Crucified

Jesus is crucified by an opressive society, submitting unto his death. He even cries out, asking why God has forsaken him. Then he is reborn and ascends, becoming the savior of mankind through this sacrifice.

Ever think maybe this is just a metaphor for the path to enlightenment--letting your old self die for the greater good and thus being reborn into divine consciousness?  People do try to live entirely new lives for the good of the world once they have been "Saved" or reached "Enlightenment."

Or maybe it's a metaphor for not letting the man get you down? Like, you take enough shit that something in you dies, and a new part rises up that doesn't let the shit hold you down anymore? An end to mental slavery, so to speak.

Maybe it's just trying to teach us that in life, just when you feel God has abandoned you, strife will end, and you will rise up stronger, made perfect through your suffering? Maybe it's just a lesson on the value of self-sacrifice.

Either way, I think we learn a whole lot more about the path to salvation by interpreting the crucifiction as a metaphor than by simply taking it at face value. All I'm saying is... maybe he didn't die to literally save you; maybe he died to make you get the message. It could just be the greatest parable in the Bible.

"What goes around comes around"

Buddhism
Karma: cause and effect

Wicca
The Threefold Law: What ye send forth comes back to thee.

Christianity
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galations 6)

Buddhism

Buddhism emphasizes the system of causal relationships underlying the universe (pratitya samutpada) which constitute the natural order (dharma). No dependence of phenomena on a supernatural reality is asserted in order to explain the behaviour of matter. According to the doctrine of the Buddha a human being must study Nature (dhamma vicaya) in order to attain personal wisdom (prajna) regarding the nature of things (dharma). - Wikipedia

Sin

Understand you not that every thing from without entering into a man cannot defile him: Because it entereth not into his heart... The things which come out from a man, they defile a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed [sins]...All these evil things come from within and defile a man. Mark 7:18-23

I say those evil things that come from within can only defile you if you let them out...

What if God vs. Satan is just a metaphor for Man conquering the Devil within himself?

What if our inner demons are only part of our humanity, and divinity lies not in conquering and banishing them but in balancing them with the rest of our humanity, instead of allowing them to reign?

What if all of the things we label as evil - wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony, for example - are not even evil, but human? Wrath can become righteous anger with which we create change or right wrongs. Laziness can be the rest we need to find solace through reflection.  Even gluttony has its place, because the consequences of overindulgence are what teaches us the importance of moderation. And if pride and lust are kept in check, and not allowed to rule, what sin can have been committed simply by feeling proud or by having felt desire?

Why should we take feelings that come naturally to humans and label them as always forbidden? Shouldn't what you do as a result of your feelings be more important? If I kill a man in anger, I have sinned. If I, in anger, end a relationship or quit a job, have I sinned? If I am too proud to accept an apology or admit that I still love someone who has wronged me, perhaps that is sin. But if I am proud of an accomplishment or even of who I am as a person, is that a sin? If I do nothing my entire life but sit around, I have wasted my life. Perhaps this is sin. But if I take a two month vacation, and spend it lazing about in the sun with a good book, is that sin?

Religion paints things so black and white. Then there are those that acknowledge Yin and Yang and the balance that must be maintained between the black and white sides of the Yingyang. What if there is no black and white side? What if the universe is simply gray, and so is humanity? What if you really can't sin at all: you can only be human, and through doing so, learn better how to be divine?

Perhaps this is just coming from a selfish person, who feels that her anger is usually justified, who has a great deal of pride and a healthy sense of lust, who has been a jealous lover and dreamt of wealth, who enjoys a leisure and stuffing herself with sushi, and who doesn't want to admit that all of these things are wrong and doesn't have the willpower to resist temptation. It is rare that I allow my anger, pride,  lust, envy, or greed to harm others, nor do I usually allow sloth or gluttony to make me neglect responsibility. Isn't that a much more reasonable goal than to hope to abolish these things altogether?

God banished the demons to Hell, but he did not destroy them. They come to Earth to tempt man, who repents and is forgiven. It is impossible to destroy your demons. You can banish them, but they will always tempt you. It is up to you whether you give in. When you do, you learn from the mistakes, make amends, and hopefully try not to make them again. And through this, usually, you can be forgiven by those you have wronged and by yourself. What if it's all just a giant metaphor for finding balance? What if this is just the cycle through which we become Divine?

I mean, Hell, what's a world without lust?

Heaven

The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field. Matthew 13:24

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Matthew 13:31

The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened. Matthew 13:33

Heaven is something you create.

See also: Mark 4:24-32 :)

Parables

"Therefore do I speak to them in parables: because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." Matthew 13:13

Perhaps they still do not understand.

We are.

Whether we are gods, or we are under gods, all you really need to understand is

we are.

Jesus said so.

I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' Psalm 82:6

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? John 10:34

Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16

He that receiveth you, receiveth me: and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. - Matthew 10:40

Christ was not an only son.

Angels and men

"This question is posed to mayself, am I a man who thinks he's an angel? Or an angel who thinks he's a man?” ― Marilyn Manson

Judgement

Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgement.

Human and Divine

If God created Man in his image, then God is both human and divine, and Man is as divine as he is human.