Monday, March 13, 2017

15 Statements to Clear Up Some Misconceptions About Christianity

1.     Everyone has sinned – including every pastor, priest, and church member.
All Christians continue to sin – even after becoming Christians. Sinning doesn’t mean that you will get sick or that you will become unsuccessful.

2.     Sin, and that is ANY sin, ruins your relationship with God.

3.     You can’t do anything to be reconciled to God; you can’t earn the relationship back.  Being good doesn’t fix your relationship with God.

4.     All you have to do to be reconciled to God is to recognize that you are a sinner in need of help and accept the gift of Jesus’ payment; just recognize that Jesus paid the price for your sins. You can’t actually DO anything to earn this.

5.     Jesus came to make dead people alive, not to make bad people good.

6.     Jesus’ death was the payment to God for all of our past, present, and future sins.
Jesus’ resurrection was the proof that Jesus was able to make the payment.

7.     God does not promise that Christians will have an easy life.  In fact, Jesus says the opposite!

8.     You don’t need to be a Christian to be a good person.  In fact, there are some Christians who are not good people and many non-Christians who are very good people!

9.     There is not a list of do’s and don’ts that you have to follow to be a Christian.  Being a Christian doesn’t require you to be a Republican or even a conservative. Participating in the secular world doesn’t disqualify you from being a Christian.  You can be a Christian and still go to Starbucks, read Harry Potter, and watch Beauty and the Beast.

10.  Christian “faith” is not wishful thinking or believing without any evidence.  Christian “faith” is trusting in Jesus because he gave us good reason to trust in Him. Having more “faith” doesn’t mean that you will be happier or that you will be healed or that you will be more successful.

11.  Growing as a Christian means depending more on Jesus.  Maturity is maturity in Christ, not improving your personal goodness or accomplishing more.  We grow when we are better able to see our failure and His sufficiency.[1]

12.  The Trinity is not illogical.  Think of the three headed dog in Harry Potter.  One dog, three brains.[2]  One God, three persons.

13.  Jesus is both God and man.  Hard to comprehend, but not illogical.  Our natural word is filled with incomprehensible things (light is both a wave and a particle), but they are not illogical and we still can describe them.

14.  You don’t need to believe one specific interpretation of Genesis to be a Christian.

15.  No one knows exactly how/when/where the world will end.




[2] I heard William Lane Craig say this, but can’t find the reference.

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