Michael Moore3
Active Member
83 messages
joined Oct 2003
shadownomad4
Since you seem to believe that Jesus' death on the Cross was truly meant to redeem our sins, let's take a moment to look at this more closely:
Why did Jesus have to die on the Cross?
To pay for our sins.
And what exactly are these sins of ours?
It isn't really about individual sins, but rather sin itself—Original Sin, which occurred when Adam and Eve failed to follow God's command regarding the fruit from the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil."
So, Jesus died to redeem us from Original Sin so we could return to paradise?
Essentially, yes...
If he died so we could return there, why aren't we in paradise right now?
Because paradise doesn't exist as a physical location. It is a state of being within the spirit.
Did Jesus die because of our spiritual state?
Jesus died to demonstrate an infinite level of love and sacrifice, which allows one to achieve that spiritual state known as paradise. The idea is that he provided the ultimate lesson in selflessness and devotion—a lesson we humans are supposed to learn to find our way back. He didn't just flip a switch and unlock the gates for everyone automatically; those gates were always open, but people simply lost the "key" to entering. That’s essentially what happened with Adam and Eve; they forgot they were in paradise and wandered out of it.
Okay, so paradise is a spiritual state. And God cast Adam and Eve out of paradise... but couldn't they have returned through a selfless act of love, much like the one Jesus showed?
In truth, God didn't cast them out; rather, by gaining the knowledge of good and evil, they lost the capacity to perceive paradise. People have misinterpreted this, treating paradise like a physical destination, and the easiest way for them to explain why Adam and Eve were no longer there was to claim God had expelled them.
Then why do we say that Jesus "redeemed" our sins?
Because religion grew out of Jesus' teachings. Religion began to misinterpret his message—whether intentionally or by accident, it doesn't much matter. The end result was that humanity lost the "key" to paradise all over again, which is evidenced by our modern civilization being so deeply rooted in materialism.
Is Jesus the only way to enter paradise?
No. That's a concept imposed by the religions that emerged from following his teachings. That specific mindset is actually proof that religion has strayed from its path; it has become more about "who is right and who is wrong" instead of serving as a vessel for wisdom and teaching. If it were just about sharing knowledge, people could listen if they wanted or walk their own path if they didn't. You can see the deviation in the aggression and coercion practiced by religions worldwide to force their doctrines on others. However, Truth always sounds good; if these teachings were pure and true, people would seek them out naturally. In other words, over time, religion has tainted the original teachings revealed by Jesus and other Christs throughout history.
Other Christs? Isn't there only one "Christ"—Jesus?
That is exactly the kind of thinking religion imposes. To suggest there is only one "Christ" teacher is a product of religious dogma. There have been many Christs, all providing the wisdom that serves as the key to paradise. It's quite absurd to condemn someone for offering you the keys to *their* version of paradise rather than yours—it just shows that the person doing the condemning doesn't truly understand what paradise is or how to reach it, but is instead clinging to a rigid image they feel they must fanatically follow.
So why do people fight so hard for these different versions of paradise offered by various religions?
Usually, it's because they are lost themselves and have built their entire reality on such shaky foundations. Because they are insecure, the vision of paradise constructed by others feels safe to them. They embrace it wholeheartedly because that borrowed vision of paradise is the only certain thing in their uncertain lives, giving them a foundation upon which to build their world.
Is it bad to build one's world on such a premise?
It is, and it isn't.
It isn't bad in the sense that it allows them to find some stability, even if it's based on a misunderstanding of the truth.
Generally speaking, things go south because people tend to judge the world based on their own subjective lens—which is perfectly human. But when someone’s perspective is inherently unstable, they mistakenly assume everyone else is operating from that same shaky ground. Once they settle into a specific vision of paradise, they start trying to force that exact image onto everyone around them, convinced that everyone else is just lost. Naturally, that kind of pressure breeds resistance, making such people counterproductive; they end up causing far more harm than good.
So, if following Jesus' teachings is the answer, why don't people just instantly reach that spiritual state of paradise?
Well, some do, and some don't. The thing is, Jesus' teaching is quite direct and abrupt, skipping all the middle steps. That bluntness works fine for some, but others prefer a slower, more gradual process of learning through things like meditation and incremental realizations.
The main difference is that Jesus' way heads straight for the target, leaving behind a massive void and plenty of unanswered questions about the world at large, whereas meditative techniques and gradual insights slowly build a framework that fills those gaps on the way toward that spiritual state—paradise.
In that case, which approach is better? The path of Jesus or these other methods?
It really depends on the person. The advantage—and the pitfall—of the other methods is that they unlock a whole series of insights that can easily lead to distractions along the path to paradise; however, they also build a much sturdier foundation that doesn't crumble easily when you hit the inevitable spiritual trials that come with the journey.
With Jesus' teaching, you're essentially jumping straight to the finish line, but the risk is that even the slightest trial can trigger intense stress, potentially knocking a person off course and sending them spiraling down the wrong path entirely.
