In conclusion: Returning to The Way of Christ … (09/11/18)
For starters, it is important for the reader to understand that this treatise is not meant to be a criticism of Paul himself. Yes, his letters clearly show him to be a man deluded by an incredibly potent psychological elixir – namely, being born into a life of unfair privilege while simultaneously harboring a disturbingly low level of self-esteem. This combination tempted him to commit atrocious acts of violent injustice upon the innocent and create a life which engendered such intense levels of internal shame and guilt that he ultimately developed a unique theology to compensate for the same – a theology that begins in an unwashable “original sin” and ends in a faith-activated & grace-granted spiritual redemption that was completely unearned by the “saved” and fully unjust towards the “unworthy.” And yet despite the patent dysfunction with which he operated and the blatant injustices his religion perpetrated (and still perpetrates to this day), it bears noting that I have immense respect for the sincerity of Paul’s zeal and the passion with which he enlivened the same, as well as an enormous compassion for how obviously lost he felt during his obviously tortured life …
Secondly, it is just as important to note that this tome is not meant to be a denouncement of Christianity, the modern-day religion founded upon and sustained by the teachings Paul. Yes, it is true that Paulinist dogma does encourage its Christian adherents to bow down to what amounts to nothing less than a celestial dictatorship1 (no matter how “loving” or “kind” its tyrant might well be) and to worship Jesus himself in a manner that is nothing short of idolatry.2 And yet that having been said, all those who have chosen to be “humble as a toddler” (see Matthew 18:3-4) must admit that such conservative believers might very well be correct in their assessment of the Divine.3
Of course, this book has nothing to do with either of these traditional Christian contentions. No, the focus of this work is essentially singular – namely, exposing the simple fact that the religious theologies & spiritual beliefs of Paul of Tarsus and Jesus Christ are at odds with one another, and indeed are diametrically opposed. Where Paul claims that we humans are innately sinful and must be saved by a potentially wrathful God, Jesus reminds his listeners that we humans are all Children of God in waiting (via John 10:34-35 & John 14:12-20 et al), that God is the essence of perfectly unconditional Love (see Matthew 5:48 + 1 John 4:18, Matthew 18:21-22, Luke 6:36, Luke 15:11-32, & John 5:22 et al), and that as such we are all the agents of our own salvation (see Matthew 7:21, Matthew 24:12-14, Luke 10:25-28, & John 13:15-17 et al). Where Paul claims that Jesus is the one & only Son of God and that he must be worshiped as such, Jesus loudly and repeatedly refutes the same.4 Where Paul claims that Jesus will return in oft-wrathful judgment at some point in the future, Jesus quite clearly speaks of an awakening of the “Son of Man” (the divine essence that resides within each & every sentient being) at some point in our current lifetime.5 Where Paul claims that spiritual salvation comes via mental and/or verbal professions of faith that allow for an entrance into heaven for eternity after we die, Jesus repeatedly and consistently explained that salvation comes only through humbly selfless acts of Love that allow us to enter his Kingdom of Heaven while we are still alive (see Matthew 10:7, Matthew 24:12-14, Luke 17:20-21, & John 13:15-17 et al). And finally, and for this treatise quite importantly, where Paul unabashedly claims to be a legitimate “apostle of Jesus Christ” (see Romans 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2 Corinthians 1:1, Galatians 1:1, & Colossians 1:1), Jesus himself warned his listeners against following Paul or any other “false prophets” preaching similarly to him.6
As such, now that the dichotomy between the teachings of Jesus Christ and the religion of Paul have been thoroughly exposed, a single fundamental choice remains – for Christians and non-Christians alike. For the latter, it must be decided whether or not to enliven the selfless Way of Christ (especially in your dealings with Paulinist Christians). And for the former, it must be decided whether you will continue to attend to the edicts of Paul’s modern-day Christian church7 or follow The Way of Jesus Christ (also especially in your dealings with Paulinist Christians), for truly, it is patently impossible to do both.
