Route 66
Slapped Upside-da-Head Member
MFE, I'm not a great evangelist but allow me to try and answer your question as best I can.
God cannot let sin go unpunished ("the wages of sin is death) but He knew that we could never possibly atone for our sins ourselves. It is impossible not to sin, and if we break but one of the commandments, we have broken them all.
Every last one of us would be up poop creek without a paddle and no amount of good deeds we pulled off would ever save us. This is where in his boundless love and mercy for us He sent the gift of His Son Jesus to take the punishment that we deserved.
Jesus got what we deserved so that we could have what He deserved. It's a free gift - all anyone need do to receive it is to simply accept it. No chants, no pennance, no jumping through religious hoops. We have a hard time believing that it could actually be that simple.
I know that people are rolling their eyes reading this (time was when I would have reacted the same way). Why not just make us all angels who never did anything wrong?, folks will ask. He could have, but then we would all just be puppets dancing on the end of God's golden strings. Instead He chose to give us all free will.
As I said, I'm not very good at this and always a bit fearful that I might actually send somebody further back the other direction if I say the wrong thing. Hopefully that isn't the case here and perhaps this will help at least a little.
Is Christianity full of hippocrates? Darn right it is, and I am one of them. It's one of my many sins. I am not perfect - far far from it - so it's a good thing I have a Saviour who is!
God cannot let sin go unpunished ("the wages of sin is death) but He knew that we could never possibly atone for our sins ourselves. It is impossible not to sin, and if we break but one of the commandments, we have broken them all.
Every last one of us would be up poop creek without a paddle and no amount of good deeds we pulled off would ever save us. This is where in his boundless love and mercy for us He sent the gift of His Son Jesus to take the punishment that we deserved.
Jesus got what we deserved so that we could have what He deserved. It's a free gift - all anyone need do to receive it is to simply accept it. No chants, no pennance, no jumping through religious hoops. We have a hard time believing that it could actually be that simple.
I know that people are rolling their eyes reading this (time was when I would have reacted the same way). Why not just make us all angels who never did anything wrong?, folks will ask. He could have, but then we would all just be puppets dancing on the end of God's golden strings. Instead He chose to give us all free will.
As I said, I'm not very good at this and always a bit fearful that I might actually send somebody further back the other direction if I say the wrong thing. Hopefully that isn't the case here and perhaps this will help at least a little.
Is Christianity full of hippocrates? Darn right it is, and I am one of them. It's one of my many sins. I am not perfect - far far from it - so it's a good thing I have a Saviour who is!