My friend, you have a number of misunderstandings here.
Let’s begin with the title of your thread. Religion and spirituality can never be juxtaposed. There is no such thing as religion vs spirituality. Spirituality, properly speaking means life in the spirit. There is an a priori assumption that the person who lives a spiritual life lives in relationship to someone who transcends his own existence. Therefore, there is a link between the two, which is the proper meaning of the term religion, from the Latin to re-tie (re ligio).
As to the Creation Story in the Book of Genesis, the story is theology. My ancestors were not interested in writing philosophy, science or literary allegory. The fruit, serpent, garden and so forth meant much more to them than what you’re saying. You’re not totally wrong either, but you need to go further. The Creation story was a hymn of praise that was handed down from generation to generation through oral tradition by my people. It praised God as creator and source of all existence, especially life. It also made a theological statement about the nature of man and his relationship with God. It communicated the to man the nature of God who is all powerful, all knowing, all loving and all merciful. It defines the dignity of man in relation to all of creation. But it also sheds light on the value of all creation in relationship to man and man’s moral obligation to care for what clearly was created for his good and to lead him back to the Creator, not to exploit it and destroy it. This is only scratching the surface.
Jesus did not say that he was one with God and God is one with him. Jesus said that he and the Father are one. In Hebrew culture this means that he is God, not united to God. Had this been his meaning, they would not have accused him of blasphemy. If someone were to allege that he is God today, we too could call him a blasphemer.
He also said that the Kingdom of God “is at hand”, referring to himself. He is the Kingdom of God and at the same time he points to the Kingdom of God. All things are drawn to him and all things reach their fulfillment in him. It is only he who is capable of ending suffering, not man. Man can stop inflicting suffering on himself. But man cannot heal the scars of suffering. Nor can man bridge the gap between God and him caused by sin. Only Christ can do that. Hence he says that no one can go to the Father except through him. No one can cross the chasm without cross the bridge, which is Christ. He’s not pointing to any power within man other than the power to choose him or reject him. He is not attributing the man power to heal himself.
Now that we have established that Jesus means himself as the Kingdom of God, then we can concluded by addressing your first point. Man is not “kicked out of the Kingdom of God.” The Garden of Eden was not the Kingdom of God, because only Christ is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not a place, but a state of being, which is only found in Jesus, not in creation. Eden, in Jewish theology, means God’s garden. It is the place where God walks among his creation. Through sin, man forfeits the intimacy of the garden. In other words, he forfeits intimacy with divine life.
However, God so loves man, that he does not abandon man. Even though man has forfeited divine intimacy, God continues to make his presence known through the entire Old Testament to remind man that he will come to heal the rupture that man cannot heal. Hence, when the time was right, God becomes incarnate in Christ, is born of a virgin in Bethlehem, surrenders his life in Jerusalem and conquers death. It is the cross that heals death, not man. Therefore, Christ crucified is the one who rises from the dead so that we can rise from the dead. All healing and all life are to be found through him and in him who is God.
