There should be a willingness to abandon any teaching, whether it came before Jesus or was added after him, that violates what Jesus actually taught. That means letting go of certain biblical interpretations that many people have clung to as the literal word of God their entire lives, even when those teachings can’t honestly stand side-by-side with Jesus’ message without collapsing under the contradiction.
| Topic | Jesus taught | Later Christianity often taught (post-Jesus emphasis) |
|---|---|---|
| What “saves” you | Doing God’s will + inner transformation | Believing correct doctrine / “faith alone” |
| Proof of spirituality | Fruits matter (what you actually become) | Religious identity + declarations (“I’m saved,” “I’m Christian”) |
| The Kingdom of God | Present and accessible now | Mainly after death (“heaven later”) |
| God’s nature | A merciful Father who forgives | A judge whose wrath needs to be “satisfied” |
| Forgiveness | Mandatory, non-negotiable | Often treated as optional, secondary, or symbolic |
| How you treat others | Love your neighbor, love enemies | “Love your group, condemn outsiders” (tribal faith) |
| Who’s “in” | Outsiders can be closer to God than religious insiders | “Our religion = the only acceptable path” |
| Sin | A spiritual sickness / blindness to heal from | A legal guilt status you’re born condemned under |
| Repentance | Change your mind / awaken / turn back | “Admit you’re bad, accept the payment, you’re covered” |
| Judgment | Based on how you lived (mercy, compassion, actions) | Based on belief status (saved vs unsaved) |
| Wealth & status | Detachment from money + humility | Prosperity-style religion or “wealth = blessing” culture |
| Religious leaders | Jesus confronts religious elites and hypocrisy | Church authority often becomes unquestionable |
| Rules vs spirit | Rules never override love, mercy, and truth | Legalism and rule-policing become “holiness” |
| Violence & enemies | Enemy-love and non-retaliation | Nationalism, war-blessing, culture-war Christianity |
| Who is greatest | The greatest is the servant | The greatest is often the loudest, richest, most “powerful” |
| Worship vs imitation | Follow his teachings | Worship Jesus while ignoring his actual instructions |
| Fear | “Do not fear” (fear blocks the Kingdom) | Fear used as a tool: hell, doom, shame, control |
| Heaven / hell emphasis | Kingdom + transformation is central | Hell avoidance becomes the sales pitch |
| Purity | Focus on heart purity (intent, love) | Obsession with external purity (image, behavior-policing) |
| Law | The “law” is fulfilled in love | The “law” becomes weaponized for control |
| “Knowing God” | Direct relationship with God within | External gatekeeping through institutions |
According to teachings injected into the New Testament after Jesus died, God is apparently very specific when it comes to fashion styles.
Jesus showed that you can oppose immoral or destructive behavior without hating the person committing it. But as history has made painfully clear, the temptation to hate the person instead of rejecting the act has been irresistible—not just for individuals, but for Christianity as a whole. Even during Jesus’ own lifetime, he had to correct this instinct directly, teaching people not to condemn and hate the woman caught in adultery, but instead to recognize the wrongdoing without turning her into an enemy.
And as the Bible moves beyond the Gospels, we see a clear shift: the focus drifts from practicing what Jesus taught to simply claiming faith in him. That’s a direct contradiction. Jesus didn’t teach a religion of passive belief, he taught transformation through lived action. Faith was never meant to replace integrity, compassion, and behavior. Yet over time, “believing in the right spiritual figure” became the priority, and the entire point of what Jesus was teaching got lost in the process.
The changes to the teachings of Jesus didn’t stop there. Later scripture increasingly framed Christianity as a story about the wrath of God requiring a sacrifice—where Jesus is punished instead of you. And the more you examine how Christianity’s spiritual beliefs evolved over time, the more you see an overarching theme: requiring humans to do less and less of what Jesus actually taught.
In truth, Jesus taught that God forgives because God is merciful—and he taught people to become just as forgiving. So the entire “sacrifice” narrative was once again something added later, and it served as yet another way to get Christians to do less and less of what Jesus was actively instructing people to do. The message quietly becomes: “Jesus paid the price for you, so don’t worry about practicing anything he asks of you.” And the irony is that all of these toxic teachings sit in the very same New Testament where the Gospels comfortably reside.
