[bit.listserv.christia] Christianity

U1A9A@WVNVM (Bernice Tennant) (02/09/90)

PDB,

    Correct me if I'm reading you wrong.  Basically you are rejecting the relig
ion that believes Christ was human?  That he is an ideal.  A symbol?  Something
like perhaps Santa Claus.  You know what I mean.  Like we all feel Santa Claus
is an acceptable idea because he gives gifts in love to those who are good; you
perhaps feel Christianity is along the line that if we all just love each other
alot we are Christian and saved.  Do you think that the story of Christ is a
Parable?  And that all religions are valid if they are based on love.
     I accidently lost your return to my return of your previous post.  Please
be patient with me.  By the Trinity, I mean God in Three persons.  God the Fath
er, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.  If the whole world were suddenly fille
d with hatred of the worst kind, even if most of them were Christians, that sti
ll would not change the greatest story ever told.   We humans are masters at th
e trade of sin.  Christ did not come to condemn us.  He came to show us the way
to Salvation and then he died a horrible death to pay the price for our sins. A
ll through the old testament a sacrifice was made to atone for sins.  Christ wa
s our sacrifice to atone for our sins.  God asked Abraham in Genesis to sacrifi
ce his own son whom he loved so much.  Abraham would have done it because he lo
ved God.  Would you do it?  God stopped Abraham.  But God did not stop the sacr
ifice of his own son.  He turned away.  All that he asked for this tremendous g
ift was that we believed and accepted the gift through repentance.  Not everyon
e who claims to be Christian is as loving and rightous as they should be. I wil
l never be worthy of the gift Christ made, but I have been even less.  Seeking
Christ and obeying his will and reading the Bible and fellowship and prayer all
take me closer to Christ and also more responsible for my sins.  I am sorry you
have seen the dark side of people and judged Christ for it.  Christ is the same
as he has always been.  It is us who have grown away from him and more sinful.
If asked, many people will tell you they are Christian.  I try not to get dis-g
usted with someone I think is not acting like a good Christian. Sometimes I
try to tell them gently that their actions are not what Christ would have us do
.  It is not always easy to do as Christ would have us do.  But it is always ri
ght.  Please talk to me again.

                                Bernice