Being in Christ vs. Being in Christianity

What if it is very difficult for a modern day Christian to experience what it really means to be "in Christ"?  What if the reason for all those books and teachings about who a Christian is in Christ is that we just don't experience it?  I mean what if we need all these reminders just because it's not a reality in our lives?  What if the reason that it's not a reality in our lives is that we traded being "in Christ" for being in Christianity?  What if being "in Christ" means to be outside of or free from religion/Christianity (and it's nagging thought: "I'm not good enough for God.  I have to change.")?  What if the freedom that Christ wants to bring is at odds with Christianity?   What if religion has to make way for something new?  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" 2.Cor.5:17

New Religion vs. New Creation

What if Jesus never intended to found Christianity?  What if he didn't want another religion?  What if what Jesus taught was freedom from religion?  What if Christianity became exactly that which Jesus critisized in Judaism, a religion seperating people from the love of the Father?  What if Jesus' gospel is so much higher and deeper and wider than what Christianity could hold?  What if Jesus really is the firstborn of a new creation, instead of the founding father of a new religion?

More on Hell

What if the belief in hell is actually creating a hell; a seperation between "saved" and "unsaved" people, as well as between God and "unsaved" people?  What if the idea that some people are disposable is a pretty hellish one?  What if not seeing people the way God sees them is hell (seperation, darkness)?

Hell & Manipulation

What if the Pharasees in Jesus' day taught the idea of hell (borrowing it from other religions - Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Zoroastrian and Greek) in order to manipulate people to be good, so that the Messiah could come?  What if Christians started to do the same thing, causing a seperation between people who go to heaven and people who go to hell?  What if Jesus is all about breaking down this seperation, by hanging out with the 'sinful' people and turning the idea of hell onto the religious establishment?  What if Jesus was only ever warning religious people about hell?

A bigger God

Jim Palmer wrote on his blog "Shedding Religion to find God":

"What if God isn’t a belief system? What if God is bigger than any theology that religion can produce? What if God is bigger than self, bigger than family, bigger than church, bigger than tribe, bigger than nation, and bigger than any creed or set of doctrines we might wrap around him? Could the vision of a bigger God cause us to place higher value on expanding our circles of care and compassion, and working toward a more peaceful world? What if God is love? What if God is peace? What if God is unconditional acceptance? What if God is empathy and compassion?"