How to Graduate Into Christianity

A couple of days ago I read a article written by Steven Pavlina that was titled, “How to Graduate From Christianity,” and I could not disagree more with his viewpoints yet at one time I completely understood his point of view. Though I never meditated to various spirits, I do understand the feeling that in Christianity “there are many controls that are set up to discourage you from leaving.” And still I feel that there are many controls to keep the members of a local body to keep from sinning.

Testing The Boundaries

In fact I was against the tradition of church so much that after spending three years in Bible College I decided to test the boundaries to see if God would still love me. Therefore I did random things that went against some of the teachings of my church but were not specifically in the Bible. For example many churches teach that drinking is a sin therefore I began drinking wine. Others proclaimed that if you do not tithe then God will not bless your finances so I stopped tithing. Or if you do not go to church you will backslide so I stopped going. All of these tests were set with boundaries, such as I would only do one test per month and note what God’s reaction to my “disobedience” was.

To my surprise, because I was extremely legalistic, He continued to show His love for me in unique ways. I began to understand through these experiences and others that He is more than a judgmental God who is looking for excuses not to bless His people. God is not insecure. If you want to question why things are the way they are, ask Him. If you do not understand why He does certain things question Him. He is not intimidated by your disbelief nor will He beg you to accept Him as He is. Though He will not force you or beg you to love Him God desires a personal relationship with His people.

Steve Pavlina’s article, “How to Graduate From Christianity,” is based on his experience in the Catholic Church who received many of their practices from pagan religions. So I can understand why he felt detached to God’s presence and why he felt like he had to go elsewhere to find his faith. Here is a brief recap of the history of the Catholic Church and how they differ from what the Bible teaches:

The Rundown On The Catholic Church

Constantine the Great, was the emperor of Rome who decided to become a Christian and therefore, declared that Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire. Anyone who did not follow the Christian faith was to be put to death (Ouch). So naturally the pagan priests had some difficulty with his decision so they wanted to incorporate some of their practices into Christianity to make the transition smoother. The Constantine wanting to appease them had his Christian priest’s to incorporate some of the pagan practices so the new Christian faith would be more acceptable to those who followed pagan traditions.

Here are some of the practices that were incorporated:

Praying to the Saints – The Catholic Church has statues of various saints, Mother Mary, Jesus that they pray to. The problem with that is that under the Jewish Law, which is the foundation of Christianity, strictly prohibited the praying to idols, yes the cross is included. According to the Christian faith you do not even pray to Jesus, you pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. Christ bridges the gap from us to God so we can talk to Him directly. That was Jesus’ whole purpose in coming to earth.

Confession – Catholics have confession where you go to the priest and ask him to forgive you of your sins so that you can go your way with a clear conscious. However, you need no other man to forgive you of your sins for you can ask God directly who will forgive you of all of your sins because that is why Jesus died so that you could be forgiven of your sins.

Marriage – Another thing is that the priests are not supposed to marry yet the Pope is supposed to be a descendant in the line of the Apostle Peter. If Peter was never married, then he never had any children and if he did not have any children then how could he have descendants?

There are many other practices, regarding Catholicism and even Christianity that I would love to discuss and clarify however this blog was not meant to by a novel. The reason for bringing up the Catholic church is not to bash their practices or to say that you are in sin if you worship in the Catholic Church but to rather say that once again I believe that man has gotten in God’s way.

Everything in the Christian faith is about God’s children, you and I, being reconciled back to Him. He desires a close intimate relationship and all throughout the Bible He has shown this. He personally guided Gideon and his 300 to defeat more than 100,000 soldiers, Moses to overthrow the Egyptian government, Noah to preserve mankind, Elisha to make an axe head float, Elijah to manifest food (no Jesus was not the only one), God transported Phillip in the Book of Acts and placed a hedge of protection around 3 Jewish men who were thrown into a fire who did not get burned nor did their clothes smell like smoke.

I have read the Bible from cover to cover 3 times and each time I find more interesting stories and events than before. Granted the Chronicles where they list the genealogies can be boring if read on the surface but when you look at the meaning of the names and what those people went on to accomplish in history and who was related to who it is fascinating. But, if all else fails and you do not understand the names, then skip the section. God is not bent out of shape if you skip around. The Bible was not necessarily written for it to be read in chronological order. You will find several writing styles used including poetry, sarcasm, quotes, stories, first person narrative, third person narrative and the styles continue.

The Boundaries of Christianity

So what about all of these stipulations in Christianity? Why are churches always making our faith a long series of do’s and don’ts? As far as I can tell man is always trying to place boundaries on things. We feel more comfortable when we know what is right and what is wrong. Boxes make us feel safe, systems make our lives predictable and schedule helps us to contain the unknowns of the day. So we treat our relationship with God in the same manner.

Christianity Summarized

However, when Jesus summarize the Christian faith by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” No boundaries. So what do we do since His explanation was not clear enough we go back over what he said and create specific guidelines of how to show our love to God and our neighbor.

In reality your relationship with God hinges on these too commandments. Love God with everything that you have and then love man as yourself. You see there are no restrictions, there is no laundry list of things that you cannot do. When you love God first and your fellow man as you love yourself then naturally you will do things that God would want you to do.

What’s the Deal With Hell?

So here is the biggest thing that people have against the Christian faith…Hell. If God is love, how could He, a loving God, send his children to Hell?

Do I believe that Hell is real. Yes. Do I believe that you will go there if you do not believe that Jesus died for your sins. Yes. It sounds hard doesn’t it. But here are two reasons why I believe this way.

1. Why did God send Jesus – Jesus was born to be a sacrifice for sin. Why did God send Him if there was no need for a sacrifice. If there was no Hell and everyone made it to heaven why would God send His Son to live a perfect life then sacrifice Him?
2. God Cannot Be in the Presence of Sin – In the Jewish faith when the High Priest made a sacrifice to God he had to be completely purged of all of his sin before he entered into the Holy of Holies. Just in case that he did not rid his heart off all impurities they tied a rope around his foot so that if he fell over dead they could pull him out. Why would he fall over dead? Because, God cannot dwell where sin resides.

Since God is absolutely pure He cannot be in the presence of sin. So if you have sinned how do you rid yourself of that sin? No amount of good works can erase sin from your life. If you missed the mark last week, I do not care what you do this week, you still missed the mark last week. That sin has forever stained you therefore if you were to die you would have to go somewhere else other than where God dwells because he cannot be where sin is. He does not send you to Hell because He does not love you rather you choose to go there because you did not accept His invitation. So where would you go? You would go where sin lives, Hell.

Hell was created for the devil and the demons that fell from heaven but as the Law of Attraction teaches you attract who you are. If you die with sin still in your life then you will attract more sin, not holiness into your life. And when you die sin only dwells in one place, Hell.

Let’s Say I Am Full of It

So let’s say that everything that I have just stated is complete garbage. Let’s say that Jesus is just a man who did some amazing things, that God is really an all inclusive God and there is no Hell, the devil is a myth and I have just been hoodwinked by all of this “Christianity”. At the end of your life you would have lived a good life, died and made it to heaven anyways or reincarnated into another life that is good or better than the one that you currently have.

However, if what I am saying is true and Jesus died for our sins so that we would not have to pay the penalty of sin, and so that we could have a closer relationship with God while living on this planet then if you walked away you would be paying an eternal price for being wrong.

Business Deal Summary

If I am right: 2 minutes to accept Jesus as the sacrifice for your sins so that you will be saved from an eternal Hell or if I am wrong: 2 minutes of your life wasted and you will enjoy the same fate anyways. I think that this is a pretty good business transaction.

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