Return to the Light

Beyond Doctrine, Into the Light: An Introduction to "Return to the Light" Have you ever wondered where your soul comes from, or what truly happens after we die? What if the faith you've been taught is built less on the words of Jesus, and more on the interpretations of a man who never met him? "Return to the Light" is not a book that offers easy answers or comforting dogma. It is a profound, courageous, and deeply personal journey into the heart of faith itself. Written by the Korean spiritual writer Mukmyeong (Silent Light) Jinoh Kwon, this work invites you—the seeker, the doubter, the weary believer—to question everything. Why This Book is Different The author, a former pastor who left the pulpit, spent over fifteen years as a spiritual nomad. He prayed with Sufi mystics, sat with Buddhist monks, and listened to wisdom from Africa to the Himalayas. This journey led him to a radical deconstruction of his own Christian faith and a reconstruction of something more universal and liberating. The core argument is both shocking and compelling: Much of mainstream Christianity follows the theology of Paul, not the teachings of Jesus. The book argues that Paul—a former persecutor—systematized Jesus's simple message of love, forgiveness, and ethics into a complex religion of blood atonement, doctrine, and exclusive salvation. Jesus spoke of a "Kingdom of God" within and among us; Paul spoke of a crucified Christ whose death was a required transaction for God's forgiveness. A Journey Through the Chapters The book guides you through this awakening: On Soul & Death: It begins by exploring the soul, comparing Christian and Buddhist views, and tracing the evolution of afterlife concepts in scripture—from the silent "Sheol" to the later doctrines of heaven and hell. It proposes death not as a judgment, but as a homecoming to the source of all being. The Great Divorce: Jesus vs. Paul: A central section meticulously contrasts Jesus's ethics of love, mercy, and practical compassion with Paul's focus on faith, sin, and sacrificial atonement. It asks: Do we follow the religion of Jesus, or the religion about Jesus invented by Paul? Unmasking Tradition: Subsequent chapters critically examine the origins of core Christian rituals like the Eucharist, linking them to older pagan myths and political power plays. It questions the historical validity of the Resurrection narrative and the deification of Jesus at the Council of Nicaea, suggesting these were strategic moves to consolidate imperial and church authority. "The False Prophet Paul": In its most provocative chapter, the book presents Paul not as a saint, but as a brilliant but flawed organizer who may have distorted the gospel, built a personal power structure, and used fundraising and guilt to establish his authority. A Wider, Brighter God: The later chapters beautifully expand the vision beyond Christian dogma. They explore the devil as a symbolic tester of free will across religions, find the breath of God in Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, and argue for a God who is immanent in all creation yet transcendent beyond it. This God is not a being who condemns but is the very ground of being, the conscious order of the cosmos to which all souls ultimately return—a concept called Universal Salvation.