It is not a normal phenomenon that teachings taught to humans exactly stay the same across many generations and civilisations. So it seems to me. People get bored. People are rewarded for changing things that are taught, and for introducing new ways of looking at things. Some exceptions seem to exist, such as teachings connected to the very nature of humans. Mathematics reflects human needs for uniformity, such as is part of engineering and architecture. The angle of the sides of a pyramid is somehow connected to a human desire to overcome the unchanging effects of gravity and time by building stable structures reaching upwards. Yet even here we see changes over time due to experiments and failures such as the angle of vertical sides of the ‘step pyramid’, which was changed when it was halfway completed. Humans make mistakes and start again in a slightly different way, making necessary adjustments. This revision and the lesson behind it seems to then get passed on to the next generation and even across civilisations and continents. Law codes saw similar developments, from early periods of human writing until today. There are some core features which were quite constant, such as concepts of breaches of contracts, unlawful killings, lies, failure to honour gods and priests and temples, or pay taxes. Words and phrases such as “an eye for an eye” were quite constant across law codes and law teachings, like the concepts of retribution behind them. But there is a phenomenon quite striking seen throughout history. Certain teachings were extremely constant. Teachings about the afterlife. Teachings about the importance of living a life of being led by spirit. Justice for the poor, and rebuking of oppressors of the poor. Care for widows, orphans, and strangers. Teachings about there being one supreme god above all other gods. Teachings about this one God having sons but one son chosen from all the others as truly just and worthy as son of the Most High. Teachings about the unchanging nature of God and His Son. Teachings about singling out this God in one’s prayers. Teachings about eternal life by living to please this One God, in line with this Son. Teachings about how nature stays orderly by obeying this God, in keeping with the name of this Son. Not all, but some such teachings are found evidenced in each civilised period of human history. Some are unchanged through all such periods. Now there are two or three main ways of looking at this phenomenon. One is to find ways of adjusting the interpretation of facts and evidence to put common teachings together in time. Another is to see the teachings as part of the little changing aspect of human nature. Another is to see it as evidence of a being existing who does not change, as source of such teachings across the ages and continents. I find the last of these to be the most plausible.
