Christians should center their faith and practice only on the Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, because these books record the actual words and actions of Jesus himself. Everything else in the Bible, especially Paul’s letters and the Old Testament, often leads to confusion and mixed messages that drift away from what Jesus really taught. Paul’s writings were written for a different time and culture, and when people treat them as equal to Jesus’s own words, they risk twisting the heart of Christianity into rules and ideas Jesus never taught. For example, many Christians use Paul’s words about women being silent in church (1 Corinthians 14:34) or his writings about slavery (Ephesians 6:5) to justify inequality, teachings that clearly go against Jesus’s example of treating everyone with dignity and compassion. The Old Testament, too, belongs to Jewish history and belief, and using it as a Christian guide without that context can cause even more misunderstanding. Some Christians, for instance, quote Old Testament laws about punishment or war, even though Jesus clearly taught the opposite when he said, “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44) and “Do not judge” (Matthew 7:1).

The Gospels, on the other hand, are clear and direct, they show us how to live with love, forgiveness, and compassion. When Jesus says to “turn the other cheek,” to “forgive seventy times seven,” and to “love your neighbor as yourself,” he gives a simple and powerful guide for how Christians should live. If Christians focused only on Jesus’s teachings and tried to live them out every day, feeding the hungry, forgiving others, helping the poor, and showing mercy, Christianity would be simpler, stronger, and truer to its real purpose: following Jesus’s example, not the interpretations or additions that came after him.