yes, of course, religion has always been perfectly effective for a minority of people. I thought you were talking about people, not just some people. You were originally talking about consciousness, so Your argument is very familiar historically, i.e. "i get it, if you don't get it, just do what i say (not what i do usually), and then everything will be fine." That kind of persuasion has already been shown not to create unity or work very well over the long term for the earth taken as a whole.
even the idea that god and jesus are one depends on suspension of common logic. Not to say that is a bad thing, but let's not pretend it is simple. I mean is Jesus a part of God, like God's arm died for us and then God revived his arm? Or are Jesus and God separate but not separate in some non-dualism? If the trinity doesn't blow your mind, and virgin birth, et cetera, I feel you aren't looking at the phenomena deeply enough. None of the metaphysics of the bible are simple. Miracles are not "simple" in a scientific world. Period.Your relationship to miracles may be simple, but the phenomena can't be. When gravity doesn't work right, and someone walks on water, that is an automatic "not simple" in my book.
Of course, I do not expect to convince anyone, but who knows, it might make a difference to one or two. I do not intend to be ambitious.
Now, you say that
" i thought we would be looking at religion that relates to those of us who have consciousness, not religion for a particular group of special people, which is old hat"
Actually I am. But as you know, Christianity, with its multitudes of divisions, does not appear as a religion that can make sense. After all, if it did, why the division? But there is a way you can look as the Doctrine, and realize that all these divisions and religiosity is a product of power, politics, money, ignorance, pride, etc. But we cannot browbeat ourselves, because divisions started way back with its founder. Remember the Sons of Zebedee and their request? Remember Peter and Paul? So, I kind of overlook these divisions, and try to understand Jesus point of view without being confused by the dogmas and doctrines that emerged later. So, to me, Christianity is actually very simple. Its based on commonsense. But of course commonsense, the problem, is not very common no?
"Is Jesus a part of God, like God's arm died for us and then God revived his arm? Or are Jesus and God separate but not separate in some non-dualism?"
No. Jesus is not part of God like an arm. Jesus is a True Image of God and Man. Jesus and God are not separate, but differentiated. See, He is a Son. Now, when Jesus says that "To have seen me is to have seen the Father, He does not claim the same Status as the Father. Rather, Jesus is the Voice of God. I mean, Jesus is like a telephone receiver. If I called you, you would as "Who's speaking?" You would not hear. "This is the receiver speaking" would you? Rather you would hear "This is Bigfoot" Get it? Jesus is merely a vessel of the Father through whom God speaks. So, when He died, its not God who died, it was the instrument of God that was denied life by Man. But God, in heaven, since He was already existing alive, and true, raised Jesus up. And now, Jesus seats, at the Right Hand of the Father. See, that Jesus is differentiated from the Father. But in His nature, the True Image of God and Man.
Now, Jesus, was the Son of God, and also the Son of Man. Who is this Man? It Was the Human Spirit, that God created, in Genesis 1:26. This being that was created had nothing to do with Adam. When God said, "Let us Make Man, in the Image and Likeness of ourselves" That mean that this Spirit which was created, had the same attributed of God. Meaning that Man, is a Trinity, just like God. He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Therefore So, when Jesus claimed that "To have seen me is to have seen the Father" He did not claim to have a nature that Man did not have. For Man, replicates the nature of God, just like the Christ. When God resurrected the Christ, He clothed the Human Spirit with the Christ, making Him the Lord of all Men. Now, since it was Man, (Jews and Romans) who wounded the Christ and murders Him, (Oh, turning anti-Semitic? The bible says so.) God decided that Man, will have to heal the wounds of the Christ Himself, individually. Christ, therefore, as a Redeemer of Man, owns men, and He, is a Man of Fire.
Here is Christ before being born
“And this is what I saw; A man, dressed in linen, with a girdle of pure gold around his waist, his body was like pure beryl, his face shone like lightening, his eyes were fiery torches, his arms and legs had the gleam of burnished bronze,
the sound of his voice was like the noise of a crowd" Daniel 10:2-6 ( He, is now, the Voice of the People before God)
Here is the Christ, after Resurrection
"I turned around, to see who had spoken to me, and when I turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands, and surrounded by them, a figure like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, tied at the waist with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white as white wool, or as snow,
his eyes like burning flame, his feet like burnished bronze, when it had been refined in furnace, and his voice, like the sound of the ocean" Revelation 1:12-16.