Faithfully

In honor of the holidays, I would like to introduce the reader to Gamaliel's Wager.

In the early days of Christianity, persecution of its practitioners was fierce. Followers of Christ were stoned to death in the streets, drowned in lakes and rivers, fed to lions and bears, and subjected to all other manner of cruelties.

None of it however dissuaded the masses from converting to the new religion. Behind closed doors, its detractors planned and plotted and schemed in vain. At the vanguard of the anti-Christian coalition was a formidable alliance of Jewish and Pagan reactionaries, led by Pharisees and Sadducees. And with each passing year their crusade became ever more desperate.

Then, from their very midst, a rare voice of reason emerged. His name was Gamaliel, he was a doctor by trade, and his rationale would completely change the historical relationship between Hebrew and Christian.

Citing failed leaders of the past, he set forth two mutually exclusive possibilities: either Christ was ordained by heaven, or He was not. Neither possibility, however, mandated any response by Christ's detractors. For if He was not heaven sent, His name would fade with time, He would be forgotten, and His followers dispersed with the ages.

But if Christ was heavenly set, no power on Earth would be able to oppose Him. Either way, the anti-Christian coalition was wasting its time.

Gamaliel's Wager forever changed the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. From that point onward, mutual tolerance between the two dueling faiths would largely prevail, and they would each find a way to coexist with the other. And that is where they remain to this day.