The knowledge of religious tales are similar to knowing the story of the "Little Red Riding hood." There is the big, "bad" Wolf who needs to be conquered, destroyed, avoided. The story may change as religions change.
Story 1: The "bad" wolf eats red riding hood. End of story for some. The fear of being eaten by the "bad" wolf is infused in followers.
Story 2: The "bad" wolf is cut open by the woodcutter, saving little red riding hood. The "bad" wolf dies and everyone lives "happy ever after." That is the "redeemer," the "savior" story.... Paradise thereafter. Followers are hoping for happiness in the future.
Though Bible can be used for any interpretation (even for future happiness when God’s Kingdom come), it has its good side too—it also contains something very profound and practical to our very lives right now. One of them is: Spirituality is the art of daily living Life in joy. It is right here, right now.
When Jesus declared
“The Kingdom of God Is Within You” it is unlikely that his immediate listeners
understood in the sense of JWs do now (Luke 17:21) because he simply used the
same Greek word for “within” to mean what is “inside” when he spoke Mathew
23:26 “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also
will be clean.”
Interestingly, this is something people can experiment in their own lives, and
find out whether “Kingdom of God is within” or not. There are at least some who
lead a simple life-style. They don’t have any expectation from others because
they feel that others have their freedom to act the way they like, and it is
their lives and also they don’t try to correct others (but leave that work to
the authorised persons/agency). Whatever they do, they do it creatively (and
make it supportive of others if at all possible). In such a simple life-style,
there is always a space around them, nothing would affect them, and they would
feel that they are living in Kingdom of God. Yet they also have the freedom to
rust out bringing in “leaven” into their lives, as Jesus himself illustrated it
in Mathew 13:33. (Leaven symbolizes sin Luke 12:1; 1Corinthians 5:6-8;
Galatians 5:9) If they add “leaven” or wasteful and negative qualities they are
living as though in hell. (Mark 7:21; James 1:14) On the contrary, productive,
positive inner qualities would make one feel that he is in Kingdom of God
because he produces better results when he enjoys his work and does it with 100
% involvement, which means he is in the now. This means being in the now is
natural, whereas being distracted over past deeds and worried about future
fears is unnatural, away from the now as though being in hell. Apostle Paul
himself had this understanding: “Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and
drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans
14:17) He knew “will of God” is to be joyful in “all circumstance.” (Phil 4:4;
1Thess 5:16-18)