For my first blog, I want to explain who I am and who I serve. I am a Christian, yet for anyone who has any preconceptions about Christianity and religion, let me tell you the real meaning of Christianity.
Misconception #1
First off, Christianity is not a religion!! It is a belief. Christianity relies 100% on faith, without faith there is nothing. Now, I am sure most of you have heard some spiel about salvation and heaven and hell and redemption and justification, etc... and I am sure to most of you it sounds like mumbo jumbo, blah, blah, blah. Yet it is more.
Simply put, here is the story. Everyone sins and messes up at some point and we all deserve to be punished in some form or another; agree? Ok, so God exists and created us (that issue is another blog but for now just continue reading) and is so upset and saddened at how his creation screwed up the world he created for our benefit. Think of it this way, it is like a dad who saves and saves to buy his son his favorite toy - let us call this toy be a remote control car. Instead of thanking his dad and playing with his toy responsibly, the boy immediately runs off with the toy and purposefully drives it straight into a tree which damages it and renders it useless. God is like the dad, and like the dad except that as God He can change something. He can place a substitute in the world to take away the punishment we deserve; that substitute is Jesus.
Jesus was the only human who could take away the punishment from the world and he did it by dying for each and every person on the earth. As such, he is the only way into heaven. That is where faith comes in; all we have to do is believe and we will be "saved." Saved here just means that you have been saved from hell and will spend eternity with God.
Misconception #2
My next topic is on heaven. Ok, so most people with whom I have come into contact imagine heaven to be some celestial place where everyone is dressed in white and they live in mansions and walk on streets of gold, etc... I am sure you have pictured it like this once; it is the simplistic Sunday School picture. Another misconception is hell. Most people picture hell as a simple fiery pit where demons and devils with pitchforks poke and prod victims. I will not claim that these visuals are entirely false, but I will claim that they are misconceptions.
Heaven, or what we call heaven, is God's home and throne. Hell is Satan's home. God is good and God is love. Satan is evil and evil is bad. That is what heaven and hell are: the absence of bad and the absence of good. Start with heaven. God cannot exist around anything bad; that is contrary to His nature, therefore nothing bad can exist in His prescence. Heaven is therefore the lack of evil or anything that could be considered bad. Vice versa, hell is filled with every bad thing, every evil thought or action or every bad object; nothing good can exist, whether it is a flower God created or animals, or love or trust or kindness or money. That is hell.
Misconception #3
Now I will get down to the meat of Christianity. Christianity does not promise smooth sailing; it is not all daisies and sunshine and warm, cozy feelings; yet, it is definitely NOT a CAGE. Many people consider it a list of "do's and don'ts" (you probably have too and that is okay). You may consider this merely a euphemism but they are more like guidelines. Take the dad from the first example. A dad will set forth "guidelines" for his children so that they are not hurt. Does this mean that the child never has fun again? No, it merely means that the son will go and play with his bike or toy truck rather than with fire and guns. The guidelines are there to protect us, not to cage us or limit us. Rather, when you combine faith with the guidelines you find that your life is suddeny an adventure with purpose rather than a predictable path of self-seeking pleasure that never quite fulfills. There is so much more I could say but to avoid "preaching" I will end it here (at least for now) but I will answer any questions that you may have.
Misconception #4
This final one will be relatively brief. Christians are not expected to be perfect. That is impossible and any sane person will agree. The mere difference between Christians and secularists is that Christians simply strive to improve toward a common goal. We will fail and fall miserably but we will be picked up and be given strength to continue onward. We will not have all the answers but we will search. But the clincher is that Christians alone can truly love. Now call me presumptuous, but I see it like this. God is love, apart from Him it cannot exist. God exhibited His love for humanity when He sent His only son to die on the cross for His creation. Christians alone can experience this feeling of ultimate love, the perfect love and therefore they are the only ones who can learn to pass it on to others. How can you share something of which you have no knowledge? Now not all Christians love perfectly and in fact few rarely, if ever, do. But Christians are the only ones with the capacity and potential to truly love.
I am not claiming that no one who is not saved cannot love. That would be too huge of a lie. But to truly love without jealousy or quick temper, to love infinitely and patiently and compassionately, and self-sacrificingly: that is truly loving someone.
