Saving Jesus From Religion

Did Jesus create the Christian religion? And if you believe that, which Christian religion did he create? Is it Catholicism? That's the version all the popular modern churches are based upon. There's millions of people who believe that Jesus directly helped to create the early Catholic church. Is that really Jesus' legacy though? He once said to judge a tree by it's fruits, what are the fruits of the Catholic church? Recently there was a pope who stepped down after it was revealed the church was protecting child abusers and even helping enable abuse (source). They helped to kidnap babies from their parents in Spain (source). They helped with the destruction of the indigenous culture in Canada (source). And that's just a small selection of what they've done recently.

And this is supposed to be Jesus' legacy? Was Jesus an evil bastard or something? I don't believe that, nor do I believe such a wicked organization represents him. I don't believe the protestants are much better either, they just haven't had the same level of power that the Catholics have. They simply haven't had the same level of opportunity for abuse yet.

Jesus gave two commandments, you might think they would be the whole basis of the church and what it means to be a Christian. Nope! Jesus two commandments are largely ignored. The vast majority of christian religions are based upon an interpretation of Jesus' teachings called the Nicene Creed. So a most Christians don't even really have faith in Jesus' words, they have faith in a series of councils, originally organized by a roman emperor and where the main opposition, Arius, was assassinated. Jesus' actual commandments, which had little to do with belief systems and everything to do with Love, come secondary.

Was Jesus a friend of religion? "Hypocrites" and "brood of vipers" were the words he used to describe the religious establishment at the time. Seems to me the current Christian churches share far more similarities with the pharisees of old than they do with Jesus. They still worship money, power and control. I can think of nothing more disrespectful to Jesus than these organizations claiming to represent him.

I'm not even sure what the moral of the story is from their perspective. Since humanity crucified God, God forgave everybody? That's the kind of logic of a madman. Jesus was supposedly a blood sacrifice to God, and through this it opened up the path to salvation? Do you believe an Unconditionally Loving God really desires a blood sacrifice? Especially of a being who's supposed to be God's only son? That's some sick logic right there, no wonder so many of the churches are rotten to the core.

And why is a torture device, used to slowly and painfully kill a person, the symbol of Christianity? Christians worship Jesus' death and suffering, they love seeing him with a crown of thorns and nailed to a cross. Why else would that imagery be so popular? Part of the Christian teachings are how wicked humanity is, and since people believe that, they like to play the part. Then the churches uses the guilt that creates to control people further, while often behaving even worse themselves.

How do we even know what Jesus really taught, what he really said? He must have spoken volumes, yet only a tiny portion of that was written down. And why do people have such faith that the apostles really understood what Jesus was sharing? I certainly don't think Jesus believed that. What did he say to Peter, who's supposed to be the first pope? "Get behind me, Satan" and "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." These are the things Jesus supposedly said to the main founder of the Christian church! Jesus didn't seem to believe these people really understood what he was saying, yet Christians such faith that they accurately represent his teachings.

I Love Jesus! And I can't help but feel mainstream Christianity is ridiculously disrespectful of his message of Love and tolerance. I would even say the Catholic church is the anti-Christ, I doubt there's any other organization that has done more to twist and distort Jesus' message. Jesus gave humanity the blueprint for creating world peace, and all people have to do is Love each other. If you have trouble doing that, begin with forgiveness, it's simple! Isn't that the core of Jesus' teachings?

The Galactic Free Press
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