Warning: think before believing!

The church teaches:

• the only way to be saved is through Jesus

• Jesus is God (most commonly taught as part of a trinity of one god yet three separate people, not three separate parts; if that seems illogical or confusing, its because it’s a mystery)

• if you’re not saved by believing in Jesus then you’re going to hell

• hell is where Satan and demons are, some believe it is their dominion under their rulership

• Satan is a being that is lord over demons, who are in opposition to God over the eternal souls of humankind

• some believe that Satan has been given rulership over creation

• hell is a place of constant torment (either in and of itself or because the demons torment residents)

• Satan and God are in a battle (though God has won outside of time, the effects are being felt within time) 

• one day Jesus (that part/person of God) will return to put everything right through a battle with Satan

• the purpose of being saved is to gain eternal life and to go to heaven instead of hell, which is where humankind is going if they’re not saved from it

The Bible on the other hand, doesn’t teach any of this!  Yes, you can find some verses that seem to be referring to it, though not if they’re read without bias and/or in context and/or by examining the words and their use in the original language. 

The Torah contains the instructions of God as close as they come.  He is said to have written His ‘ten words’ with His own ‘finger’, and the rulings on those words were given to and recorded by Moses.  The prophets consistently uphold this Torah and warn of punishment for turning away from it and blessing for observing it.

The Torah contains NO teaching on:

• Jesus (at least as taught by the church)
• heaven
• hell
• Satan (as a specific named being)
• demons
• future eternal life (the way its taught by the church)

There are some verses that seem to be referring to some of these words, which can be understood when read in context, without bias and/or by examining the use of key words throughout the text. 

 

The Prophets also don’t contain teaching on any of these things.

There are a few places where it may be seen that the ‘New Testament’ may teach about these things, but again, they are understood when read without bias, in context and sometimes by referring to the original meanings of key words.  The book of John contains most if not all the references used to support divinity of Jesus.   Yet this book isn't written in a literal, factual style like the others, which means it shouldn't be understood that way either.

If God, who teaches us with compassion and mercy, wanting us to know all the things He considers important, and not desiring any to perish, didn’t teach these things; and if the rest of the christian bible doesn’t really contain teaching on these (not references, but teaching) then where did these ideas come from and how did they get so firmly entrenched in modern day religious doctrine among christians?

That’s a good question.  A better one is why would you base your entire faith on things that aren’t taught by God?

A few things I can’t help but notice in study:

1. That pretty much all we need to know is already revealed in the first few chapters of Genesis, for example: the steps God takes to move creation (and our submitted spirits and lives) from a state of chaos and ‘choshek’ to shalom and Shabbat (and the pattern we are meant to follow); the way we fall (religion – our inclination to ‘shema’ any other word than God’s); the dark side of our free will, that is, our desire to be ‘god’ in our own lives, which results in our rejection of God; and His incredible and inexplicable mercy and compassion in the face of that rebellion.  It almost sounds blasphemous, but it seems a picture of a humble God, which seems contradictory to common understanding of what God ‘should be’.  Yet if this is so, and we are ‘made in the image of God’ then shouldn’t we be seeking to live from a mind/will/life that is also this kind of humble, compassionate, merciful?  It really seems to emphasize the critical need for humility and patience with each other as fellow sinners (or prone-to-sin-ners), instead of the usual condescending or critical or dismissive attitude we often hold with each other

2. The apparent contradiction between the utterly rebellious, rejecting, self-justifying ‘pass the blame’ actions and seeming mind-set of Adam and Eve (they never are recorded as having repented)…and God’s seeming actions of ignoring his own conviction and sentence (death) on them, yet He commands Joshua to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan, not only the adults, but the children, babies, animals.  Could they possibly be more guilty than Adam and Eve?  This is jarring and it is often hard to resist trying to explain it, it’s a trust issue at this point that God knows more of the details than I do.  But it is still there waiting for possible illumination. 

3. That there are consistent patterns taught in Torah that have to do with numbers…2, 3 and 7 for example

The number two, for example: the second day of creation isn’t called ‘good’ until the events of day three are initiated; there are two brothers or two wives…and there is a right to a blessing that belongs to the first, but is taken, given, stolen or rejected and it is the second who receives and keeps that right.  Cain/Abel, Jacob/Esau, Leah/Rachel…and then the interesting comment in 1 Cor 15:45 about the first and second ‘Adam’.  According to this text, the first Adam rejected his blessing (that was to be extended to all humankind) and the last Adam received and remained in it and through him, all the other righteous ones find rebirth and renewing; the reversal of what happened in the first Adam. 

4. From all that is written about Jesus it does seem a real possibility that somehow there is a picture of scattering (exile) in the first Adam and regathering (returning) in the last Adam.  Both completely human, but both somehow also unique from all other humans in their original state, and one chose death but the other chose life. Hope and life were rejected by the first but revealed through the last.  And the key seems to be repentance, humility and obedience…which isn’t a new thing!  Though if this is so, that Jesus is the ‘last Adam’ in this sense, then why isn’t there evidence to support it?  The world today seems no better off in any way than the world then, different, but not better. There were ‘tzadiks’ before Jesus and there are ‘tzadiks’ after…why isn’t there a real difference?  In the grand scheme, the concept of Jesus really fits, but the evidence is kind of shaky.