Leaving Christianity to Follow the Teachings of Jesus

in #vlog5 years ago (edited)

Video also on BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/video/lDFiXo62Vbms/

In this video I discuss some of the major differences between the religion of Christianity & teachings of Jesus, why I left evangelical Christianity, and some of the dangers posed by fundamental Christianity, based on my experience growing up in a devout evangelical Christian environment.

One of the major problems with being brought up in Christianity, is that you are taught that the Church’s interpretation of the message of Jesus and what it means to ‘believe’ in him, is the only valid belief system about Jesus one can have. You can take it or leave it, essentially. If you don’t like it, you can convert to another religion, or become an atheist. The idea that you could follow the teachings of Jesus and pursue any sort of connection with God or divine union outside of some religion or church is out of the question.

As it turns out, however, the teachings of Jesus happen to be in direct contradiction of the teachings of the church in most regards. My experience is with evangelical Christianity, but there are many similarities in how the various different forms and sects of Christianity operate. All of them to my knowledge are fear-based religions, whereas Jesus taught universal love, and that love casts out all fear.

The whole idea behind organized religion of any kind is that man cannot connect with the divine directly, and needs a group of men to show them the way. This gives one smaller group of men control over large masses of people, in a similar manor to how government rules over the masses, but in the case of religion, instead of the church threatening to punish those who do not obey their edicts (as the state operates), the church threatens that God will punish anyone who doesn’t obey their edicts or believe the ‘correct’ doctrines, which of course they claim are divine edicts; and such punishment will be eternal torture.

The idea of conscious eternal torture by an all-loving deity is on the other hand entirely absent from the teachings of Jesus, and wasn’t even made a part of Christian doctrine until many hundreds of years later during the dark ages. It also runs contrary to reason, that any finite wrongdoing, no matter how evil, should be punished eternally, even for those who believe that ‘justice’ requires ‘sin’ be punished. This Christian idea of hell is not true justice, even for those who believe in the idea of requiring punishment for wrongdoing.

On the other hand, Jesus taught that karma (law of cause and effect - “what you sow, so shall you reap”), not eternal torture in ‘hell’ would bring the just dues for any evil acts committed by people. “Whoever lives by the sword shall die by the sword,” he taught, as just one example.

Another major flaw with Christianity is the doctrine fundamental to the religion that in order to be ‘saved’ from this eternal torture, one must also believe that Jesus himself was tortured and killed as a blood sacrifice to appease the wrath or ‘satisfy the divine justice of God’ as they say, in order that this same all-loving God would be able to forgive you and I, and thus not punish us with eternal torment.

The problem with this theology is that it turns a loving all-merciful Father of humanity and creator of life that Jesus revealed into an evil bloodthirsty devil of a deity, who is less merciful and less forgiving than even ‘sinful’ human fathers. After all, what human father would punish an innocent son in order to forgive the other son who had committed some wrongdoing?!? This is absolute insanity, and has nothing to do whatsoever with love, mercy, or justice for that matter. Sacrificing an innocent being in order to forgive the guilty party is not justice, it is evil, and in that case the ‘forgiveness’ isn’t true forgiveness anyway.

Jesus agreed, teaching against sacrifice, telling the Jews that if they had understood the saying, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” they would not have condemned the innocent. He also taught that in order to be forgiven, all we must do is forgive others.

The church is constantly going around and judging other people in other religions, or atheists, for rejecting the ‘truth’ of their religion and condemning them to eternal hellfire for not believing the ‘correct’ beliefs, and yet Jesus taught his followers to judge not, in order that they not be judged, and said people should be judged by their actions rather than beliefs.

The church teaches that salvation comes through believing religious doctrine, and practicing certain religious rituals such as reading your bible and going to church, baptism, communion and the like. Jesus taught that ‘salvation’ comes through selfless love to neighbor, by feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and visiting those in prison, and that this salvation is from our own karma and suffering, not some future hell after death. He identified himself with the weak and suffering, saying that anyone who didn’t help such people in need didn’t help him, and rejected the company or worship of such people whose deeds he called evil.

The church teaches people to believe certain things about Jesus, but Jesus taught people to simply follow his teachings, and takes great issue with those who call him ‘Lord’ and yet do not do what he says. Almost as if he is speaking directly to the Christian church...

The church teaches that a physical kingdom of God will be brought to earth in the future when Jesus returns to violently slay all of his ‘enemies.’ Jesus on the other hand taught that the kingdom of heaven was already here, in each and every person who manifested it - “The kingdom of God is within you,” he said.

