: Re: How to write an inversion of a messianic trope? I want to do a story revolving around the inverse of the Christian tale in the bible. In it, the savior sent by God is tempted by the adversary,

@Odierno164

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I would say the central problem in an anti-Messianic story is two-fold; in particular for a known religion like Christianity.

First, you need a compelling lie; one that the people want to believe and even need to believe lest they lose hope in life and despair. I have a vague idea of how to do that, but in general look to the cult messiah religions, like the Branch Davidians, from which sprang David Koresh and his rabid followers. You can Google Religious Cults or see this Wiki on Cults.

Second, you need a charismatic character that people can admire. Charisma is the power to persuade when you do not have the power to compel; in general charisma is the road to power, corrupt or not. For example, although in the USA it is possible to steal an election by criminal means, a charismatic person can run for an office against an uncharismatic person, and win "clean", no matter how vile they are on the inside, and then continue to leverage actual power and natural charisma into ever more power.

They don't even need to pursue official political power, there are been numerous straight-up Christian leaders building mega-churches and taking millions of dollars for themselves, while eventually being exposed as sinners of extreme hypocrisy and corruption; thieves, sexual deviates, pedophiles, philanderers, homosexuals, gamblers, and worse. How do they do that? Charisma, or more specifically terrific acting; people love them and believe their lies even in the face of evidence they are lying.

Like that joke, "Who are you going to believe, me or your lyin' eyes?"

I am an atheist, I know several dozen other atheists, and this is what we believe is actually the case in most religions: There have always been charismatic leaders, so obviously, some handful of them have been the most charismatic and most successful at gaining followers, and at some point those groups reach a tipping point and become "too big to fail", i.e. they are large enough that when the original leader passes, there are members of his religion that also have enough charisma to hold together the group, and grow it. Even in the Bible, Christianity begins with one man finding disciples that are supposed to find followers, to become "fishers of men".

We've seen the same thing happen with Mormons, with Protestants, with Branch Davidians, with the David Koresh group, with Heaven's Gate.

Now Wiki says there are about 4200 public-facing religions in the world (i.e. not counting privately held spiritual beliefs), so I cannot speak to all of them, but I'd bet nearly every one of them was founded by a charismatic leader that recruited followers to recruit followers (or raise their children as followers); in a spiritual pyramid scheme.

You need a two-faced Messiah capable of selling outrageous lies because his followers love him to death, believe he loves them, and they cannot believe he would lie to them. So under the ruse of "guiding them to understanding" as a "wise teacher", he questions them to get them to tell him what could make them believe the lie is true, how it could possibly be true, then lets them assume that is what he meant all along and could have told them, he was just withholding it in order to guide them to understanding. It doesn't have to be the same thing for every follower, he only needs to convince his initial followers and "generals", they will convince their subordinates with their fervency and appeal to the Messiah's authority.

All of this equally true for a female Messiah. Also, religions naturally exclude (sometimes by violence) people that question, disrespect, and challenge authority (blasphemers), they need far more followers than leaders, because the leader needs followers willing to pay for his preaching, and the more the better. And they don't want anybody applying actual logic to their claims or debunking their claims. There are more followers than doubters, so the fake messiah's tend to insulate themselves from doubters (even to the extent of having private compounds), expel them, and selectively keep the most vulnerable followers that will not challenge them.

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