The Story

"Within you without you" was deep and harsh for its time, and compared to the Beatles' standard of peppy, love songs. Although it was originally written from an Eastern mysticism perspective, it is also very broad and spiritually general, and can be applied to various religions. It displays what most religions have in common and is almost written as if in accordance with the ideal religion... the one people would make if they could create one ideal religion.
If people could make up a religion as ideal as possible what would it be?

The ideal religion is the only one that is right/real, or rather you will know it is the right one (it is proven to be real/right) because it is ideal.
Though disguised and passed by most people, the ideal religion does indeed exist and, ironically, the ideal religion isn't nearly as religious as the others. Many would conclude that it isn't a religion at all, rather a philosophy or new perspective of the world that rules every aspect of your life.
This ideal religion is not as much a religion as it is a philosophy, and this philosophy is unlike all other philosophies; this philosophy is a story.

The story of course is ideal, as it is the ideal religion, so of course it is the most captivating, controversial, life-changing story the world has ever had the privilege of first being told. And as every aspect of this perfect religion, this one true religion, is different than any other, so this story is different than any other story. This story is one that if you hear it and choose to believe it, you gain the most precious gift one can be given, and if you doubt it or reject it you lose everything. So then what is the most precious gift that can be given and how could a mere story give it to you? What could be more precious than salvation?
The story is naturally concerning God and likewise the relationship is with the same.
What story could be so ideal as to determine the true religion? The story that comes from God Himself. It is the story about the one time in history when God became a man.

In the beginning was God; the one, true God who always has been and always will be- the creator of everything. God desired to create something pleasing to Him so He created the Heavens and the Earth and their inhabitants. Then God desired to be loved and worshiped so He created something to do so. This creation was the most important one He’d ever made, and so He chose to give it the ideal image, to put it above everything else He made up to that point. This image was one that He planned on creating from the beginning, but saved for last because it was Holy and still today is Holy. It is the image of God. The form that He Himself chooses to be seen as. The most perfect image in all of the universe, in everything that has ever been or will ever be. So in His own image He created beings, not only being like God in form but God chose to make them as He is, having consciousness, emotion, and free will. This invaluable gift of free will made this new creation the most important of all Creation. This new creation, called Man, had the choice to love God because he wanted to, not because he had to. Man could see God and thus realize and acknowledge how holy, perfect, and praiseworthy He is, and praise Him for being holy, perfect, just, and loving. That is the kind of love God wanted, and so God’s favor and attention was on man: His favorite creation.

But of course the consequence of free will is sin, for in order to choose good and choose to love God, one must reject evil- so evil must exist in order for man to reject it and accept God. So with the existence of free will and evil, it is only a matter of time before man chooses to do the best for he and not God- what is most pleasing for his body at the expense of others and contrary to the commands of God. And so it was that even the first man sinned one time, thus separating man from God forever (because sin existed in the world and God, being perfect and holy, cannot exist in the presence of sin). So God dwelt exclusively in Heaven, and man was cast out from His presence out into the world and so all the offspring of man were forever cursed by God never again to enter into God's presence, as they carried the stain of evil. The common "good" person and even righteous who followed the commands of God still at some time or another sin at least once, so man can never get to Heaven due to the sin he himself commits, and even if man never sinned once in life (which is impossible) he would still be cursed for being the descendants of the first man who sinned, and being born into a world with sin existing in it.
But God is perfect, holy, just, and loving, and it was not His will to create man only to damn him or keep him from His euphoric presence and ignoring his merit and faithfulness. So it was at that time that men would take the source of life, blood, from animals and burn it on sanctified altars of God in order for Him to ignore their sins- according to the command of God through His chosen prophets. Though obedience to these commands did keep men in the favor of God and spared them from damnation to Hell, they were still cursed and damned, only damned to a place of paradise outside of God's presence. Still this wasn't the will of God and God longed for the love and praise of His creations as He had originally intended upon their creation. So God chose to take away all of humanity's sin, not just ignoring it, but entirely removing it.

