You aren't good enough. None of us are. That's the whole point of Christianity. If we were good enough, we wouldn't need a Savior. We wouldn't need an Atonement and Redemption.
Why would someone want to join a group that tells them they aren't good enough?
God loves us all, He also would like us to take care of each other.
You become "good enough" when you follow the 10 Commandments and take care of the planet and your fellow humans.
It is impossible to follow the 10 Commandments.
Really? It's impossible to follow the 10 Commandments?
Got news for you all......................the only really defined "sins" in the Bible are those that go against the 10 Commandments. Remember John 3:16............."For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosover believeth in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life". Basically, that means if you follow the teachings of Jesus (Yeshua is His proper name), you will live forever (nothing said about eternal here), but if you don't, you're gonna perish.
Besides..................remember......................."the wages of sin are death".
How does this relate to keeping the 10 Commandments? Simple............it's a way to stay alive..........................
The Ten Commandments
20 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Exodus 20 NIV - The Ten Commandments - And God spoke - Bible Gateway
Now..............how does this relate to keeping you alive? Simple..............let me explain..............
1. You shall have no gods before Me. If you worship something other than what created you, there may be problems. Can a Harley Davidson mechanic fix a Prius?
2. Don't worship idols or graven images. Can a piece of rock or wood, or whatever you like, REALLY help you? Only the Creator can.
3. Don't misuse the name of God. Simple actually...........would you help someone who put slander against you? Probably not............and since we don't like it when someone speaks badly of us, why would God like it if we spoke badly of Him?
4. Keep the Sabbath. Remember...............all work and no rest wears a person out. God is reminding us that we need to take a break once in a while and think about Him (or how we got ourselves into the position that we are in, for the atheists).
5. Honor thy Father and thy Mother. Well, many different cultures have told us that God is Father Sky (to use the Native American analogy), and the planet is Mother Earth, which gives rise to us all. If we don't respect the planet, how can we possibly survive?
6. You shall not murder. Pretty self evident. If you kill someone unjustly, their family will come looking for you to kill. If they die because of self defense? Well, they shouldn't have attacked in the first place, because they may have been looking to murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery. Again...........self evident...............if you go and take the love that someone (like a spouse) is supposed to give to their siginificant other, don't you think that significant other is gonna come looking for the person that made their relationship go to crap? It's a good way to keep from getting murdered.
8. You shall not steal. Self evident yet again.................if someone steals something really significant from you, wouldn't you feel like killing them (or at the least hurting them) for taking something from you?
9. You shall not give false testimony. How many of us like being lied to? And, if the lie is significant enough, wouldn't you feel like hurting them (or killing them)?
10. Don't covet your neighbor's belongings. If you think about what your neighbor has, and the fact that you don't, eventually...................if you obsess about it long enough, you're either gonna steal it (resulting in death), or kill your neighbor to get it (resulting in murder and death).
So..........................if you think about it logically, the 10 Commandments are pretty easy to keep (unless you've got a death wish), and are also good rules to follow so that a community can thrive.
And you think you do?
