Yeshua, whose name was mistranslated as Jesus, was a powerful teacher who was committed to sharing the Truth as it had been revealed to him. Through parables and folksy stories, he spread the word about an unconditionally loving and eternally forgiving God. It was a soul-stirring, joyful message that resonated in hearts wherever he went. But as the Bible relates, some of the questions his followers asked reveal that they were also confused by his message.
Like Yeshua, his followers had been reared in the Jewish tradition. Many had committed Jewish law to memory and were expected to live by the letter of that law. So, despite their acceptance of Yeshua’s dramatically different perception of what God is and what God does, his followers didn’t completely replace their old beliefs. Instead, they planted Yeshua’s empowering and revolutionary teachings on top of the lessons they’d learned as children. We’ve been harvesting conflicted fruit ever since.
For example, Yeshua believed that God not only is absolute (unchanging), he believed that God loves us unwaveringly and forgives us unconditionally. In his Prodigal Son parable, he portrayed God as a Father who will welcome us Home with open arms, no matter what we’ve done.
By contrast, the religious tradition of Yeshua’s family portrayed God as a violent, angry Supreme Being who demanded us to slaughter an innocent creature to atone for our errors. Today, such live sacrifices are considered barbaric and acts that are frequently associated with satanic rituals.
It begs the question: Have we digested conflicted fruit? Or do we truly share Yeshua’s belief that:
1. God is always the same and has never changed;
2. God has always been unconditionally loving and forgiving;
3. God doesn’t heinously punish an innocent for another’s wrongdoing?
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