I do not even think the ultimate goal of Jesus' teachings was enlightenment. Enlightenment is your paradigm, but not the paradigm of Jesus. Consider this passage:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30
It doesn't sound like Jesus wants to teach "enlightenment." Jesus taught people "the way," but "the way" is not enlightenment. Enlightenment sounds like a pretty big hurdle to me. "Enlightenment" seems to imply "intellectual" and if that is what you mean by enlightenment, then that was not Jesus' goal. Intellectualism is not for everyone. Jesus' followers were not intellectuals. If by enlightened you mean "educated," then again, Jesus' followers were not educated. Education is not for everyone.
If the ultimate goal was not to educate or to be intellectual, then I think the concept of enlightenment is incompatible with Jesus and Christianity. I have been reading some of your posts and it seems you are proposing something you consider universal. From what I have seen however, your concept doesn't seem universal enough to include either Jesus or Christianity.
The Nazarene Way does not exclude education or intellectualism but nor does it require education or intellectualism. If enlightenment requires education or intellectualism then it doesn't match the Nazarene Way. The Nazarene Way was a path that included both great and small, the simple and intellectual, rich and poor, the strong and the weak. It was not elitist.
You understand that "yoke" is the most direct translation of "yoga" in the English language? Nothing about Christianity is aimed at the intellectual though, this simply isn't its focus, it is a faith founded on devotion and service - bhakti and karma yoga respectively.
I agree, my statements do not include modern Christianity, but they do encompass many statements in the Bible. I merely look at them from a more universal perspective, and thus I see a supremely mystical statement in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 where most Christians seem to see... uhh, I'm not entirely sure. I also see 1 John 4:8 as quite mystical, amongst many other statements. There are Catholic mystic schools which understand these things, but Christianity as a whole pays them little mind it seems, or at least fails to grasp them fully.
That said, I am quite against any organized religion, a common thread in my posts is that of rejecting group-think. Jesus was a Jewish rebel - he was killed because of this - you simply cannot organize a rebellion. It isn't even useful to try, for Christ has merely shared his own experience and understanding, you must find your own. I think this is where it can be useful to venture into other texts, for you can gain a better understanding when you see that all point to the same thing, you see what is actually conveyed rather than relying on a group to tell you how to understand it.
There is nothing wrong with any scripture, I uphold them all, what I cannot allow for myself is a conforming to the understandings of those which have no experienced themselves. How can you tell me what is intended when you do not have direct knowledge yourself? It makes no sense to me, and yet billion of people world wide frequent places that try to tell you how to worship the Ultimate. It is very necessary to start out in such a scenario, you must gain some familiarity, but this is like elementary school compared to what is available. Eventually, you must pursue your own career utilizing that education.
You will know when this is appropriate for yourself, it is not a guessing game. I only share what I know based on interfaith motivations, to truly have successful discussion here we must not focus on a particular tradition. To do this, sometimes it is appropriate to almost attack such a tradition, merely to show some absurdities within it and permit a disconnect that enables useful discussion. Of course, this can backfire in some cases because the other party becomes defensive, I only know what I say is what must be said and will be utilized as appropriate.
