Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity; Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God

...religion either produces the very best people or the very worst.

It seems we are suffering from a very narrow and self serving reading of the Gospel right now.

Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity; Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God

Nature religions, for example, speak of summer, fall, winter, and spring. They see the downward path as the necessary prelude to any kind of upward path again. Our vocabulary is different. We Christians speak of the death and resurrection of Jesus. But unfortunately, we've projected it all onto Jesus and it didn't become a life agenda for the rest of us.

It is at the bottom where we find grace; for like water, grace seeks the lowest place and there it pools up.

The path of descent is the path of transformation. Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines.