In China there were texts discovered that prove there was an offshoot of Christianity starting in the 7th century A.D. They describe original nature being intrinsically divine rather than all of us laboring towards righteousness under the curse of Adam's fall. They even have a new take on the ten commandments which were translated as covenants.
The first covenant of God is that anything that exists and does evil will be punished, especially if they do not respect the elderly.
The second covenant is to honor and care for elderly parents. Those who do this will be true followers of Heaven’s Way.
The third covenant is to acknowledge we have been brought into existence through our parents. Nothing exists without parents.
The fourth covenant is that anybody who understands the precepts should know to be kind and considerate to everything, and to do no evil to anything that lives.
The fifth covenant is that any living being should not take the life of another living being, but should also teach others to do likewise.
The sixth covenant is that nobody should commit adultery, or persuade anyone else to do so.
The seventh covenant is not to steal.
The eighth covenant is that nobody should covet a living man’s wife, or his lands, or his palace, or his servants.
The ninth covenant is not to let your envy of somebody’s good wife, or son, or house or gold, lead you to bear false witness against them.
The tenth covenant is only to offer to God that which is yours to give.
This excerpt comes from the Stone Sutra. The message of Christ in Asia is attributed to Thomas who in the Nag Hammadi texts is the twin brother of Jesus. And Jesus having a brother is instrumental in a Japanese tale of Jesus traveling to Japan after His brother's crucifixion. But these tales sound more like the Life of Brian than the Life of Christ. There are deep messages imbedded within these tales.
The more compassionate take on the message of Jesus in forbidding not just killing of people but of any living thing goes the extra mile in terms of compassionate teachings.
The Hebrew wording of the commandment not to kill is "Do not murder" indicating that not all killing was forbidden just murder. Jesus' teachings indicate than any killing is forbidden in that He taught us to love our enemies, at the least I believe that means we should not kill them.
The reason I'm sharing this is not to go on about these being the real teachings but that everywhere that the message of Jesus traveled the message was changed to suit the listeners not specifically to suit the original intent Jesus had when He taught His own disciples.
So how do we discern what the original intent of Jesus' teachings were?
We do as most of us were raised to do which is to pray for clarification and validation of the perspectives others have on these teachings, leaders and rank and file members alike.
Jesus taught all who would listen even when the Pharisees said sinners deserved nothing. Like the puritanical attitudes that lead to people wearing scarlet letters to represent and mark their sins, the pharisees had the same elitist attitudes that kept people in their place and praised outward signs of righteousness rather than praising those like Jesus who embodied the fullest teachings in scripture.
To say that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God as Paul writes, is to say we are all equal and no one should be praised as better than another. None should be praised except Christ and God.
We do need to sift through scripture to deepen our understanding of not just what was meant but how to actually live it out.
The best indicator of how we feel is what we say and how we treat others. And that is also how we can discern whether or not we are on the right path.
Jesus said "As ye have done it unto the least of my bretheren, ye have also done it unto me."
Which is why He asks Paul on the road to Damascus "Why are you persecuting me?"
Paul was persecuting the small Christian sect on the heels of the crucifixion until his encounter with Christ. After this encounter Paul became the most influential missionary ever in terms of how many communities of Christians he was able to convert all over the Roman world.
Even if we are born into the Church we all need to have a conversion to Christ.
There is no point I think in saying "here are a set of rules to follow, do what we tell you and you're saved."
Jesus instead says "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
So it is by our love for others that we will be known by Christ and by all as His disciples. He also says that love for God and love for your neighbor is what all the law and prophets hang on.
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40
So it is agape or unconditional love that Jesus says will mark us as His disciples. Following rules can be mindless and it is usually a matter of doing the least rather than doing the most, it's like a line in the sand, at the least do not cross it.
Jesus says the pharisees were consumed with cleaning the outside of their cups while the insides were filthy whereas if they cleaned the inside of their cups the outside would also become clean. Which to me is like saying, if you are pure of heart you are living the spirit of the laws and prophets and therefore you are truly clean, whereas if you are consumed with appearing to be righteous that is missing the mark.
But by describing the love He had for us being the love that we should have for God and all His children, the same unconditional love Jesus has for us He is telling you how to act in any given situation so you no longer need a laundry list of rules to follow and you wont be in a bind when a confusing situation befalls you, you will instead know what to do because all you have to ask yourself is whether or not your actions will be in the spirit of love, Christ's love. It's a what would Jesus do kind of thing.