Many Christians, especially evangelicals, are pro-war, and support the troops, and believe that governments waging war are instituted by God. Jesus on the other hand taught people to love their enemies, he blessed the peacemakers, and taught his disciples to not seek to “exercise authority” over others as “the kings of the earth” do, as governments do.

Christianity teaches its followers to believe a book, the Bible, that is full of many contradictions, and thus in reality they are teaching constituents to follow their particular interpretation of the book. Jesus taught his disciples to follow his teachings and the simple law of love over any human writings, and that if they did so that the spirit of truth would teach them directly. There is no need to follow a book as the highest authority if we are in fact ourselves divine beings clothed in physical bodies; if God dwells in us as Jesus taught, and if by following our hearts we could get in touch with this inner divinity. There is no need to read the ‘word of God’ if we can hear it directly, within ourselves.

Christianity teaches that Jesus was the “only begotten son of God,” God in human form, far above any other human, and so they have created a nonsensical doctrine of the trinity, that is foreign to both the teachings of Jesus and the entire Bible itself. This also greatly disempowered humans, as it teaches we can never become like Jesus in this regard, and we are doomed to a state perpetual ‘sin’ and can only be redeemed by believing on that all-important blood sacrifice.

Jesus taught rather that we are all sons of God, and can all realize this divinity as he did, and that anyone who learns to love as he loved are his brothers and sisters. He taught the brotherhood of humanity; that we are all equals. He taught that we could all become enlightened as he had, that we could all become “one with God” as he claimed he was. This, unlike religion, is greatly empowering.

The church teaches the doctrine of ‘original sin’, that we are all born sinners, a state inherited from Adam who they claim sinned when he ate an apple given to him by his wife who was deceived by a talking snake. They teach it is impossible to escape this state by our own doing, and therefore the only option is to accept the ‘free gift’ of the blood sacrifice of Jesus.

Jesus rather teaches that it is possible to stop sinning, which he saw more as a state of sickness to be healed than an evil to be punished, brought about by the accumulated wrong choices made in our past as opposed to an evil nature we are born into. He also never taught that people are born evil as the church does, but rather taught that children are innocent and thus used them as symbols of what we should seek to become like in order to “enter the kingdom” (higher state of consciousness). He taught that people can choose good or evil, light or darkness, and are not predisposed to a perpetual state of sin and darkness as Christianity seems to teach.

I could go on and on, but that is enough for one post, to show some of the major differences between the liberating teachings of Jesus and the disempowering teaching of the Christian church. That is not to say there are not many loving and well-intentioned Christians, and I grew up in a very loving family and church.

But that still does not negate the fact that the doctrines and beliefs being taught and instilled into the minds and hearts of religious constituents are disempowering, fear-based, illogical, and pose a great danger to all those who think, as I once did, that the only alternative to this religion is converting to a different fear-based religion or becoming an atheist. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth, and a study of the teachings of Jesus outside the influence of religion reveal some of the most revolutionary spiritual teachings ever given to humanity, that teach a radical way of life completely opposite to the way of religion.

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fully agree on most points, i was lucky enough to not be brought up in a christian cult, but came to the truth of God, Jesus and the bible as an adult reasonably recently (after realising the truth about who runs the world and for what purpose.)

my only caveat is with your encouraging people not to read the bible - surely your knowledge of who Jesus really is and what we ought to be doing (and not doing) as His followers comes from God's word?

also, Christ is our mediator - we do need Him as our lawyer before God. our deeds are not enough, and they should come because we recognise His sacrifice for us, because love.

peace.

I didn’t mean to discourage people from reading the Bible, simply to convey my opinion that it shouldn’t be taken as the highest authority, especially blindly taken along with a specific religious interpretation of it as the highest authority. That is my biggest issue with the Bible, is that so many people claim to follow it as the highest authority, as the word of God, and yet come to such so many different and contradictory interpretations. I think this is because some parts are imperfect, or allegories taken literally, and people tend to pick and choose the parts that support their chosen theology.

It was and sometimes still is used to defend slavery, the inequality of men and women, war, Jewish supremacism, Zionism, capitol punishment, usury, blood sacrifice, and many other things I would consider evils that most true followers of Jesus and many church going Christians as well would condemn.

I have the utmost respect for the scriptures though, and you’re right, much of what I know about Jesus come from the Bible. But I don’t believe it is the perfect, innerant, infallible, word of God, and I don’t see the Bible itself teaching that anywhere either. Nor do I think it is the only valid source for spiritual wisdom, which can also be found in many other sacred writings of old. It seems to me that the word of God is used interchangeably (in most cases) with the spirit of God, as when the word of God came to Ezekiel, the spirit of God then rested upon him.

