A lot of people are confused these days and many are falling off the wagon.

Many Christians have already decided to leave the faith entirely, and IMHO they didn't need to leave.

It is not fair to blame Jesus Christ for something (or failures) that man created.

If Jesus were to come as a simple person today, and entered any big church anywhere today, they would not even allow him to come close to "Daddy GO" or even preach there.

To summarize:
Hypocrites of all kinds have hijacked "the faith" and turned everything upside down.
They take on the cloak of "holiness" and "righteousness" to overawe and browbeat the laity.
And at the end, when the laity come to them for spiritual (or even material) help, they won't (and can't ) offer any palliatives or useful guides or solutions to their natural spiritual problems.

Naturally, when someone stays in a particular faith (notice that I don't say "religion", and I have a reason for that which I will explain later) for sometime, and fails to advance spiritually, s/he would leave and blame the faith for failure to advance.

I have A LOT to say about these and will offer my own spiritual insights and guides which come from places of years of deep study and meditation on God and HIS word and by carefully studying God's creation and the laws by which they exist.

To find my opinions useful for your spiritual benefit, hence growth, you must start from the first TRUTH:

What is that truth? God is NOT Man. God's ways are NOT man's ways.

Yes, God created man in HIS image and after His likeness", but God is still God ALONE (that is why the Bible calls ONLY him HOLY) and man is still man. Holiness speaks to the COMPLETENESS or COMPLETE DIVINITY of God. But let me not digress there...

Once you understand this first point and operate from it, the rest of the subsequent points will naturally fall into place, and you will be transformed far beyond your imagination.

So, kindly follow and add your opinions to this topic so that everyone can learn.

Thanks.


Next ...

Not to waste our time, here's the summary of my take on the topic of "righteousness" , or "rightness".

It boils down to: Matthew 22:35-40

35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
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First, you must understand that God is a being that created everything and based them on LAWS.
His CREATION (not HIM) operates within the confines of laws.

Which laws?
(1) The ones he gave (the ones he based his creation upon)
(2) The laws we humans created and bind ourselves to (this would prove more consequential as you shall see later).

To interpret these laws, he gave us a tiny bit of HIS spirit (which we call "conscience" or "consciousness" ) .
In computer science parlance, that spirit is the CPU (central processing unit) or "THE CHIP" that processes information.

Every human being knows right from wrong because of that spirit (or CPU).

Upon death, that CPU returns to God automatically.

More on that spirit next ...

To the point about laws created by man or laws adopted by man (for whatever reasons), it is my humble opinion that they pose greater challenge to man's spiritual ascendance than laws God gave to man.

Take a look at the old Testament in the Bible, particularly the laws that Moses gave (the Mosaic laws), they number 613

https://www.gotquestions.org/613-commandments.html


It is particularly because of such countless laws that Jesus said in Matthew 11: 28 -30

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

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Jesus was not against laws. He was against man's tendency to create and impose laws (often due to man's wickedness and hardness of heart) on people while mostly living hypocritical lives. That is why he said it about men divorcing their wives. Matthew 19:8

Jesus also said that he had not come to abolish those laws, but to fulfill them. And the best (and simplest) way to do so is exactly why he gave his own TWO laws (Matthew 22:35-40) instead of 613 laws.

Much more on this next ...

onumadu:
Not to waste our time, here's the summary of my take on the topic of "righteousness" , or "rightness".
It boils down to: Matthew 22:35-40
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First, you must understand that God is a being that created everything and based them on LAWS.
His CREATION (not HIM) operates within the confines of laws.
Which laws?
(1) The ones he gave (the ones he based his creation upon)
(2) The laws we humans created and bind ourselves to (this would prove more consequential as you shall see later).
To interpret these laws, he gave us a tiny bit of HIS spirit (which we call "conscience" or "consciousness" ) .
In computer science parlance, that spirit is the CPU (central processing unit) or "THE CHIP" that processes information.
Every human being knows right from wrong because of that spirit (or CPU). Upon death, that CPU returns to God automatically. More on that spirit next ...

