why I gave up on Christian religion

Why I gave up on Christian religion

I tried to be good. Love your neighbor as yourself. Treat others the way you want to be treated. And the don’ts: Don’t lie. Don’t be jealous. Don’t cheat. Don’t lust. Don’t be prideful. Don’t hate. Don’t be selfish.

It felt great to be on the good side, at first. I complained about those “evil” people and lamented “this world’s going to hell in a handbasket!” It didn’t take long before the hypocrisy of it all washed over me.

The very things I judged in others I still saw in myself. I knew what I was supposed to do; that wasn’t the problem. I just couldn’t do it. I was trying to swim upstream, cut against the grain. Why strive against who I really am? I couldn’t live the lie any longer. So I gave up on the Christian religion.

Some time later I found out what I experienced was just the first part of Christianity. I was amazed to find out what happened to me was exactly how it’s SUPPOSED to work. All the do’s and don’ts in the Bible, the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, they’re purpose is to show us exactly what good looks like. They’re a measuring rod by which we can compare ourselves to perfection.

It doesn’t take long trying to live up to this ideal standard before you realize you can’t, that you just don’t measure up. Nobody can! I couldn’t stand the guilt and frustration from constantly failing. Nothing I did was ever good enough. That’s why I dropped Christian religion like a bad habit. But I missed something.

I overlooked the second part of Christianity. The first part, the do’s and don’ts, they showed me how imperfect I was. But instead of running away from the guilt, I should have followed where it was leading me. My failure in keeping the “do’s” and “don’ts” was pointing me to God’s forgiveness. The rules in the Bible are impossible to follow by design, to drive us to the point where we turn to God and cry out…..

“I CAN’T DO THIS! I FAILED! I DON’T MEASURE UP! PLEASE HAVE MERCY!”

Is this first part of Christianity painful? Yes. Is it harsh? It may feel like it. But consider if you had cancer. First the doctor must tell you the bad news. Then you have to come to grips and accept it before you’re willing to start treatment. It’s not fun to learn you have cancer but necessary in order to fix it.

God didn’t give us this cancer of evil; we chose it ourselves. And this evil isn’t just out there somewhere in “others”. It’s inside your heart and needs to be rooted out. We can’t do it ourselves, only God can remove it from us. But before we’ll ask Him for help we first have to realize we’re hopelessly lost if left on our own.

Thankfully God isn’t in the damning business. We do that ourselves by rejecting His help. He’s in the rescuing business. This is the beautiful second part of Christianity, the good news of the Gospel that God did it all for us. Because He loves you, He came to earth and lived the perfect life for you, as though he took your place. Then He took your sins on His body, taking the punishment for them by dying on the cross.

So how does this happen, what do we need to do to be rescued? We can’t earn it; Christianity’s first step showed us that’s impossible! This forgiveness is a free gift. It’s received by putting your faith in Jesus alone instead of trusting your own efforts to please God. Then your life of moral failure is covered by His blood and His righteous life is transferred to your account. He trades you His healthy body for your cancerous one! The pressure of being perfect is gone because He did it for you.

Does this mean a Christian doesn’t have to worry about all those rules? It’s true, Christians are free from all rules and laws and we don’t have to “worry” about them anymore. A Christian is simply someone who’s been forgiven of all sin past, present, and future by accepting Jesus as their Savior. God loves you unconditionally. You don’t have to earn His acceptance.

The Bible says an amazing thing happens when you first trust Jesus as your Savior. At that moment the Holy Spirit enters your heart and begins producing a fruitful life. This is called the new birth and it changes you from the inside out. So a Christian’s life isn’t a matter of obeying rules to appease an angry God; it’s the God of love living IN and THROUGH you. All of a sudden you love your neighbor because you want to, not because you have to.

Sometimes that second step takes awhile. It did for me. What’s stopping you from taking the next step?

From the Bible

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? - from Romans 7:15-24

Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. I would not have come to know sin except through the Law. Scripture has shut up everyone under sin. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ. - from Galatians 3:22-24, Romans 3:20-23, and 7:7

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. He gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. If righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly. - from Galatians 1:4, 2:21, Romans 5:6-8, and 8:3

Man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus. By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. Man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We’re justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. - from Galatians 2:16, Romans 3:24-28, 4:5, 5:1, and 6:23

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. You are not under law but under grace. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. - from Galatians 3:25, Romans 6:14, and 8:2

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - from Galatians 2:20, 5:13-14, and Romans 6:6