Was what Jesus really saying this:?

Question

I don't mean this to offend ANYBODY so now that that's out of the way I will continue with my question...

Here are the facts:
1)God is a God of LOVE no matter WHAT religion depicts of him/her otherwise.
2)Jesus taught that LOVE was the greatest commandment, to turn the other cheek, and to love thy neighbor
3)Jesus taught that 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within YOU', so wouldn't that mean the kingdom of hell could be within you too?
4)Jesus preached against religion (do's and don'ts you HAVE to follow to 'make it') and not spirituality.
5)Could it be that God was sick and tired of all the killing of poor animals and innocent people and the stupid rules the OT followers made up in His/Her name so He came down in human form to teach us that we didn't have to do that anymore because didn't God even say that he knows even the sparrow?
6)Didn't God say that he would put the laws on our heart (not a book)? So then isn't our heart what we should let guide us and not some man made book?

So I believe that Jesus died to show us that there is more to life than this one, and that if we live a life with a clear conscious we will be alright. So why then do Christians (I use this term broadly) teach everything BUT what Jesus taught? I am just curious on your thoughts. Thank you all for participating!

Answer 1

I assume that since you are talking about Jesus, you are speaking about Christianity, although it's odd how you keep saying "him/her." In Christianity, God is male--as a Spirit, He doesn't necessarily have an actual gender, because gender leads to reproduction of a species, and spirits don't reproduce--but we call Him "male" because He refers to Himself as a Father, using words in male declensions to describe Himself, etc. It would therefore be proper to refer to Him only as "Him," because that seems to be what He Himself prefers. So adding the "her" only spreads confusion as to which religion you are speaking of. Just FYI.

1) obviously. God is a Person and a Person has His own attributes, regardless of what other people think of that Person.

2) The Greatest Commandment in Christianity is "Love God with every part of your being," and the second greatest is "Love thy neighbor as thyself." All other commandments come from these two, just as the second commandment comes from the first. In other words, in order to have the second commandment (love the neighbor), you must first accept the first commandment (love God). All failures to love can be said to stem from not loving God.

3) When Jesus said that the "kingdom of Heaven" was in YOU, He was referring to salvation and the Holy Spirit. Essentially, He was declaring that people who belong to the Church (have the Holy Spirit in them) are the inheritors of Heaven. He did not mean that there isn't an actual location called Heaven (in Judeo-Christianity "Heaven" is simply the presence of God). Further, He didn't mean that there isn't an actual location called Hell ("Hell" in Judeo-Christianity is the absence of God). But, in reference to your statement, it is best to quote that "virtue is its own reward, and sin its own punishment." That is, when people are separated from God here on earth, they are suffering because of what they do simply because that separation is painful. Likewise, people who are close to God on earth are joyful, because the closeness is so wonderful. The same with eternity and the afterlife, only much more amplified (we will be in either the True Presence of God or His true absence).

4) i am aware that the terms "religion" and "spirituality" are becoming less synonymous over the years, but they are essentially the same thing. Religion merely implies order within Spirituality, and spirituality without religion is chaotic and little help to a truly thirsty soul. False religion, on the other hand, has no spirituality in it, but simply has the order left behind. Hence the rules and regulations remain, but they are orders of men and not God. So the pharisees creates whole systems of rules not made by God, overbearing rules that really served no true purpose except for them to exercise control over people. God however creates good rules that help the soul of he who follows them: for example, the commandment to love thy neighbor. That is a rule, and that is Religion, an ordered Spirituality. Spirituality without religion could not have commandments like that.

5) The OT is a highly symbolic book, but just because it was symbolic doesn't mean the events really didn't happen. For example, you mention the sacrifice of animals. This is a symbol of the future coming of Christ, Who was sacrificed for men's sins. The animal sacrifice also educated people about their guilt: it showed them that they had done wrong and deserved, under a Just God, to be punished for it. But the animal was a scapegoat, something they could transfer their guilt and wrongdoing to, so the animal would be punished instead of them. It's not unlike a Middle Ages whipping boy, where if the prince did something bad then the whipping boy is the one who was punished for it. This sacrifice introduced to the Israelite nation the concept that something else could pay for someone's sins, aside from that someone himself. This led the way to Jesus, Who paid our price for us. Therefore, animal sacrifice was prophecy, prophecying Jesus' death, and it was no longer necessary after Jesus died.

