The problem with Christianity today is the way it’s being taught. Growing up in the south, in the land of Baptists, Methodists and Catholics, you were taught their version of right and wrong. More than that, society as a whole was expected to act a certain way. In Texas even today they have what they call Blue laws. Legislation designed to honor what the church believes. One of these laws forbids sales of automobiles on Sundays. Another forbids the sale of alcohol before noon on what they believe is the Lord’s day. Talk about a blue Sunday.

“Don’t drink, don’t dance and don’t chew. And don’t date girls that do.” This was and still is a common phrase thrown around today. Back in my college days I played basketball for a little private Free Will Baptist College in Oklahoma. Their brand of Christian slavery involved forced attendance at the church of your choice where someone from that church had to sign a paper that said you attended that Sunday. They were strictly against going to the movies and they didn’t mind telling you about it. And this was in the 90s.

These rules are what makes a denomination. The Baptist believe you have to dunk to baptize someone and they’re against dancing in all forms, though this is changing some over the years. That’s what makes them Baptists. The Methodists sprinkle for baptism. The grand daddy of them all, the Catholics, have a long tradition of rules and laws and customs. At some point in the last 5 years, I realized that when you identify yourself with a denomination, you’re voluntarily walking into their slavery system. The rules they create are the same kinds of laws that the Pharisees used to enslave the Jews in the old testament. Unfortunately most people who attend these churches don’t read their bibles enough to see it, or they haven’t figured it out yet.

If Jesus hated anything, he hated the way Jewish laws were forced on the people. That’s also how its been taught in the US for years. This kind of teaching helps churches reject the people it was mean to be seeking. Homosexuals, drunks, criminals, adulterers and anyone else that they believe that aren’t like them they reject. The church historically has tried to pass itself off as perfect and sinless. The Catholic church being the worst offender of this. They fail to see their own sin while they point it out in others. Pharisees.

The non-church population sees a local church as a group of holy people. A bunch of do-gooders who don’t want to hang around with people who have issues. There’s basic resentment between these groups. My dad once told me that if he walked into a church, the whole thing would cave in. When you present yourself to anyone as if you don’t have issues, you simply look untrustworthy. It’s a blatant lie, and everyone knows it on some level.

Growing up you were told in a number of ways from a number of angles to behave a certain way, as if your salvation was dependent on it. As if that was what God wanted. People listened to their pastors at their local churches and before long began to repeat what they had to say and they began to live it while at the same time wondering why those other denominations could be so wrong. What they haven’t noticed is that Jesus said that even if you do try to be like your denomination wants you to be, you’re still wrong. Acting good because of some behavior you’ve adopted or by doing some good deed only makes you self-righteous, which is also a sin. One of Jesus’s big points he wanted to get across to us is that it is a hopeless situation we are in. Nothing you can physically do can keep you from a life of eternal punishment. None of us can enter heaven on our own.

So what’s the right way, since there is nothing you can do? Your soul’s eternal destination is based on what you believe with regards to Jesus. It’s very simple really. If you can bring yourself to trust that he was who he said he was, the Son of God and that he raised himself from the dead, then that is the only entry point into heaven.

The fact of the matter is, we are all born into sin. We’re all adulterers, liars, & thieves because we’re self centered at the core. Some Catholic priests have issues. My old pastor admitted to an affair. Gossip is rampant in most churches. If any of us could avoid sin, there never would have been the need for Jesus. We needed a way out. Did you ever see someone take the punishment for something they didn’t do to protect someone else? How many moms or dads reading this wouldn’t step in harms way for their children? That is what God has done for us through Jesus.

So how then should man-kind who believes in Jesus live? First and foremost, I tell everyone that I meet that if they’re still attending a denomination, that’s their first mistake. It’s time to bury these relics. Find yourself a church that calls itself a bible church. Make sure the pastor is teaching whats in the bible and how it’s put together and not teaching about the politics of the day. If your pastor takes one verse and makes a sermon out of it, he’s probably not going to teach you a lot.

Second, with regards to sin, it’s going to happen. You need to convince yourself that sin is no longer an issue with regards to your salvation. Lying and stealing makes you a liar and a thief if those are your habits, but it doesn’t condemn you to hell. Being homosexual is just another choice in life people make. It’s a lifestyle choice and a mental disorder if you believe the American Medical Association. It is however, no different in terms of sin. No homosexual should ever be banned from church. Church leadership is a different issue. The point is, you’re no better and no worse than the next guy.

Third and most important. If you believe in Jesus, what should your normal reaction be towards someone who took a bullet for you? Or towards someone who pulled you out of the street as a speeding car nearly hit you? A man was brutally murdered so that you could continue to live. He taught peace and love. Letting him live through you in your place is appropriate. Doing unto others as  you would have them do unto you. That is proper Christianity.