37
Here’s what we usually hear from Christians: God, in his grace, has done these wonderful things for us through Jesus and you can be saved IF.
IF is the big word here.
You can be saved IF you do the right spiritual things.
Well, what are the right spiritual things to do, that IF we do them we can be saved?
Turns out that’s kind of a moving target depending on who’s doing the presentation.
I heard an evangelist say one time, “If you’re not 100% on fire for Jesus, and if you’re not reading your Bible every day, and if you’re not out there witnessing, then you’re not a Christian. You’re a heathen and you’re going to hell as fast as anyone out there!”
It can seem like salvation, even if you become a Christian, is nearly impossible.
As I heard someone sardonically put it, “Hooray, I’m saved – now all I have to do is be perfect!”
So is that it?
God in his grace sent Jesus and if I have perfect faith, which is shown by perfect devotion, then I can go to heaven?
Most Christianity would not set the bar that high.
They would say something like, “Oh no, you don’t have to be a perfect Christian to be saved.”
So then the question arises, “Well if I don’t have to be a perfect Christian to be saved then how good a Christian do I have to be?”
How low can I go?
Does that mean that as long as I make a confession of faith (say I believe in Jesus) then I’m in? I’m going to heaven after I die? All my sins are forgiven? I can do as little or as much as I want? I can even do terrible things for the rest of my life and I’m still saved?
Then the answer comes back something like this, “Well, you are saved by faith, but IF you really have faith, then you won’t do terrible things and you will live a Christian life.”
When you boil it all down it comes out something like this:
How do I get saved? Have faith. How much faith? Enough to get you saved. How much is that? Somewhere between zero and 100. Say, 37.
The basic idea we usually hear is that in order to be saved you have to have faith that results in an acceptable score.
But what that score is nobody can tell you for sure.
But if you don’t make that score, say it really is 37, and you get a 36 at being a Christian rather than a 37, well then you’re toast, you’re going to hell, where God is going to torment you forever and ever and ever; either that or maybe let you off and just annihilate you.
So, do you want to be a Christian and experience God’s wonderful grace which means you can maybe be saved and not go to hell forever?
The answer is, increasingly, “No.”
Increasingly today Christianity is being seen as a religion which divides humanity into "keepers" and "expendables".
Christianity is seen less and less as being about grace and restoration, and more and more as being about judgment and eternal rejection.
Christianity talks about grace, but the grace it offers up is often soft soap which is only able to save Christians who are able to get a good enough spiritual score – whatever that score happens to be.