Amen … Let the latter be so.
“The body that is sown is perishable, but is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, but is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, but is raised in power” ~ Paul of Tarsus (1 Corinthians 15:42-43)
“Blessed are the humble,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven …
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the Earth.”
~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:3-5)
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with common sense, reason, logic, and intellect has also intended for us to fully forgo their use in favor of following a blinded faith … Oftentimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle or a weapon in the hand of another. Indeed some men are so busy worrying about the next life that they’ve forgotten how to gracefully live in this one.” ~ via Galileo & Harper Lee
“I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for You have hidden these things from the wise & the clever and have revealed them instead to the youngest of children … Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but rather only those who do the will of my Father in Heaven … Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. For the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house and yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on stone … Enter [such a house] through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, while the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life … He who has ears to listen, let him hear.”
~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:25, Matthew 7:21-25, Matthew 7:13-14 & Matthew 11:15)
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1Though some Christians like to claim that the condemned have every opportunity to bow down to Jesus before their bodily death – and thus in effect choose their own damnation when they don’t, this argument borders on the ludicrous. Yes, it is true that anyone staunchly adhering to The Way of Christ (e.g. the true “saints” of all the world’s religions – including Christianity) would indeed choose Hell over Heaven – if for no other reason than they, as pure adherents of Jesus’ selfless Way, would want nothing more on their deathbed than to go to Hell and do whatever they could to ease the suffering there – no other humans (other than clinically diagnosed sadomasochists, of course) would do so. Indeed, almost every single human being longs to reside in Heaven after he or she dies, and yet according to Paul’s “gospel” (again, see Romans 10:9-10 & 1 Corinthians 15:1-4) almost all of them will be denied that halcyon reward, and this simply because they didn’t “come to Christ” in an appropriate fashion &/or at the appropriate time. Is this benevolence? Is this anything even faintly resembling the “perfect Love” of which Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5)? Is this punishment even remotely just? Of course not! And I would humbly offer that any human being at all in tune with his or her conscience (the “Advocate within” a la John 14:20-26) knows this to be true.
2Again, this is a contention vehemently affirmed by Jesus himself throughout the Gospels (see Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19, John 5:41, John 7:16, John 8:50-54, John 12:44, & John 14:28 et al).
3Of course, if these “evangelical fundamentalists” are indeed correct, then their choice to abide in such a doctrine and worship such a God ironically precludes them from entering the “Kingdom of Heaven” that Jesus himself announces in the Gospels. Simply stated, as long as one is primarily concerned about his or her own salvation in the hereafter (instead of reaching out selflessly to Care for others come what may) and as long as one arrogantly believes that he or she has exclusive access to God’s Will &/or the “correct” interpretation of Scripture, then – even though entrance into Paul’s believed-in postmortem Paradise might indeed be granted him or her — there will be no entrance into the “Kingdom of Heaven” that Jesus came to offer his true followers; a state of perfect bliss that exists in every present moment of this current lifetime (see Matthew 10:7 & Luke 17:20-21 et al); a Kingdom that can only be accessed by those who set aside their selfish arrogance (see Matthew 18:3-4 & Matthew 23:12) in favor of humbly & courageously walking The Way of selfless LOVE – by those who choose to make their lives about caring for and serving others instead of themselves (see John 13:15-17, John 14:15, & John 15:12 et al); especially the downtrodden in their communities (a la Matthew 25:35-40) &/or the enemies in their midst (a la Matthew 5:44-48 & Luke 10:29-37).
4see Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, Mark 13:32, Luke 12:10, Luke 18:17-19, Luke 22:42-43, Luke 23:46, John 5:22, John 5:30, John 5:41, John 7:16, John 8:28, John 8:42, John 8:50-54, John 10:29, John 12:44-49, John 14:10, John 14:28-31, John 16:26-27, John 20:17, & John 20:21 et al … NOTE as well that, while it is indeed true that he says “the Father and I are one” in John 10:30 and “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” in John 14:11, Jesus also makes it frequently clear that a similarly innate divinity resides latently within each & every sentient being (see John 14:12-26 & 1 John 2:15 et al).
