This will be a three part series retracing the steps I took that lead me down the path to calling myself a follower of Jesus. The point of this post is not to convert new Christians, quite the opposite. I do not consider myself a Christian, far from it actually. But, I do feel like the views I have come to are truly the same as those that may have been held by historical Jesus. Or at least the dude in the book.
In this first section I will be going into the most basic things that Jesus has taught, and how those teachings have been subverted by the writings of Paul, the 13th of the 12 apostles. Whose writings have had more influence on modern day Christians then the words of their actual lord and savior.
The first notion we be dispelling is the idea that getting into heaven is as easy as accepting Jesus as your lord and savior. I’m sorry, but it isn’t. In fact, I truly don’t think Jesus gives a rat's ass if you believe in him or not. Not once, anywhere in the four gospels does it say that you will go to hell if you don’t believe Jesus was the son of God. Instead, he spends thousands of verses telling his followers things like this:
Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:35-40
On top of being the first nod to pantheism we will see in this series (much more to come in part 3), this is what God wants us to do. Notice the distinct lack of “For you saw my son and you called him your lord”. No, not in there. It would seem that, surprisingly enough, God cares more about you being a good person than he cares about you believing his son was able to walk on water. Jesus flat out states that simply calling him Lord isn’t going to get you into the door.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 7:21
Honestly, if there actually is a devil I would be fully convinced that he is the one actually being worshiped here. I mean come on, the idea that God sent his son down just to be murdered is barbaric as hell and doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense. What does make sense is that Jesus wasn’t sent to be sacrificed to clear your sins, but that Jesus went around spreading his message, knowing full well that it would end up with his death for blasphemy.
Yet no matter how many times Jesus tells you to love and forgive your neighbors throughout the four gospels, it gets ignored time and time again. In favor of the writings of Paul who claims all you gotta do is call Jesus your lord and he will gladly open the door for you.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9
I mean did this dude even read the gospels? The original meaning of Jesus’s words have been practically wiped out of mainstream Christianity. Twisted until it became the exact opposite of what it once was. Turned into a blood sacrifice cult more interested in expanding their numbers then in healing the world.
A religion of people who ignore the words of their lord and savior, instead taking refuge in the belief that the death of Jesus was what’s important. Jesus spends four books stating and restating the need to love and forgive your neighbors, he doesn’t once tell anyone that people who don’t believe that he is the son of God will go to hell. The closest he gets is his passage right here:
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John
John 14:6
But Jesus is the Word, through which all things that have been created have been created. So of course nobody is going to get to the father except through him. Nobody even exists except through him.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5
The idea that Jesus cares about you being Christian is an idea pushed by powers that be. Giving an “easy” road for the masses to follow while pushing for the ostracization of anyone who may disagree. It has turned into nothing more than another tool in the arsenal of divide and conquer that has been used for eons to keep us fighting each other instead of the people in control.
Unfortunately the religion has turned into a tree that does not bare good fruit, and as Jesus say’s, needs to be cut down. No different than the Pharisees that Jesus has argued against.
If you enjoyed this article please feel free to leave a follow, and I would be more then happy to here any thoughts or criticisms you may have. As I said earlier I plan on turning this into a three part series. Part 2 will be about dispelling some of the connection between the old and the new testament. After words I will move on to explaining why I think a pantheistic reality is what Jesus actually attempted to teach us in part 3.