As for the people who died, they were not sacrificed, they were executed. This was more in line with Justice. The rules for execution seem harsh to us today. But that is because our ideals and penal codes have been influenced by Jesus' coming, which introduced the concept of God having Mercy into the world. The simple way to think of it is like this: God is both Just and Merciful. Justice is giving the wrongdoer what he deserves: eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Mercy, however, is the giving of undeserved pardon. How can God both pardon & punish a wrongdoer at the same time? Simple: He punishes Jesus in our stead, therefore the guilt is gone and Justice shown, but He gives us Mercy because it is Jesus & not us that are punished for our sins.

So what about a time before Jesus? Sin had not been paid for by Him, so there could logically be no Mercy, only Justice. Hence anyone who did something wrong had to be punished. Obviously, however, God did not like this situation, or else He would not have sent Jesus to die for us in the first place. Because of Jesus, the "Laws of Mercy" are now in effect.

6) part of what the "laws in our heart" is talking about is this: Mankind is spiritually made in the Image of God. God is Good. Therefore mankind, as God's Image, is also Good. The Fall, however, corrupted this Image of God that is in mankind. This means that humanity now has an urge to sin, do bad things, and be wicked. But the Image is still there--it's wounded, but it can still sometimes show through. Think of it like the Angel on one shoulder but the Demon on the other. Because of the remaining Image, mankind still knows some things are good (Charity, love, kindness, etc)--and we know it is good instinctually. But we still have a propensity to be bad, and that badness can block the good and not let it grow in us (just like a cloud--Original Sin--can block the sun--God--from growing a seed--innate Goodness of humanity). Sin doesn't let goodness grow in people as individuals, as well as not allowing goodness to grow in society as a whole.

Because mankind's Image of God is corrupt, we cannot trust our hearts, which are now both good and bad. Everyone thinks his heart is good, but it is also bad. We are not capable of discerning whether or not our heart is lying to us--because if it is, how are we to know? Fortunately God wrote down His laws and His expectations in a Book, the Bible, and by reading it we can straighten ourselves out. Think of the Bible like humanity's owner's manual. If everyone followed every rule in there perfectly, the world would be perfect. Unfortunately because of sin nobody follows the rules perfectly, which is where Jesus comes in. He takes away our sins so that we can no longer fear Justice, and instead we can work at being better.

You speak about the 2 greatest commandments (Love God & love your neighbor). Well, look at what Jesus Himself said: all other commandments come from these two. Where are these commandments and all the others that come from them written down? In the Bible.

Logically, one can't have it both ways. You say that God said He put His laws on our heart, and ask whether this means we should follow our heart but not the Book. But where did you read that "God put His laws on our hearts?" In the Book! In fact, the Book recounts how people's hearts were wicked and they turned away from God, so He said He would turn them back to Him and "write His laws on their hearts" so they wouldn't turn away again. What are the Laws that He wrote? The Bible. SO, if anything, the Bible is what is written on our hearts! If its written there, we should definitely follow the Book. Please notice that God did not say follow your heart. He says "follow the Laws written ***on*** your heart."

Furthermore, the Bible is not a man-made book. It was written by men, but they were inspired by God. The many metaphors and prophecies in it show this. A little research will reveal to you how intricate the OT is in terms of metaphors and design, as well as propecy.

