What do you believe? Does it matter?

[mystic]

There is a big issue in selecting the proper sources to learn about religion. I would introduce the distinction between spirituality and religion. The former genuinely seeks a bond with God and His teachings. The latter is generally human made and nothing more than garbage.
It is a sign of that garbage when one religion pretends to be the only one, or that it only has the keys to paradise, while all others are mistaken. It is also a sign when completely ignorant pastors, preachers, priests lure the masses with easy concepts that are "good to hear and believe", but have little to no divine content.

Jesus was a Jew. He preached a true Judaism, not Christianity. Christianity was born later, made by men. This does not ban all Christianity, of course, but a great care must be taken to avoid error.
One of the biggest error is to call Jesus God, or Son of God, as the Bible never says this except in one point (I still have to see if it was mistranslated, because it makes no sense), when in the entire Bible we find references that God has no sons. There are many of those man made conflicting interpretations.
Then, there is no relation between Christ and Jesus. They are two different things. All high priests in Israel were Christ, which in Greek means anointed. With the tradition of confirmation, we also all become anointed... but is that true? Maybe most anointed Christians do not behave as anointed at all. Are they really anointed?
"Christ" represents a higher state, one of enlightenment, because oil is that which feeds the lamp that makes light. Thus, we become a sort of vehicle of light in God's hands. It was also a tradition in the school of the Sons of the Prophets that, during their visions, they felt like hot oil was poured on top of their head, flowing down to their toe. Such was the warmth and feeling experienced during mystical encounters.
Thus, Jews hold that the Christ, or Messiah, is a collective higher state of consciousness, not a physical person.
The real ancient tradition seems almost lost and lives only in small tracks that few people are aware of, in every religion.

Another big mistake is the righteous-wicked concept. Christ being the way, a need for redemption, we are wicked by nature... all man forged concepts. Some of it holds true, but the way it is currently interpreted is not the original way, so I would consider it a mistake. That twofold vision of things is nothing short of the original sin, the Tree of Good and Evil. Religion became so imbued with wordly life that it cannot separate from earthly affairs, and it abdicates the divine teachings. Indeed, we are not here to separate between good and evil. That would mean just perpetrating the original sin. We are kept in this lock and can never break it. Religion subjugates its slaves in those chains, so it can have control of masses.
One can have improper parents, a not easy life. Psychology even tells us, just to make an example, if a woman has an abusive husband and then breaks up, in all the new relations in her life she won't feel fulfilled with an ordinary man. She will always look for someone that somehow will abuse of her. Mystics call this self-fulling prophecy. One causes his/her own troubles and even indirectly calls them into his/her life. Very few can break the chains. But we are here just for that! We are not here to follow in the next preacher's advice to appease our suffering ego. It was written, better to go to paradise with only one arm than go to hell with both arms. The work that we must do is in ourselves. The chains are there. Otherwise, the story will continue to repeat itself, till we learn the lesson.

So, it's not a matter of discriminating, good and evil, will I be accepted or rejected... The Tree of Life is inclusion, does not have such questions. Letting go is something more profound that those simple words. Life is "I am". It's not "I am this or I am that". It stops at the Verb. One needs to be and not be entangled in what comes next. When there is this flow (a verb is action, showing as we are), things are right. Trials are not important and don't take our mind's space.

In Hebrew, the word for redemption is Teshuva, which means "return". Return home, like in the parable. Return on your steps. It's all already in you, you don't need to search elsewhere to find happiness. You don't need the entanglement of good and evil, as this does not exist in God. We are not made wicked. We behave wicked sometimes, but that does not need to impact us. Everyone chooses his/her own wheel, or chain. Few can see him/herself on the stage of life with those chains, and know how to be free. And only being free will the promises be fulfilled.