What Jesus Taught.

         Jesus faced the bankrupt religious system of his people.  The Old testament faith had stopped working as intended.  Competing religious factions had reduced religion to a tick list – hence you have the disciples being criticised for plucking ears of corn on a Sunday.  “Teachers of the law”, full of their own importance, would extract a line from scripture and claim it meant this that or the other.  Jesus knew scripture better than they did and could deal with their attacks on him but was scathing about such people “Beware the Teaches of the Law….” Luke 20:46-47. 

        God sent Jesus with a message.  In essence this replaced a hotchpotch of Old Testament rules intended to stop people being nasty to each other - the "thou shalt nots" - with a directive that we should be nice to each other. 

If you look at what Jesus taught it is almost exclusively about how God wants us to behave
not about what we need to believe .

Pinching a term from Star Trek, His "Prime Directive" was ‘love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself' he said "there are no laws greater than these’ . He said  ‘look for faults in yourself not others’  ‘forgive others if you want God to forgive you” "If you do a good deed or give to charity do it discreetly, it should be an act of love not a means of impressing others".  The sermon on the mount says nothing about belief.  The parable of the sheep and goats says who will go to heaven:

Mark 25  34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.  I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.  I was naked, and you gave me clothing.  I was sick, and you cared for me.  I was in prison, and you visited me.’  “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’  There is no footnote saying that you need to believe this that or the other or belong to this or that Church or you won't be let in. 

To drive home the point Jesus said that a Samaritan who has compassion is more worthy than a Jew who has not, to an audience of Jews who saw themselves as having the one true faith and being God’s chosen people – again emphasising that behaviour is what is important not belief.

       The Church reversed that. Historically it didn’t burn ‘heretics’ at the stake because they didn’t love their neighbour but because they questioned Church doctrine; questioned what the Church said they had to believe.  Just stop and think about that for a minute!    While there have undoubtedly been many wonderful and inspirational people associated with the church in the past and today's Church is a benevolent organisation and a force for good in the world, it inherited its doctrine from an organisation which burnt people alive to maintain its grip on power !!  It therefore seems legitimate to me to return to basics and question that doctrine. 

    The Church got into the habit of promoting its own doctrine first and the teaching of Jesus a poor second and it still does.  In the Church I attend we are asked to "affirm our faith" with the words "We believe and trust in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit - This is the faith of the Church - this is our faith."  A summery of the "Faith of the Church" which  contains nothing actually taught by Jesus and does not contain what he said was important - his Prime Directive -  Love God with all your heart and you neighbour as yourself.  "The faith of the Church" is presented as being belief in the Doctrine of the Trinity thought up in the 3rd century.  The Trinity is the Church's Number 1 must-believe doctrine. In my Church you can't be put on the electoral role just because you try to follow the teaching of Jesus but you can "... if you are in good standing with a Church which teaches the doctrine of the Trinity."  In children friendly family services we have children lighting 3 candles - "one for God the Father, one for God the son and one for God the Holy Spirit".   There are Churches named Trinity. Google the 39 Articles of the Church of England and No 1 says  "Of faith in the Holy Trinity."  The Church calender not only includes a Sunday called "Trinity Sunday" the following Sundays are numbered as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd ........21st, and Last Sundays after Trinty  i.e 42% of the Sundays in the Church calender are referenced to the Trinity doctrine.

  Problem 2 - There is something fundamentally wrong with the Church, something which has always been wrong but has only become a problem because of the new circumstance in which the Church finds itself (Problem 1).  The Fundamental divide between the teaching of Jesus and that of the Church is that Jesus taught about behaviour and the Church prioritises belief - belief in Doctrine it came up with itself.  For some reason it seems obsessed with the Doctrine of the Trinity so that would seem a good place to start but first let us look at the modern perspective.. 

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