this is a prison planet and we are inmates until... we can make proper choices and ascend
You're almost right. Earth was created to be a perfect place where God and man could live in perfect fellowship, but mankind messed that up by choosing to reject God. So Earth can be thought of as a prison, but one of our own making. However, you can't ascend by making your own choices. No one is good enough to restore fellowship with God by their own good choices or good deeds. It is God who came down to us to make the way back to Him, and this was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The only way back to God is by acknowledging your faults and believing that Christ has already paid to have those faults cleared from your record. Then, on top of getting to be with God in heaven, you get the Holy Spirit here on earth to help guide you into all truth.
Regarding whether Jesus changed the rules in the Old Testament, He did and He didn't. Basically this boils down to the idea of dispensations, the idea that God has slightly different expectations for different people groups across time, with the overall plan of salvation (faith in Jesus Christ) staying the same. So the Israelites were expected to follow all the OT Law, but that's not how they got saved; they were saved by having faith in the coming Messiah, just as Christians today (we just know more about Him because He's already come once). Christians are no longer under the Law, but that doesn't mean we don't have rules. Any rule that Christians are expected to follow is repeated in some form in the New Testament. In fact, all the Ten Commandments are repeated save the keeping of the Sabbath day; the book of Hebrews goes into detail about how Christ is the fulfillment of the sabbath for us. Plus Christians have the Holy Spirit, who provides guidance on how to live your life if you listen.
You're on the right track, and it's good that you're devoting so much thought into this. My advice would be to get a Bible, read the New Testament for starters, and find a good church that teaches the Bible and only the Bible. The more you study, the more answers you will find. Best of luck to you.
You're almost right. Earth was created to be a perfect place where God and man could live in perfect fellowship, but mankind messed that up by choosing to reject God. So Earth can be thought of as a prison, but one of our own making. However, you can't ascend by making your own choices. No one is good enough to restore fellowship with God by their own good choices or good deeds. It is God who came down to us to make the way back to Him, and this was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The only way back to God is by acknowledging your faults and believing that Christ has already paid to have those faults cleared from your record. Then, on top of getting to be with God in heaven, you get the Holy Spirit here on earth to help guide you into all truth.
Regarding whether Jesus changed the rules in the Old Testament, He did and He didn't. Basically this boils down to the idea of dispensations, the idea that God has slightly different expectations for different people groups across time, with the overall plan of salvation (faith in Jesus Christ) staying the same. So the Israelites were expected to follow all the OT Law, but that's not how they got saved; they were saved by having faith in the coming Messiah, just as Christians today (we just know more about Him because He's already come once). Christians are no longer under the Law, but that doesn't mean we don't have rules. Any rule that Christians are expected to follow is repeated in some form in the New Testament. In fact, all the Ten Commandments are repeated save the keeping of the Sabbath day; the book of Hebrews goes into detail about how Christ is the fulfillment of the sabbath for us. Plus Christians have the Holy Spirit, who provides guidance on how to live your life if you listen.
You're on the right track, and it's good that you're devoting so much thought into this. My advice would be to get a Bible, read the New Testament for starters, and find a good church that teaches the Bible and only the Bible. The more you study, the more answers you will find. Best of luck to you.