Another major distortion was the shift toward “hell” becoming the primary incentive for following Jesus—when Jesus never taught that fear of hell should be your motivation. It’s an obvious control mechanism, and it’s one of the things non-Christians are absolutely right to call out. Fear as a tool of obedience completely contradicts what Jesus taught, because he repeatedly emphasized letting go of fear—not clinging to it. Yet this distortion is still alive today, where many people only “believe in Jesus” because they’re terrified of burning forever in a lake of fire, which is frankly not something a merciful God would do if you’re actually paying attention to what Jesus taught.
Next, we have one of the primary catalysts for the creation of this website: the dismantling of this widespread belief that what Jesus described as the “Kingdom of God” (in other words, the universe) is a post-death reward, instead of something you can experience and achieve now, the way Jesus actually taught.
Bringing this up to contemporary Christians almost always triggers pushback, because the contamination of Jesus’ teachings has been baked so deeply into modern Christianity that many refuse to believe the obvious: that this awakening to oneness with the universe, something already present within each of us, is accessible right here and right now. And you’d think people would react to this with excitement. You’d expect elation at the idea that this euphoric state of existence doesn’t require death to access. But in my experience, traditional Christians don’t respond that way. They reject it, despite Jesus literally describing this experience as being “at hand,” meaning available now and within which means exactly what the word means. Within you. Not an external or far off location.
On top of that, conformity to the rules and dogmas of organized religion gradually became more important than what Jesus emphasized: love, justice, compassion, and inner integrity. Jesus was constantly pushing back against religious bureaucracy and spiritual power structures—and yet, in the aftermath of his life and teachings, religious power structures sprang up everywhere in his name.
Suddenly, it became “churches about Jesus,” focused on celebrating him as a figure, instead of actually living and practicing what he taught. We see this every day. Turn on almost any church broadcast on the radio or TV and you’ll hear sermon after sermon obsessing over “accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,” while spending little to no time teaching people how to embody his teachings in any real, faithful way.
And the moment you start absorbing New Testament material that contradicts what Jesus taught, you’re already starting at a disadvantage—behind the curve from the beginning. Jesus centered inner spiritual transformation, not external religious systems. He focused on awakening, not building institutions.
That’s why one of the main taglines on my website is “spirituality, not religion.” And that isn’t some trendy slogan, it’s a deliberate echo of what Jesus himself was trying to teach.
This ties directly into how church structures and religious networks eventually became gatekeepers for who supposedly “gets into heaven.” Once “heaven” was framed as a place you have to earn entry into, churches conveniently positioned themselves as the institutions that get to decide who qualifies. And this is despite Jesus teaching that no institution is necessary, only a direct connection with our higher Source. From there, the dominoes fell fast: endless denominations, endless churches, endless divisions—all built on normalizing teachings that directly contradicted what Jesus taught. And honestly, if someone ever appeared on the world stage truly restoring Jesus’ original message in a way that would dismantle this massive, million-dollar church industry, I can’t imagine they’d be welcomed with open arms. That alone shows how far Christianity has drifted from the actual teachings of Jesus.
This bureaucratic church infrastructure also demanded complete obedience to the institution itself, under threat of eternal punishment, usually framed as “hell,” which Jesus never taught the way modern Christianity does. “Submit to authority” became the slogan, even though Jesus spent his entire life resisting and challenging religious authorities. The breakdown of Christianity as a true spiritual path didn’t take long after Jesus died. It began almost immediately.
The next major violation of what Jesus taught is tribalism, something I’ve encountered far too often. Anyone who isn’t Christian, or isn’t the “right kind” of Christian within a specific denomination, is automatically judged as hellbound. That mindset is completely incompatible with what Jesus taught. He instructed his followers to see others as brothers and sisters, as neighbors—not as enemies or outsiders. And yet the urgency Christians often have to insist “our faith is the correct faith!!” reeks of toxic tribalism. It’s the exact opposite of what Jesus was trying to build. It gets especially bizarre when people are dismissed as “new age mystics” or followers of “eastern religions,” even though Jesus taught many of the same fundamental truths those traditions teach. The message becomes: “We’re better than you, even though we’re teaching the same things.”
And that “we’re better than you” mentality isn’t spiritual at all, it’s pure ego. And ego is the very thing Jesus was trying to eliminate.
Another danger of tribalism is what it quietly replaces: moral guidance. The ethics a faith is supposed to cultivate get swapped out for something far easier—mere membership in the tribe. And once that moral compass disappears, anything can be tolerated, no matter how hateful the ideas or actions become—see Nazis and MAGA. That’s how self-declared Christians can push cruelty and prejudice in direct violation of what Jesus taught, without a second thought or even a flicker of hesitation about the morality of what they’re doing.
The next violation of what Jesus taught is one of the most critical distortions that Paul introduced into Christianity: the constant framing of humanity as guilty, depraved, and condemned by God. That thought system didn’t fade out, it survived and became the backbone of the religion. To this day, Christianity is widely experienced as the religion of guilt.
But Jesus never taught by guilt-tripping people. He wasn’t running around telling people they were inherently depraved and disgusting in the eyes of God. His message was the opposite: return to remembering your oneness with all things, be healed, forgive, and be restored.
And maybe the biggest contamination of all is the shift from simply following Jesus, as he instructed, to worshiping him. Something he undeniably and explicitly never taught anyone to do. Ask any Christian to find a verse where Jesus says they must declare him “Lord and Savior,” or worship him as God, or treat him as a deity, and they won’t be able to. It’s not there.
If you actually stick to what Jesus taught, you can’t avoid seeing these deviations for what they are. When Jesus told people to follow him or believe in him, he meant to emulate him—to live the way he lived and embody the truth he embodied—not to worship him, and not to elevate him into God Himself.
Yes, people in that era were clearly having intense emotional fan reactions to him. And when someone is healing others, raising consciousness, and helping people reconnect to something universal that already exists within all of us, you’re going to get fan behavior. You’re going to get people projecting divinity onto the messenger. But the excitement and deification coming from the crowd doesn’t mean Jesus ever claimed to be a deity.
In fact, he repeatedly referred to himself as the “Son of Man” in other words, human.
The Pre-Jesus Contamination of Christianity
That being said, once you accept that the writings in the New Testament are far from perfect, we also shouldn’t be afraid to examine the Old Testament. There are commandments and passages in it that are completely incompatible with what Jesus taught, and pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone.
It’s not uncommon for people to cite Old Testament verses when they’re trying to justify hatred—especially hatred toward groups they already have a bias against. And at this point, the litmus test should be simple: if an Old Testament commandment does not align with the teachings of Jesus, it should not be upheld as a spiritual standard today.
Because we’ve now reached a place where people justify hatred toward gay people by pointing to the Old Testament—even though that hatred directly betrays what Jesus taught. So going forward, any Christian who insists on using the Old Testament as a source of spiritual guidance has to make sure their interpretations line up with Jesus. And hating gay people is not one of those things.
Even if someone wants to insist that homosexuality is “sinful,” that’s their prerogative. But Jesus’ approach was never “hate the person.” He taught the exact opposite: love the sinner and hate the sin. And when you add in the overwhelming reality that many gay people are born that way and cannot simply “change,” it becomes completely preposterous to hate people for something beyond their control.
This is one of those situations where the correct response is: mind your business.
And honestly, the LGBTQ community continues to be one of the clearest daily tests of whether Christians actually follow the teachings of Jesus—or whether they’re just engaging in performative Christianity. So thank you, LGBTQ community, for making it easier to identify who is Christian in name only, versus who is genuinely living out what Jesus taught.
Because Jesus never said anything about gay people.
And for Christians who enthusiastically cite Old Testament scripture to support their hatred, it’s deeply dishonest to cherry-pick which verses they want to uphold.
If someone wants to stand by their decision to hate gay people “because the Bible says so,” then they need to explain why they ignore countless other Old Testament commands. They also need to be asked plainly why they aren’t stoning gay people to death if they truly believe those verses are direct orders from God and still binding today. Because that’s the logical endpoint of their argument, whether they want to admit it or not.
