[Rockin' Flames]

Originally Posted by arloiginla

That is a fantastic post. It really sums up what I think a lot of atheists/agnostics or basically "unbelievers in Christ" feel when it comes to Christianity and religions as a whole.

Frankly, it really is too bad that Christianity in general has such a bad rap like this. It is an example of some ruining it for everyone.

Christ did not intend this for his church. As Christians we are to love the Lord with all our hearts, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. That basically means denying ourselves and wants and acting out in love, in whichever form that may be. It's being selfless.

Where most go wrong is here: We follow Jesus' commands BECAUSE he loved us and saved us, not IN ORDER to earn salvation and "be a Christian."

That's where you hear the abominable preaching of: "Thou shalt not be gay, or thou shalt not do stem cell research, or thou shalt not commit adultery." Unfortunately, the belief here is that as long as you follow everything the Bible says and follow a bunch of rules, you will go to heaven and be saved from hell.

It doesn't work that way. Commands in the Bible are there to help Christians live the life that God intended them to. You follow them because you were saved and your eternity secured, not in order to earn it.

When you become saved, God gives you a brand new heart and attitude, and the Holy Spirit guides you and helps you to make the right decisions as you go through life. It's like a horse that is broken, you WANT to follow Christ's commandments and you desire to do the right thing.

That's where true Christianity differs from other religions in the world, or the "Christianity" that you hear preached especially in America. Other religions are a set of rules that you must follow in order to win favour with the god. Christianity was not meant to be like that, and it is truly unfortunate and disappointing that so many have given the world this negative perception.

Preachers, especially television preachers, should be preaching that unbelievers give their hearts to the Lord first and then follow His commands later as the Spirit convicts us in order to clean up the parts of our lives that God sees as non-beneficial. Instead, they are doing it backwards and telling people that they can earn their salvation by doing good works and "not being gay" and such, and then maybe God won't be so angry with them and make them rot in hell.

This is exactly it. Unfortunatly there are some that tend to give Christianity a bad name and as a Christian I've been disappointed by some of those people. However, there are a lot of others who are not in the spot light that are teaching what Christianity is really about.