To do this, God had no choice but to come to earth Himself and offer a final sacrifice for the sins of man’s past, present, and future. He came in his original form and image, as a man, since the image of man was first the image of God- His own natural image. And according to His will and the way He created the world, the only sacrifice that could be made so worthy and Holy to have the power to take away all sin forever would have to be sinless, perfect. Sacrificing animals for men was hardly appropriate for sin, but it was the best the world had to offer short of killing one of their own to remove their sins- which is itself a sin that grieves God. But this wasn’t a sacrifice for a sin, or several sins. It was a sacrifice for sin itself. That the very concept of sin could and would be erased. This sacrifice couldn’t afford to be close to ideal, as sacrifice of the past had been. This had to be the sacrifice of sacrifices. Ideal in every way. A human was needed. A perfect human.

Yet what human is perfect? Wasn’t this sacrifice ordained from God in the first place because no man could be perfect? Yes. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. The only perfect human was the one that perfect God became when He entered the sinful world of earth. It still today is the only perfect human to have ever existed. And so God demonstrated His unfathomable love for us in that while we were still sinners, He died for us, becoming the very sacrifice His creations were sacrificing to Him to cover their sins, in hopes of getting to Heaven. Since it was perfect God being sacrificed, it was a perfect sacrifice, the final sacrifice to remove all men's sins once and for all.

And so it was that God came to earth as a baby born of a virgin impregnated by the Spirit of God. He was God in the flesh, thus naturally He was sinless and lived an unearthly perfect life with divine wisdom. The most blessed period in all of history, when God returned to the Earth, the first time since the beginning. So what did God do when he visited Earth? He taught the world, not through prophets this time, but from His own mouth. And living as a human he set the example for how his creations should live.

He showed us the way He had intended us to live when He created us, and spoke everything else He wanted us to know that up to that time men had questions about. The people around Him had the unfathomable once-in-the-history-of-the-earth opportunity to ask their Creator any question they wished to ask Him. He showed them face-to-face the life they should live by His example and teachings. They watched in awe as the God of the universe walked alongside them, ate with them, and lived among them, that is, until it was time for Him to become the sacrifice He was intended to become when He became a man: the reason He came to the Earth in the first place.

Instead of reissuing the same commandments He had already given, He instructed people how to keep those commandments: by getting to the root of sin. Instead of commanding them to not commit adultery, He commanded them not to lust. Instead of commanding them not to murder, He commanded them not to be angry. These and other radical teachings caused quite a stir. Instead of rebuking the stereotypical sinners, he showed mercy to them, and paradoxically rebuked His priests instead. It was then that His priests became offended and jealous of Him, and so they didn’t believe He was who He said He was. Their hearts were continually hardened to the point that they conspired to have Him arrested and killed. Here was God Himself in the world He created being killed by His own creations, and not just any of His creations, but His priests who were supposed to be the most righteous, God-fearing people in the whole world. But ever since the fall of man it was no longer God's world, but a world corruptly ruled by man. The perfect picture of that is the fact that God could be killed in the world He created, because it wasn't His world anymore.

Of course, God's world or not, ultimately everything falls into place according to God's great story of history, all for His glory. HIStory. He fore-ordained His creations to kill Him, as it was the reason He came into the world in the first place- to be offered as a sacrifice for mankind's sins. Though his enemies didn't realize it, they became the ones to offer this sacrifice for their own sins.
What greater story is there than that? That God returned to the planet He created (after it rebelled against Him) in the form of a man, and was killed by His own creations, but this turned out to be His divine plan of love to cover their sins (even the ones who killed Him) and reunite them with Him. The greatest story ever told. The ideal story. The greatest story that could be conceived. And how wonderful it is that such an ideal story is a true story, and not just a true story, but the central story of our world. HIStory.

With a true story like this resulting in its hearer's salvation or damnation, it's the only story worth telling or hearing.

As stated above, this real story has real consequences. It presents a philosophy so life-changing when embraced that it becomes an all-consuming world view that possesses you, rules you, and determines how you will spend every day for the rest of your life. Because when you believe this story and accept God's sacrifice for your sins He reunites Himself with you as it was at the beginning of the world. It results in a relationship with God that exists the rest of your life, and on into eternity when you are finally reunited with Him in His very presence.

And that is how it can be considered a religion, and if so, the ideal religion.