Also, according to the Bible, the word of God came to all the prophets, and to John, before the Bible was ever written, so that indicates they are not one and the same, plus books don’t come to people. Furthermore, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit/spirit of truth to his disciples, not a book (such as the New Testament). He warned the Pharisees that their diligent study of the scriptures, insomuch as thinking they contained the key to eternal life, was actually one of the things holding them back from coming to him and learning his teachings which would bring them life.

Just my thoughts, which are still often evolving as I continue to learn and study new information and views I had never considered before. My spiritual beliefs and convictions have drastically changed over the past years, and rapidly more recently - going from fundamentalist evangelical to agnostic to the journey I now find myself on, trying my best to follow the way Jesus taught, seek truth, and keep an open mind. I’m sure my views will continue to change in the future, though I doubt I will drift away from the teachings of Jesus as the foundation for my faith.

Thanks for the comment, and hope you have a good day!

There is so much to respond to in your thoughtful and intelligent statement that the responses might be a bit scattered as i respond to parts of it, but here goes:

'blindly taken along with a specific religious interpretation of it as the highest authority.'
i think i see your problem, well everyone's at some point: it is hard to come to the bible without bias's because everyone has had some form of opinion on it, and we have all had many conversations where we have shared those opinions, plus hollywood, telescreen and what lots of other influential artists, writers etc. have had to say on it.

'some parts are imperfect' - i'd say this could refer back to the previous, they might seem imperfect because of either our prejudices, bad translations or our own lack of understanding, but maybe this is because i come to the bible as if it really is God's 100% True Word to man, not wondering whether it is or any other approach, just i'm the student, man and He is the Creator and Father, and as i read His book i will learn what it is we're doing here and how He wants me to behave.

You sum it up this: 'I have the utmost respect for the scriptures' - this is how i read both testaments, but with bells on.

'according to the Bible, the word of God came to all the prophets, and to John' - this is mixed up. 2 Timothy 3:16 says 'all scripture is God-breathed' and Hosea 12:10 states 'I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables. '

but the logos talked about in john 1 is literally the word of God, ie - His plan for mankind, the earth and redemption: the gospel, in other words.

as you probably know, the gospel means good news, and the good news is that God has kept His promise, Jesus was resurrected from death because HE was perfectly obedient to God, as the prototype, mankind 2.0, or 'the son of man' for God's family of children, who will live on the new earth and under the new heavens, with Him. it is summed up really well in 1 corinthians 15:12-28 and revelation 21-22.

with peace & love & faith.

This is all nonsense. Jesus never mentioned the word "karma". Instead he said that people would be rewarded in heaven for their good deeds or punished in hell for their unbelief and their bad deeds.

The Kingdom of Heaven isn't a higher form of consciousness. You're a false teacher. May God properly reward you for this in this age and the age to come.

You’re right, Jesus never mentioned the word karma, he just taught the concept in simple terms. “Whatsoever a man reaps, so shall he sow.” That is the summation of karma in biblical terms. The following teachings of Jesus all illustrate the concept:

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged, for in whatever manner you judge, so too will you be judged.” “Whosoever lives by the sword shall die by the sword.”

If you think this is all nonsense, then take it up with the Master who taught it. If you think anything else I speak of is nonsense, feel free to quote the teachings of Jesus to refute my claims. Otherwise my assertion stands, that the church doesn’t follow the teachings of Jesus, rather religious beliefs about him and doctrines built around various interpretations of the Bible.

As for being rewarded in heaven and punished in hell, not once does Jesus talk about being punished in hell. The word “hell” is not even found in the original texts, it is a mistranslation. Even if it were found in the Bible, it wouldn’t negate the inherent injustice of punishing someone with eternal torment for a non-eternal ‘crime’. As to heaven, in the sermon on the Mount he says to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Is your heart off in the sky somewhere, or in a realm that exists seperate from yourself outside of your body, or is it within you, exactly where Jesus said the kingdom of heaven resides?

You say “The Kingdom of Heaven isn’t a higher form of consciousness,” so then what is it in your opinion? It can’t be a place we go when we die, because Jesus taught it was among people as he walked the earth, and he also said it is “within you.”

As to your claim and judgement that I am a false teacher, it does nothing but goes to show the spirit of judgement and pride so pervasive throughout Christianity, and why so many people reject that religion as I have done, in favor of the love and mercy taught by Jesus.