In Jesus’ day we saw a great divide between those who aggressively defended the longstanding religious systems and those who opted to step outside the pattern to follow Jesus.
His incarnation was a stark delineation between a long dead but staunchly defended, though toxic, religious system and the constant flow of Life offered by Jesus to any who would come to Him.
The confusion comes from a misunderstanding of what Jesus opposed and what He offered.
The common picture is that Jesus came to oppose “evil” and offer a life of “good.”
But a wider view shows that the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was the whole problem, not a representation of two options.
The choice is between two trees, not two branches of the Tree of Death.
When Adam and Eve consumed the fruit of this tree, they didn’t simply “misbehave,” requiring “consequences.” The essential operating system of the human soul changed from a free flow of Life, supplied by God, to a life of choosing behavior by willpower, supplied by man.
The divide then is not between good people and bad people, but rather between two systems of how the human soul is empowered: behavior emanating from God’s life within, or behavior management based on systems of control.
The first depends on vital connection to God. The second can be more easily prescribed, packaged, and reproduced.
The opposite of freedom is not sin. The opposite of freedom is control.
Many hear this as a truth permissive of sin when in reality it is a truth that re-examines everything.
What is the driving mechanism of the human soul is more key than what is the outcome. The heart filled with God will produce the fruits of His life.
The heart that tries to manage its own behavior and disregards its source will develop self-reliance at best, and an internal divide at worst.
We can work hard at religious systems and simply increase the death in and around us. Or we can surrender.