And beyond that, this entire approach ignores a simple reality: many Old Testament teachings are so blatantly incompatible with what Jesus taught that no one who claims to follow Jesus can honestly uphold them. The contradictions are not subtle. They’re obvious. They’re unavoidable.
So Christians need to start letting go of this idea that they can juggle both the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as if they perfectly align. They don’t. The Bible is not a perfect book, and if Jesus is truly going to be the gold standard for Christians, then that means dropping distortions introduced in both the New Testament and the Old Testament.
Some of these Old Testament instructions are so extreme and ludicrous that you’d be hard-pressed to find a modern Christian who could reasonably defend them—at least without exposing that they don’t actually believe in “literal obedience” at all, only selective obedience when it suits them.
And that’s the point: there’s no shortage of Old Testament material that proves, unequivocally, that it isn’t a flawless text. Meanwhile, the teachings of Jesus set a far higher standard, one that functions as a clearer, more ethical, and more morally coherent test for what is actually good.
| Old Testament teaching (verse) | What Jesus taught (verse) | Why it conflicts |
|---|---|---|
| “An eye for an eye…” (Exodus 21:23–25) | “Do not resist an evil person… turn the other cheek.” (Matthew 5:38–39) | OT permits proportional retaliation; Jesus teaches non-retaliation. |
| Kill witches/sorcerers (Exodus 22:18) | Mercy over condemnation (Matthew 5:7) | OT commands execution; Jesus teaches mercy as a spiritual ideal. |
| Death penalty for adultery (Leviticus 20:10) | “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” (John 8:7) | OT mandates killing; Jesus halts stoning and exposes hypocrisy. |
| Death penalty for gay sex (Leviticus 20:13) | “Judge not…” (Matthew 7:1) + Love your neighbor (Matthew 22:39) | OT commands death; Jesus centers love and warns against condemnation. |
| Death penalty for blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16) | Love enemies / pray for persecutors (Matthew 5:44) | OT kills religious offenders; Jesus teaches non-violence and love even under offense. |
| Death penalty for Sabbath work (Exodus 31:15) | “The Sabbath was made for man…” (Mark 2:27) | OT is rigid and lethal; Jesus reframes Sabbath as human-serving, not punishment-serving. |
| God commands genocide / total destruction (1 Samuel 15:3) | “Love your enemies.” (Matthew 5:44) | OT features holy war logic; Jesus forbids hatred and teaches enemy-love. |
| Kill non-virgin brides (Deuteronomy 22:20–21) | Mercy / forgiveness (Matthew 6:14–15) | OT is brutal sexual “purity” enforcement; Jesus emphasizes compassion and forgiveness. |
| Rape victim must marry her rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28–29) | Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) | OT treats her like property; Jesus’ ethic demands dignity and humane treatment. |
| Slavery permitted as law (Exodus 21:2–6; Leviticus 25:44–46) | “The greatest among you will be your servant.” (Matthew 23:11) | OT regulates owning humans; Jesus teaches servanthood and equality of worth (anti-domination ethic). |
| Hate/destroy enemies (Psalm 137:8–9 as violent blessing; also war-prayer spirit) | “Bless those who curse you.” (Luke 6:28) | OT includes vengeance praise; Jesus teaches blessing and peace. |
| “Happy is he who dashes your babies against the rocks.” (Psalm 137:9) | “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9) | OT contains extreme violence; Jesus teaches peace and love. |
| Harsh purity exclusion / “unclean” separation (Leviticus 13–15) | Jesus touches lepers / heals the excluded (Mark 1:40–42) | OT ostracizes; Jesus reintegrates and heals. |
| “I hate divorce” + rigidity / punishment culture (Malachi 2:16; legalism across Torah) | Mercy over sacrifice (Matthew 9:13) | OT often leans legalistic; Jesus routinely prioritizes mercy over strict enforcement. |
| Kill children for rebellion (Deuteronomy 21:18–21) | “Let the little children come to me…” (Matthew 19:14) | OT allows lethal punishment of children; Jesus elevates children as models of the kingdom. |
Below you’ll find some other examples of OT scripture that sets moral guidelines and commandments that prove unequivocally that the OT is not perfect and should not be cited as a reference to what is right and wrong. The teachings of Jesus are perfectly adequate in this respect and frankly his teachings negate a large portion of the OT. Particularly the teachings that often get cited to justify hatred towards marginalized groups in contemporary society. If the teachings to execute your son should not be carried over into what someone believes is a Christian society, then why not gay persons too? Who is what continues to be upheld and what gets left behind in ancient times?