Blessings. Great questions. :D

Answer 2

In the OT the prophets wrote about the coming of the Messiah. For instance: Psalm 22. Jesus was the fulfillment of those prophecies. If Jesus wouldn't have come then all of the prophecies of the OT would be at worst false at best rhetorical. We would have no proof that these people were truly prophets sent by God. In the Book of Deuteronomy God tells Moses to tell the people that if what a so called, "prophet" says doesn't come true than that person is no prophet (from God anyway) and you should not believe him/her.
If you don't read about the Lord Jesus, how do you know him? If you never read Beowulf, for instance; someone could tell you he was a brave fighter. But since you didn't read it you would not know who he fought, why he fought, and for whom he fought. Knowledge is power, that's why the atheists have such weak arguments because their knowledge comes from another atheist not from a higher being. Read, learn with an open mind and then you will know and be enlightened

Answer 3

1) Yes, He taught that God was a God of love, but also made it very clear that He's a God of wrath a justice as well. Yes, God WANTS everyone to come to repentance of sins, but not everyone's going to and there are harsh penalties for not doing so. Nothing unholy will enter Heaven, and the only way to become holy again is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for your sins.
2) According to Jesus, the 2 great commandments of law are :Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. His justification: upon these two commands are all the law and the prophets. Basically, He boiled all of the OT down to these two things saying that that's what it's all about. If you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself, you will not need to worry about doing all the rest of the law because you will have already been doing it.
3) Luke 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

What He's saying here is not that the actual Kingdom is within us but that the knowledge of it is within us. There is too much said elsewhere, even in Luke's gospel, for this to be saying the Kingdom is within us. He's warning us about false prophets who claim that the kingdom has already come when we're not sure. He's saying don't listen to them because when the Kingdom comes, it will be something we already know within, we won't need to be told.
4) Jesus did speak out against some religions, namely the Pharasees and the Saducees, but included the scribes with them often. He did this because with both groups they had taken the OT and made it a thing of total repression, which was never what God intended. They flaunted their own wealth and supposed goodness around not realizing they were spiritually dead, and these were the religious leaders of the day. I think Jesus really doesn't much care about religion, He just wants us to believe. What tag you put on it very likely doesn't matter to Him a whit.
5) Jesus came to earth to fulfill the OT and set in place a new law of grace. He was overwhelmingly successful at both tasks. Also, the rules of the OT aren't stupid, nor were they. The law was given to make sin as completely sinful as it could be by showing us what the standard of God is and how far we are from it. Jesus came to span that gulf.
6) The time has not yet come when God has written His Word on our hearts, so no, you can't just follow your heart. At this time your heart is desperately wicked, evil above all things. Jeremiah 17: 9The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? That, and also the Bible is not man-made. It is God's word, not man's.

Answer 4

I understand where you are coming from, I really do, I went through the same soul searching and it took finding a good church to help me come to terms with it.
What I have learned so far in life is that you are right not every single word in the bible is accurate but the fundamentals are there, the teachings that God is love is in there, where else did you learn that? if the bible was not there the teachings of Jesus would have died away long ago, the bible is like a manual for life, the great how to book spoken by God and interpreted by man there are flaws for sure but the underlying meaning is there for those that take the time to look and it takes looking to find it so don't toss aside your bible just yet, I suggest finding a good church which I know is not easy these days as so many have strayed from the true essence of God's teachings and go from there, good luck in your spiritual journey

Answer 5

First of all, I give you great credit for original thinking! I am always impressed when someone thinks these things out for him or herself rather than just repeat -slogans- they've been taught.

I was not brought up Christian. I read the New Testament on my own and decided for myself what I thought Jesus was saying. And to me it seemed Jesus was very strongly behind the concept of the Brotherhood of Man, that we are all in the same boat, God created us all and loves us all about the same. It makes me cringe when I see Christians use the New Testament as a justification for intolerance or nationalism or 'crusading'. But this is an example of someone using religion only to justify what he wanted to do in the first place, and sadly that's not rare at all in almost any religion.

Jesus' ministry really -was- all about love! He traveled around the countryside for a year or two healing the sick, raising the dead, and teaching people to love and respect one another. He could deal with sin and human weakness without losing his cool, and even unbelief. It was only when he got to Jerusalem, to the seat of his own religion, and saw how hypocritical and corrupt the leaders of the religion were that he lost his cool and got upset. Today I think he'd be just as angry with the Falwells and Robertsons of the world who use Christianity as a cover for a message that is really more political and economic than religious.

