiled again at the audience. – I wanted to remind you of the beginning of my dialog with you. That is what I will be emphasizing. I hope that the dialog will take place and that we will not violate the truth in the dispute," he looked at Rutra again, "everything will be within the laws, God's or the metaphysics of the universe.
Such dialog cheered up the bored audience, and laughter ran through the hall.
– Honorable gentlemen," the theologian went on, "I confess that I would have liked to debate the main subject of the Honorable Master's experiment," he pointed with a graceful gesture of the palm of his hand at Rutra, "but the Lord has called me here for another purpose. I was speaking of life," Ffitnop continued with a serious face. – If life must be different on other worlds, why is it different on Earth? Intelligent life. For all the diversity of forms, only humans have become intelligent. Though other species live longer if you look at evolution. So there's a universal rule.
– Why are there twelve apostles and only four gospels? – suddenly came from the audience.
This was the same software engineer who was known online under the nickname Hacker in Law.
– No," replied the professor, not the least bit embarrassed. – Everything is not simple there at all. And there are more Gospels, and not all those who wrote are apostles of Christ. It's not all there at all as we know it. Well, let's just say it's not exactly as we know it. Before I begin, I'm going to summarize the chapters of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This will enable you to understand the story, the narrative that most people understand.
– The majority? – came over the air, and it was a woman's voice.
– Yes," replied Ffitnop, glancing around for the coloratura soprano.
The hall was differently lit, decently darkened, so it created a magical flavor.
– There are four versions. And they all belong to the so-called Abrahamic religions," the theologian explained.
– To what? – this question came from a programmer.
He and the lady who had asked the question before were sitting next to each other, whispering about something in a very friendly way, judging by the muffled giggles. The lady had been explaining something to the man since the beginning of the meeting, often using gestures.
The presbyter did not elaborate. He looked around the room, apparently waiting for each one to reveal the subject personally. His calculation was correct.
– They are called Abrahamic after the name of their inventor," the lady began to explain to all her classmates with an expression of pleasure at the opportunity to express her understanding, glancing at Rutra and the instructor-informant.
Her friend, who was both an employee of UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, entered the conversation a little unapologetically. From what she said, the degree of awareness at the domestic level became clear.
– There was an Abram once. You know the biblical Abraham, don't you? It's the same person. He invented all these religions," she explained, looking around at her neighbors.
Hearing the muffled smirks, she clarified in a disgruntled tone:
– Well, not invented – founded, substantiated, is a founding father… is that better?
After a couple seconds of silent reaction from the audience, she summarized:
– Four, as far as I know.
Here, apparently, Nomor couldn't take it anymore.
– Mademoiselle, if I may call you so," he addressed her affectionately, stretching out his words, "and tell me, for God's sake, what are the four?
– Why are you doing this? I didn't hurt you," she said indignantly, as if they were parties in a court of law.
His opponent made a surprised expression and rounded his eyes, raising his eyebrows.
– Are you saying I don't know what I'm talking about? – she continued.
– What makes you think that? – the professor parried. – I didn't mean to offend you in the slightest. Let's hear your version in more detail, then.
Already all present were waiting with interest for the sequel.
– Well there is Orthodoxy, Catholics, Muslims, and the Jews' own religion.
Now she looked questioningly at Nomore, as if waiting for his approval. The assistants slightly increased the light in the auditorium.
– Go on," he asked her with a sense of pleasure.
– And what to go on, here they are all invented by Abraham.
After a second of comprehension, she added:
– No, not that he invented it, no: others invented it on the basis of his conjecture about monotheism. That's what it's called, isn't it? – she asked a little more quietly.
The instructor sighed, thumbs up.
– Let me make it clear. I have to familiarize you briefly with the content of the Gospel, and then I can go into more detail about all religions. Is there anything else anyone else wants to explain?
Everyone chose to remain silent. There was irony on the faces of some members about the interpretation of Venus. This code name was established by Rutra in the program documents, which could be shared, without the "top secret" stamp. Following this fabula, the head of the Jupiter concern received the code name of the mentioned planet.
– Unity, – realizing the reluctance of the audience to express their opinion, began the theologian, – that is, belief in one God, and a humanoid one at that, is the highest degree of development of the spiritual thought of mankind. Earlier, before Christianity, and even now in many beliefs, there was paganism. There were many gods. All of them were different, each was in charge of his own celestial economy and was the master of some forces and phenomena of nature. One of the first who decided to make a religious revolution was Amenhotep IV, one of the pharaohs of Egypt. Amenhotep IV plotted a great religious reform to replace the ancient traditional form of polytheism with a new cult of a single solar god. There were certain socio-economic reasons behind this reform. This idea of Amenhotep IV was supported by the majority of the population of Egypt. Of course, it was mostly ordinary people. The reason was the following: conquest wars of pharaohs of XVIII dynasty led to enrichment of only a small group of court nobility and severely reflected on a position of the laboring population of the country, and the most important, why the reform was religious – the largest riches were accumulated in temples. By the way, the roots of Christianity from the same place. Or rather, in the volume of the general theme that emerged. All religions, the Abrahamic ones, come from there, in fact. Partially, of course. Moses adopted many of the rituals. He is usually described in the context of "without dignity or rank," but many scholars claim he was a cleric. That is, he was a religious figure. A kind of religious dissident. So he decided to justify his religion. I will say even more, and this is not only my personal opinion, let it not be blasphemy: except for the biblical reference, there are no other grounds to attribute him to Jewish origin. By the way, there is none other than the Bible. But still, reading between the lines, one comes to think: he took his flock, not so much a people, in particular the ancient Jews, as an exodus. Perhaps, for some time his religious doctrine was allowed, and after it multiplied and, perhaps, began to have its supporters in the power structures, it was declared heresy. And most likely it was not the first such case in the history of mankind. I am sure you are aware of such phenomena in modern times as well.