5This interpretation is possibly best evidenced by Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:28, where he openly says, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom” (see also Luke 21:27), if for no other reason than A) every single witness to that claim is already long since dead and B) he himself has quite obviously not yet returned. Logically then, either Jesus is mistaken when mentioning the return of the “the Son of Man” in this passage, or he is not talking about himself. Of course, this potential contradiction falls completely away when we choose to view this and all similar verses (see Matthew 24:30, Matthew 25:31-32, Matthew 26:64, Mark 8:38-9:1, Mark 14:62, & Luke 9:26-27 et al) in a different light – a light that shows them to be describing Jesus’ fundamental belief that we all contain “the Son of Man” within us, and that we can all be “born anew” therewith (a la John 3:3-9) whenever we choose to act accordingly.
6In alignment with the edicts of Deuteronomy 13:1-5 & Deuteronomy 18:22, Jesus openly warns his followers of “false prophets [who] will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray even the elect” (Matthew 24:24 – also Mark 13:22-23). In Matthew 7:15-24 Jesus tells his listeners that they would be able to tell false prophets by the “bad fruit” that would come from the application of their teachings, especially those who – like Paul – performed “deeds of power in [his] name” and openly rejected the Law (see Contrast #01 on page 50 and Matthew 7:23 – where the Greek word in the ancient manuscripts is anomia/Strong’s #458 – a word meaning “lawlessness” or “abrogators of the Law”); much akin to the sadness, fear, anger, discord & dissension that notably erupt whenever the condemnatory dogma of Paulinist Christianity takes root in any group or community. In addition, Jesus told his disciples to spread his Gospel throughout the entire world (see Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, & Luke 224:27) while Paul claimed that his (very different) gospel was primarily to be shared with Gentiles (see Galatians 2:7). And finally, aside from the fact that he clearly designated only 12 men to be his true apostles and never foretold of Paul at all during his ministry, Jesus made it quite clear that his disciples were to teach others to adhere to everything that he had already taught them (see Matthew 7:21-24, Matthew 16:18, & Matthew 28:19-20 et al), whereafter Paul decided to invent his own unique gospel (see Romans 10:9-10 & 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 et al) and go forth to self-adoringly share only a minute portion of Jesus’ Way alongside it (see Romans 2:16, 1 Corinthians 4:16, Galatians 1:24, Philippians 1:7, & 1 Thessalonians 1:6).
7Yes, it is true that Jesus seemingly said “upon this rock I will build my church” to Peter in Matthew 16:18, and yet the Greek word translated here a “church” is the Greek word ekklesia (Strong’s #1577), a word that at the time referred to a “like-minded spiritual congregation” – i.e. in this instance those who actively followed Jesus’ Way, not the modern-day religious institution that pilfered his title of Christ. And this makes sense when look to many of his other sayings in the Gospels – among them “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:19), “I have given them your Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14), and “A new commandment I give to you, that you Love one another. Even as I have Loved you so should you also Love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples: when you show Love for one another” (John 13:34-35) … Indeed, Jesus never once told any of his listeners to go forth and build churches. Instead, he told them over & over & over again to humble themselves by going into their communities to care for the downtrodden and be kind to their enemies. Indeed, what was the “rock” upon which Jesus’ “church” was to be built in Matthew 16? What did Jesus tell Peter and his other disciples just before sternly ordering them to not tell anyone that he was the Messiah (see Matthew 16:20)? It was the very same “rock” that founded the rest of his teachings on salvation throughout the Gospels – the “rock” that reminded his followers that only those who serve will be served; that only those who do the loving will of the all-Loving Father will enter the Kingdom of Heaven; that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)
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