User talk:SouthWriter/sandbox/An atheist's objections/@comment-1777104-20100809215701

Feg, Christianity is not like "most religions" in that it is not about making the world a better place. Christianity is about being made good enough to inhabit God's new creation - His perfect world that is so much greater than what this one has become that we cannot imagine it. But we all have a big problem - we can't make ourselves good enough. That is what all other religions and philosophies get wrong. God requires perfection, and none of us by our own efforts can reach that standard!

In your pragmatism, trying to get the most good for the most people, even if the means are unethical, are putting yourself in the place of God - who made the rules. And then, you make God in your own image, saying "Why would God ... ?" inserting an objection you perceive to the God of the Bible. No matter what I might say, backed by the Bible, you will resist or even reject. However, because it is not up to me to "save" you, I can without fear tell you the truth and let it fall where it may.

Christianity is about Christ, not his followers. What makes this religion different from the others is that our good works are not what "get us to heaven," but only a result of the work of Jesus Christ alone. Though God, with all the priviledges of heaven, He became man to keep all the rules. And then, while still perfect, he took the punishment due to all of us imperfect humans. When he did that, he "saved" a huge number of people that would otherwise have been destined to condemnation. It is true, everyone "earns" condemnation, just by living an imperfect life. But Jesus, being perfect redeemed (bought from slavery) as many as God pleased to redeem.

God does not look kindly on scoundrels who do evil in His name. The religious zealot who does evil - means to a "better" end - is not saved by his zeal - the religious leaders that had Jesus killed were among the most zealous of the Jews - the "conservatives" known as the Pharisees. They teamed up with the humanists among the Jews, called the Saducees, to do the most despicable deed imaginable. All in the name of God (they considered Jesus a "blasphemer" for claiming to be the Messiah). Your suggestion for reading turns out to be an attempt by a noted fiction writer (who is an atheist), to retell the story of Jesus as fiction, denying that he was the Christ! Definitely not a book for developing minds (those of young men under 25) to be enjoying.