If you work on the Sabbath… you should be executed
- Exodus 31:15
- Numbers 15:32–36 (example story: man is put to death for gathering sticks)
This includes house chores, not just working a 9 to 5. If you need to pull in extra hours of work to make end’s meet.
A “rebellious son” can be executed by the community
- Deuteronomy 21:18–21
This would wipe out the entire population by today’s standards.
Rape victim must marry her rapist (and he pays her dad)
- Deuteronomy 22:28–29
“Justice”
If a woman isn’t found to be a virgin, she can be executed
- Deuteronomy 22:13–21
Again, this wipes out the bulk of our populations.
Adultery requires execution
- Leviticus 20:10
- Deuteronomy 22:22
The perfect example of how Jesus teachings essentially nullify the old testament as a book that should be referenced as any sort of moral compass in life, when he goes out of his way to save an adulteress.
Same-sex intercourse gets the death penalty (Leviticus 20:13)
This showcases why we should not be honoring laws and commandments established in an era where we did not have the understanding that we do now, and are now fully aware that sexual attraction is determined far before adulthood. I think it’s fair to say we have all met a gay person whom we knew was going to be gay in their younger years. Their coming out of the closet shocked no one. It’s safe to say that a gay man who is naturally attracted to a man is tantamount to my own taste for women being what I personally found attractive since I was very young. You can’t change or convince them to change what they find attractive.
“Witches” must be killed Exodus 22:18
What’s amazing about this verse is that it exists in the same book where people are commanded straight from God not to kill others. Another perfect example of why the OT is not a reliable text to use a moral compass.
Blasphemy should result in execution
- Leviticus 24:16
Anyone who has ever said “OMFG” should be killed and this should be endorsed by anyone who feels the OT is a perfect book with a gold standard of morals and ethics. It’s not. I assure you God doesn’t have the thin skin JudeoChristians think he does.
If you curse your parents, they should be killed.
- Leviticus 20:9
- Exodus 21:17
Another example of contradictory orders from the same book, in this case murder for problematic children
If someone touches a dead body, they’re “unclean” and need ritual cleansing
- Numbers 19:11–13
There goes the entire field of medical examiners and forensic pathology.
Menstruation makes a woman “unclean” Leviticus 15:19–24
Ejaculation makes a man “unclean” Leviticus 15:16–18
You can own foreign slaves permanently (Leviticus 25:44–46)
Yet another example of biblical scripture permitting slavery.
You can beat your slave as long as they don’t die “immediately” Exodus 21:20–21
No explanation needed.
You can sell your daughter into slavery (Exodus 21:7–11)
Kill entire enemy populations in conquest (“leave alive nothing that breathes”)
- Deuteronomy 20:16–17
Once again, God commands people to kill others despite spiritual commandments not to kill. This of course sets the ground work and justification for genocide.
Don’t eat shrimp or shellfish (Leviticus 11:10–12)
Red Lobster is a den of sinners
Don’t eat pork (Leviticus 11:7–8)
This makes a substantial portion of our population sinners
Don’t wear mixed fabrics
- Leviticus 19:19
- Deuteronomy 22:11
Do not plant two kinds of seeds in the same field (Leviticus 19:19)
If your ox gores someone, kill the ox and the owner too Exodus 21:28–29
If two men are fighting and a woman grabs one by the genitals… cut off her hand (Deuteronomy 25:11)
Don’t boil a young goat in its mother’s milk
- Exodus 23:19
- Exodus 34:26
- Deuteronomy 14:21
A “trial” where a suspected adulteress drinks “bitter water” Numbers 5:11–31
Don’t round the edges of your beard / specific grooming restrictions Leviticus 19:27
Tattoos are forbidden
This is especially peculiar since it demonstrates an attachment to one’s body, which we should let go of completely.
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