Religion is about power, or so we've been told. Control of the ignorant masses. Keeping the sheeple in line. Is this the case? Was Christianity really just the result of greed?
Of course, in the modern day, it is very easy to profit from Christianity, at least in the free world. In America, you can tell just about any lie you like, your chances of being crucified for it are slim to none. There's a sucker born every minute, and if you tell them a lie they like, they will pay you for it. You can sell the Prosperity Gospel for millions, you can sell indulgences for almost as much, you can twist the Scriptures into saying "pay tithes to us because God demands it". It's easy.
But Christianity did not begin in 2021. It began around the 30s A.D., when Jesus rose from the dead, and commanded His disciples to spread His message around the world. This was a very different time. Back then, preaching the Gospel could get you punished, not paid. I can assure you, the con artists of our day would not last 10 minutes in first century Israel.
For the Apostles, the faith was never about worldly gain. Indeed, even when they could use their faith for some form of worldly profit, they didn't. For example, in 2 Thessalonians 3:7-10, we read "For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat."
Does this look like a power grab to you? Though Paul could certainly have received special treatment, he served as an example for the Church to follow. "No, do not demand free stuff. Act in an orderly manner, earn your keep through labor by both day and night, pay for your own food, do not be a burden." It would have been easy for Paul to have abused his authority, and yet he did not.
And let's talk about Paul for a moment, because we see that there was actually a time in his life when his religion brought him power. Paul was once so powerful that he had the legal authority to arrest, and even kill Christians. This man was not a nobody. His reputation was known far and wide, with Christians fearing his very name. Ananias, whom the Lord chose to baptise him, even seems to have hesitated when God sent him, because "I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." (Acts 9:13-14). What follows tells us that Paul was no fraud. The Lord told Ananias "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake." (v15-16).
Paul's ministry was not very profitable. Aside from the fact we see him living out his faith, note God's words. "I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake". None of the Apostles had it easy. They left a lot behind, they suffered much, 11 of them even eventually died for their professions (John, though he survived to old age, nevertheless suffered a lot too). But Paul was unique, not just leaving riches, but ultimately repenting of the very power he did have. He had the power to persecute the Church, but instead became the persecuted. He spent a lot of time in chains. Imprisoned, beaten, he was probably a walking scar by the time he was finally murdered.
So what did the Apostles have to gain from their faith? Not money, they rarely had any, and they worked for it when they did. Not power, they were persecuted by those in power. Not sex, they preached faithful monogamy, and Paul even chose to stay single. Most of them were killed for preaching. So what did they gain from this? The only way the Apostles could profit from their faith is if it was true. If Christianity is false, the Apostles lost everything and gained nothing. If it's true, even their losses were gain.
Now here's the part every unbeliever must wrestle with. Christians today are effectively meaningless. While we can have reasonable amounts of evidence, we're still acting on faith, and our faith, however sincere, proves nothing. The Apostles, however, are the source of our religion. We believe what they told us to believe. They, however, were in a position to know if it is true or not. Christians today preach what we receive, the Apostles preached what they saw.
Most people will not even die for the truth. If you put a gun to my head, I'll sing any song you want. The Earth is flat, 2 + 2 = 7, Epstein killed himself, I don't care, I don't especially like the idea of a bullet in my brain. Most people value their lives more than the truth. So how do we imagine 12 men would not only willingly die for something they knew was a lie when none of them gained anything from doing so? The irony is, at that time, they would have had more to gain on the Earth by saying "yeah, we lied" than any of them could have possibly gained from preaching Christianity. Yet, if anyone, even beyond the Apostles, ever recanted their claims to have seen the Risen Lord, we have no record of it. No one confessed to any scheme. No one confessed to making it up for attention. No one confessed to jumping on the bandwagon. Everyone who was in a position to know the truth confessed Jesus as Lord, showing by their willingness to face martyrdom that they genuinely believed God raised Him from the dead. The question? If they were in a position to know if Christianity is true, why did every single one of them believe it is?
The simplest, most obvious, and most sensible answer is that they believed it's true because it is true. They believed, and were willing to die for their belief, that they saw Jesus alive after He died because they did see Him alive after He died. This is the only explanation that makes sense. Not group hallucinations, because that doesn't happen (and we can be grateful for this, because science rather depends on group experience confirming reality). Not the disciples stealing the body, because aside from there being a low chance of fishermen fighting off fully trained, heavily equipped Roman guards without injury are about as slim as a missing body showing up to multiple independent witnesses over the course of 40 days. Not that Jesus had a twin brother, because you'd think His mother and brothers would be at least slightly aware of that (and twins tend not to share scars). Sceptical explanations hold up so terribly that Bart Ehrman advises his students not to try to come up with one, lest Christians shred those ad hoc rationalisations before their very eyes.
It is so unbelievably obvious that the resurrection is a fact that it is easy to believe, even if by faith. And that is very fortunate, because this faith is the one and only criterion for reaping its benefits. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Tomb's empty. Get praying.