Back in the very early days of Christianity, before the New Testament was canonized, there was even a group of Christians who believed the God of the Old Testament and of the New Testament were two different gods! The God of the OT was all about jealousy and anger and vengeance, the God of the New Testament was all about love and forgiveness, and Jesus came to tell us that the old rules no longer applied!

Answer 6

I am a Christian and I would like to speak as one

1) Jesus Christ is a loving and mercyful God

2) Jesus did teach us to turn the other cheek, and to love thy neighbor, however I do believe that worshiping a false God is the only inforgiveable sin. He teaches us to love the sinner hate the sin. Just because we love someone does mean that we have to condone their lifestyle. We are still responsible as Christians to live by the laws set forth in the bible.

3) If your souls gonna burn in hell, does it really matter where the proverbial location is going to be. I mean it's not as if you are going to require a GPS to get there.

4) I am not a Catholic and I don't believe that you get to Heaven by deeds. The only way you get to Heaven is through a personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

5) Is a little bit of a run on sentence and a bunch of thoughts mixed together. The new testament and the life and death of the lord Jesus Christ takes away the sins of the world. But only for those that believe in him. The rest will still perish. I know people don't like to hear this but there is no sense in candy coating the truth of God. Either you make a decision to spend eternity in Heaven worshiping the Lord God or spend it in Hell. It's that simple. Salvation is a personal choice, one that no one can make for you. The rules of the Old Testament are still followed by the Jewish faith because they do not believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah so in fact they believe they will get to Heaven by following the rules set forth in the Old Testament, or by deed, Christians are saved by grace. So one does not get to Heaven by deed alone.

6) The Bible is the devine inspiration of God. Okay, how else could you explain a work written by different men, mind you fishermen and sheppards not doctors and lawyers, having consistancy throughout, when all of the books were written by different men. Don't you think if man wrote this book he would of put his own egotistical spin on the book in the bible that he wrote? Don't you think he would give glory to himself?
because that is how man is, egotistical by nature. This book is a divine inspiration of God. It was written over a 3000 year period. The first books are called the 5 scrolls and are attributed to Moses. Non-believers can deny it all they want. The bible is the word of the living God. It is truth and it is without fail the most read book in the history of the world.

About the heart what good is listening to your heart if the devil resides there? The only way listening to the your heart will work is if you have asked Jesus to come into your heart and you have accepted him as your personal Lord and Savior. That is why the bible is written and that is why it should be read, to give you guidance. The Lord won't live where he is not wanted.

Anyway, I just wanted to respond to some of your thoughts. If you would really want more answers to your questions go to the library and check out a good study bible. The NIV is wonderful because it allows you to understand the written word of God. Any way, may God Bless you on your quest to find the truth. I give glory to the Lord God for he alone is worthy.

