10 Misconceptions about Christianity

Wow, has it really been 10 days since I posted? I know I've been busy and gone for a weekend, but still, time is flying! I figured I should probably get a couple of posts in before I left for Christmas. During the Christmas season, Christianity often gets mentioned just a little bit more than usual, but I often hear or read common misconceptions about the faith that I hold so dear. I don't claim to have a top ten list here or to even be close to an exhaustive list, but what I have is just a list. Hopefully, some of my millions....and millions...of fans will add some in the comments section. Here we go, just off the top of my head, in no particular order (and I know I'm missing a bunch)...

1.) Christmas is Christianity's 'Biggest' Holiday - I get this vibe every year about this time. America has made Christmas its biggest holiday. But Good Friday and Easter should be far more important to the Christian in my opinion, and all should in a sense be celebrated daily. I understand the importance of Jesus being made a man and coming to earth to save his people, but the act of actually saving the people should really be the bigger deal. Also, the extra giving and extra generosity 'this time of year' is great and all, but Christians should really be doing it all the time.

2.) Good People Go to Heaven; Bad People Go to Hell - Sorry. That's not what the Bible teaches. In fact, the truth is as follows: bad people go to heaven; bad people go to hell. There are no 'good' people when compared to the holiness of God. It's not as though Christ came to save only the ones who were bad, we are all bad! This is a big misconception you see in movies all the time...if the guy was a good guy, then yeah, he'll go to heaven when he dies. Also, heaven in all of its glory is filled with some of the world's worst people, but they trusted in Christ, and he was perfect.

3.) If I Do More Good Than Bad... - Perhaps related to #2, but a separate misconception in my mind. We often hear people speak as if there is some heavenly balance that weighs out our good and bad deeds. So people are tricked into thinking that they must do more good things than bad things to get to heaven, and it has nothing to do with Jesus.

4.) Doing This Makes One a Christian - Oh, fill in the blank! Some say they believe in God but don't have a clue who the God of the Bible is and definitely aren't considering Jesus. A lot of people go to church, pray, read the Bible, do good things, and even talk about Jesus, but none of those things makes one a Christian -- only the grace of God through faith in Christ can accomplish the feat.

5.) But I've Done This! - A lot of people think they because they have done something so terrible in the past, whatever it may be, that they are unforgivable. Oh, get over yourself and stop belittling our great and mighty God who can forgive the murder of his own son! God can and will forgive all types of sinners.

6.) But Christians Can't Do This - Nothing irks me more I think that hearing crap like this: But Christians can't drink or Christians can't play cards or Christians can't date or Christians can't whatever. Sure, in Judaism, the Ten Commandments were a series of ten very serious things that we should not do. While they still apply, Christianity has never been and never will be a religion of cannots. It is a religion of fighting sin and doing good -- and it's all about the heart. If your heart is corrupt in doing something, well that is something that shouldn't be done. I think a lot of nonbelievers think that there is some magic list of things they can't do if they would become a Christian -- and there are a lot of things we shouldn't do -- but the crazy part is that a real Christian, with the Holy Spirit, does not want to do the things we shouldn't do. And there is the difference.

7.) Christianity is Just Like Other Religions - File this under the 'all roads lead to heaven' hogwash. Christianity certainly doesn't allow for that. And all other religions the aim is to do good enough in order to please some sort of God. Christianity is the oddball in which none of its subjects can do good at all, so God himself had to become man, do the good we couldn't do, and suffer its consequences so that people could be made right with God. No other religion is even close.

8.) As Long as I Believe in a Higher Being... - This isn't all that common, but I hear it. Many think that a belief in a God or a higher being is the same as believing in the God of the Bible and will be treated as such. Sorry. Believing in a God who isn't like what he says he is in the Bible is nothing less than idolatry, and leaving out Christ in a search for heaven isn't a very good idea.

9.) God has a Relationship with Everyone - This one's a little deeper, but there's a lot to understand about the tabernacle and the temple of the Old Testament and how Christ's death opened the way for man to have a relationship with God. Warning to humans -- there is a massive divide between us and God because of our sin. ONLY a relationship with Jesus Christ allows one to 'access' God. God definitely shows love to all creatures, but doesn't necessarily have relationships with all people, for there is this problem of sin and the enmity is causes.

10.) The Death of Christ was Some Sort of Terrible Accident - Hardly. Was it terrible? Sure. Was God surprised? No. Was Christ unaware of what was going to happen? No. God worked this whole thing out beforehand. We're not smart enough to figure out a way to save ourselves, for we try and fail all the time. The Bible says that God crushed his son. Who killed Jesus? The Romans, the Jews, you and me? Yeah, sort of, but God killed Jesus. No accident here.