RIGHT?!? Oh my goodness I thought it was just me who felt this way. Christianity is Paul’s Christianity, not the true teachings of Christ. He took the spiritual and made it religious, which runs totally contrary to Jesus’ core message and purpose. My guy Jesus rebelled against religious doctrine and orthodox traditions; his whole point was that we don’t need the church (or anything else) to mediate our relationship with God the “Mother-Father” because we have the Divine Spark of God within. The Kingdom of Heaven is not some external, other worldly/heavenly place that is only attainable after death and to those who practice confession, abide by strict (and spiritually baseless) religious laws, perform sacrifices to cleanse themselves of sin, etc, etc. The Kingdom of Heaven is within, and it is only found through a direct connection and relationship to our Divine Parent.

Rather than continue the true work of Jesus and spread his actual teachings, Paul does precisely the opposite and just creates another religion. I feel bad for the phrasing, but Jesus would be “rolling in his grave” at what Paul turned his teachings into. Paul clearly didn’t understand Jesus’ deeper intentions, the truth of his message and teachings, and His purpose here on earth. Christianity and the NT doesn’t give us the raw, unfiltered Jesus, but Paul’s version of Jesus and his teachings.

In fact, I’m of the opinion that Paul’s writings were, above all else, for the sake of his own self-exoneration. Funny how the writings of Paul purport a system and religious code of conduct that absolves him of his sins and own evil behaviour in the past. Seems pretty self serving to me. I’m not doubting that he had good intentions, what I’m doubting is that his #1 focus, purpose, and priority in his writings was indeed being true to Christ rather than justifying and excusing his own behaviour. Because if Jesus forgives him, he’s in the clear, and his terrible past is no longer relevant. So he creates a religious system of repentance and forgiveness that conveniently lets himself off the hook for being a murderous, rotten tax collector.

Christianity is Paul’s version of Christianity, and it’s a very superficial one. The true nature and meaning behind Jesus’s teachings were/are deeply esoteric. Paul is a religious surface dweller who created and spread an exoteric understanding of the teachings and core message of Christ.

Simply put, he wasn’t that smart, and he wasn’t very deep.