The teachings of Jesus have a long history of being hijacked, edited and rewritten to suit the needs of powerseeking people whose sole desire is to maintain a stranglehold over the lives of others. It began just a couple of centuries after Jesus' death when the gospels which portrayed Jesus as a teacher who said "I'm not so special. Each of you has the potential to be as I am." were tossed out and labeled heresy while only those that portrayed him as a leader who said "I am unique and you must worship me." were retained as part of the canon. How can a hierarchal church seeking to control the lives of its followers embrace a figurehead who says that hierarchy and control are illegitimate? It can't. So, it cherrypicks the stories that work toward its ends and ignores the others. Remember that Jesus himself wrote nothing. The gospels upon which the Christian religion are based were written by his followers. And like the blind men describing the elephant, each of the authors of the gospels described the aspects of Jesus that he perceived. Taken as a whole, they may do a fairly good job of portraying a man who was, undoubtedly, one of the most enlightened beings to ever walk the earth. But the gospels which the early church canonized (and upon which all subsequent flavors of Christianity are based) don't tell the entire picture and I, for one, will not associate myself with any church that claims that they do.