Answer 7

1) God is love that is true, but God is also a just God, and a loving God that will also punish those who do not do his will, just like a loving father will punish his child for disobeying.
2) Jesus did teach that love is the greatest commandment to help us learn to have self control and self denial. When we act in love we don't hurt other people we respect them. We don't have to agree with them or try to force them to change. Jesus respect those who chose not to follow Him, He was dissapointed and greived for their loss.
3) The Kingdom of Heaven is in those that do the Fathers will and follow Him.There is no kingdom of hell satan has no power over the followers of Christ unless they give it to him.
4) Jesus preached against the religion that the pharisees were forcing on the people that was too rigid and they weren't even following their own rules. They were using the temple to rob people and sometimes even worship false idols in the temple. These priests could not even recognize the true Son of God. That still exists today even in christian churches (O MY). I say this because if we can't recognize in ourselve the very things that Jesus preached against then we are not true followers, and we don't have him in us.
5)God was tired of all the things that people were doing to appease false gods, or to find acceptence. That is why He established the laws that are found in Deuterononmy in the old testament. These laws established the sacrificial laws for selecting the perfect 1st born lamb or goat to sacrifice for their sins. There were all kinds of sacrifices to be made for every sin imaginable. God didn't want to establish these laws but the people insisted, He wanted them to seek Him and His will for them. They didn't want to do that. They chose, God respected that choise even though it broke his heart.
6) God did put his law on our hearts when his Son was sacrificed, but that did not do away with the laws it only fulfilled them. The 10 commandmants are still in effect and must be obeyed, the festivals are also still in effect.
7) When God but the law on our hearts he knew that we would not be able to follow them as he wanted us to so we are still to read his instruction manuel so he can teach us the correct way to live. God knows that we are not able to tell the difference between lust and love. Most people that think they are in love are really in lust. The majority of all people don't have a clue what real love is, parents come the closest with their children, but even they sometimes don't get it right. If we do what you suggest than peodiphiles would be able to have little boys and girls to make love to. Is that what you want? When you remove the standards of the Holy Book you have no standard. The humanists would have you believe that man can determine for himself what is right and wrong and if it feels good it must be good. So what do you do when a pedophile tells you that he loves the way it feels when he forces himself on a baby or maybe its your child, or brother or sister he wants? Your standard is if it feels good it's OK. People don't think this all the way through because they don't want to admit that they are wrong. Society must always have a higher standard than man can come up with. God, and the Holy Bible is that standard.

Answer 8

Have you ever tried to teach allot of people at the same time? One thing I have discovered, is I say one thing, and each one of them hears something, but not always what I said. They make associations I never would.

I think the bible was written by other people than Jesus, by people who wanted to further their religion. I do believe that Jesus taught what you are saying, and tried to teach it in many ways, but it was interpreted, just like the parables to mean what the beholder wanted it to mean.

And yes, we do carry our own hell, and heaven. I should say we make our own hell of sufferings that are not real. Wasting our time worrying what others think, judging others, and spending time railing against things that we have no control over rather than making actions that might help others.

We as humans, do not have a long view of our own life. We think and respond to the stimulus of the moment. Losing the long aim of our life, leaving our actions to be guided by random pleasures and pains. We are essentially a boat without a captain. And this is why people who can act towards an aim are so amazing to us .... and Jesus was one of those.

be well, be brave find your heart and hold on
Star Spinner

Answer 9

1. Yes God is Love, among other things like Justice, Righteousness, Immutability, Veracity, etc..

2. No argument there.

3. Jesus did not teach that the kindom was "in" us. He taught that the kindom was at hand. I.E. we were gonna be there soon, or not.

4. No, Jesus preached that the old law had passed away. But He also presented many mandates himself. And He said "if you love me, you will keep my commandments." Love is not just a feeling, it requires action. I can say I love my parents, but when I disobey them and rebel against them, I am not showing love to them.

5. No it couldn't be that. God made the law. The law he made is talked about in the old and new testament. Jesus made reference (as did the apostles) to it as being a teacher which brings people to Him. So Jesus taught that the law was fulfilled, but not that it was evil. It was a good thing, given by God. Moses (the same one who recieved the law from God) prophecied about Jesus. Jesus said that He did. This is a quote from Jesus.
Joh 5:46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.
Joh 5:47 "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

6. The law in your heart is your conscience. It tells you basically what is right and wrong, whether you've read the bible or not. So if you sin, you have no excuse. You can't tell God "I didn't know it was wrong to lie and steal" because in your heart, in your conscience you did know it was wrong, and you did it anyway.

Answer 10

Dear sister you need to add Isaiah 9:6-7, I Timothy 3:16, I John 3:16, Zechariah 12:10, Revelation 1, Psalms 45 amongst others to the passages that meditate on. pls do it without a any premeditated bias and you will discover that Jesus is the LORD GOD manifested as human and therefore the LORD GOD. with love, M.E.N.U.

Answer 11

You are right!

Christianity is not about living a "religious" life.
It is living a Spiritual life with the one, true, living God.
That is why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
The only true way to God and that life is through Him.
I've been down many different paths...
He could not make this exclusive claim, unless it was TRUE!
People for thousands of years have found that it is.