Apostle Paul declared himself the Father of the Christian faith, 1st Corinthians 4:15. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
Whereas even Christ did not consider himself the Father of the faith but rather declared there is only one Father. Mathew 23:9. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
When we look to men as our teachers, leaders, and guides we follow men. But who are we following when we look inside our own hearts, minds, and conscience to meditate? We follow the Spirit of Love when we align our thoughts with everything good and are ready to do the necessary soul work that creates change within. Christ said, “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you” in response to the Pharisees asking when the Kingdom of God will come. And here I see the main difference between Paul’s teachings and Jesus’s teachings.
Jesus taught God (Heaven) was in our hearts and minds, whenever Jesus spoke about Heaven, he was referring to our innermost being. So when Jesus taught there is only One Father and he is in your innermost being, he was training his followers to seek inside themselves to find the truth. But when Paul said I am the father of the faith, follow me as I follow Christ, he was teaching his followers to seek outside of themselves and to look at the man as their example. Thus the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of Paul had nothing in common. If one man says peace is inside this temple, and another man says peace is at the top of that mountain, their followers will not be on the same journey.
Again Jesus emphasized, Mathew 5:20– For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. It is important to note therefore there should not be any intercessor between yourself and the creator living in you. Unless your righteousness surpasses the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, the Evangelists, the Pastors, the Deacons, Rabi’s and Popes, you will not realise the Father dwelling inside you.
A humble person can learn from an Ant and gain great insight into life. But one who thinks God only speaks through preachers has limited themselves from many Life Lessons. A religious leader will only teach you their religion.
When Jesus said Jn 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. He spoke as the good shepherd, the Son of Love, Christ came to show unconditional Love to Humanity and to let it be known the creator is inside creation. What does unconditional Love look like? Because right here, on the topic of Unconditional Love Christianity is thrown into confusion. The voice of Christ is unconditional Love, those who know his voice know his teachings, this is not a matter of doctrine or religion, but an acknowledgement that The Creator’s love has no terms or conditions, and what we freely receive we should freely give. Beautiful words but a very high calling.
Unconditional: without terms or conditions, unquestioning, unqualified, unreserved, unlimited, unrestricted, wholesale, wholehearted; complete, total, entire, full, outright, absolute, downright, out-and-out, utter, all-out, thoroughgoing, unequivocal, positive, express, indubitable, categorical. ANTONYMS LOVE!
Imagine a creator who loves us like this, no matter what we have done, no matter what we believe, we are Loved, such a creator who is also willing to work with us, eternally helping us to become perfect, no matter how we start out or mess up along the way, this is good news.
Verses
The image of an Angry, Jealous God who condemns to Hell his enemies for all eternity, the imagery of eternal weeping, eternal gnashing of teeth without rest. Do we not quake before such a God with fear and trembling? And if God has enemies that he will banish to Hell forever and ever, and we align ourselves with God, then how do we perceive the enemies of God who are on a road to eternal Hell?
Paul teaches that unbelievers should be cursed.
1Cor 16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!
But Jesus teaches to bless unbelievers.
Mt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; Jesus was not representing the Angry Jealous God of the Jews, he was representing the Unconditional Love of the creator living and dwelling in us.
Mark 1: 27 27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? a new teaching—and with authority!
What was “new” about Christ’s teachings? In those days the concept of God was an external being whom we would face on Judgement day. And to this very day, this concept remains strong in the religious world. But Christ taught us the Father is inside us, is with us internally from birth to death and beyond, this enraged the religious world to the point they had him crucified for blasphemy.
To this very day, anyone bold enough to profess exactly what Christ professed about the nature of God is met with the same hatred and anger Christ received from religion.
The Kingdom of heaven is inside each individual, despite their beliefs. Heaven is not inside you because you believe it to be, Heaven is inside you because the creator is Omnipresent, you are made of Life, Love, and consciousness. Christ is calling you into a relationship with the Love that is already in your heart so that you can cultivate that love, empower that love, and express that love to realize your full potential. Eternal Love is either dormant inside you or active inside you, nevertheless, it is inside you no matter who or what you are. You don’t activate that love by joining this group or that group, but by making the conscious decision to live by the goodness within you. After all when you join a religion that claims to be “the only true religion” aren’t they simply asking you to live by the goodness within you, with the extra caveat of being committed to their group and excluding all other groups?
What does your unconditional Love look like? Do you possess the bravery, determination, wisdom and intelligence to even step on such a path?