I am afraid none of this makes sense when put next to what is written in Scripture. The claims you made regarding righteousness, God's Law, and His judgment are taken instead from scripts handed you by religion men and not Scripture.

More on exposition on righteousness...

This story ACCURATELY captures the whole point about righteousness.

Acts 5:1-11

5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
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STOP!
Think about the BOLDED words above.

The man sold his own land, and by prior agreeing to submit ALL the proceeds, he subjected or committed himself to a law -to deliver 100% of the proceeds to the Apostles.
HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS. That is Peter's point.
But once he committed himself to doing it, he become bound by that law.
Once he failed to live by his commitment, he committed sin.
He died because he violated that law (or agreement he committed himself to).

The point is that is that a lot of people suffer today because they committed themselves to God (or fellow man) in many ways.
And when they fail to live by that commitment, it becomes SIN to them, and they face the punishment for sin.

They do fasting, deliverance etc, and nothing changes because they failed to EXPIATE their commitment.

That is why traditional African religions these days claim to be superior, but they are NOT. They are only following old (as old as creation) spiritual maxims.

Christians fall off when they fail to understand this point about righteousness and sin.
They think that sin is all about 10 commandments alone, but majority of sins are outside of those ten commandments.
That is why Jesus' (not latter day Christian) methods are superior.


Next I share Jesus rebuke of "holier than thou" scribes and pharisees of all times.

Matthew 23: 13-36

13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.

21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Matthew 7:2

"For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

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I've said here in this forum that God is like Code of Conduct Bureau.

You come to him with your own code of conduct, and that would be the standard by which you would be judged after life on earth.

If by believe in killing people, then you (by law of reciprocity ) are bound by such law and you agree to be killed too.

Same applies to whatever else you do. If you belief in sleeping with people's wives, your wife will be slept with too by other men. ETC.


It therefore becomes sin when you refuse those thing you dish out to others either overtly or covertly.

More on the point of reciprocity and hypocrisy: An Igbo proverb goes that " A head hunter usually does not allow anyone to go behind him with a machete" .

If a headhunter agrees that his own head can be hunted too, then all is well!

But I am yet to see any killer who wants to be killed. That is why ALL killers sober up each time they face the hangman.

That is exactly why God added such crime in the 10 commandments.

About "religion" or "church" that I avoided in the OP, I did so because those are human constructs.

Human beings put those things together. "The Church" Jesus hinted on is simply a congregation of people who believe his teachings.
"The congregation" doesn't have to have a top-down control by humans. They can be in different parts of the world. As long as they believe in Jesus, his teachings and mission, they are a "Church".

But "faith" in this instance means spiritual life or spiritual side of a human being.
Every human being on earth belongs to faith because everyone has the spirit of God inside humming inside.
No human can live without God's spirit.

Again, God (or this existence) is like a University.
Once you gain admission into a university (or you incarnate here) , you are "admitted" to study and graduate in a particular MAJOR.
In that major, there are major and minor (electives) courses that you must take AND PASS to advance to degree certificate.
Apart from required courses, you are free to take on any other elective course that interests you.
Note that those other electives that are not part of your course cannot stop you from graduating if you fail them.
However, once you enroll into them, you are expected to get a passing score, else it would be added to your transcript and may reduce your overall GPA.
You can study (and are free to study) ANY course of your choice: Medicine, law etc... or other "easier courses".
The difficulty of each course tends to foretell how lucrative the degree certificate after graduation.

In this life, we are all enrolled in different "courses" in life.
You see people with "easier lives" (easier courses), and you envy them. That is a mistake because you may have enrolled into a more difficult but more lucrative course.
DON'T ENVY ANYONE'S LIFE. FOCUS ON YOUR LIFE AND ENSURE TO GRADUATE.
DO NOT TAKE ON ANY EXTRA ELECTIVE UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, ELSE YOU WILL BE JUDGED BY IT, TOO.