Chapter 8 of "False gods of The Christian Church"

The following is Chapter 8 of a book, of mine, that will be in print soon.

Chapter 8
Not a Christian?


Perhaps you are reading this book and thinking, “Well all that is interesting, but I am not a Christian, so it does not apply to me.” If you will be honest with yourself, you will realize that you have made yourself as a god. You do what pleases you. I don’t mean that you never do anything good for other people. Many of you are basically good and kind to others, and I am glad that you are. Let me explain our situation as briefly and simply as I can.

When God created the world, he set in place several laws. One of which is the law of gravity. He set up many laws that keep things in order. He even set up laws for us to live by. Just as there are certain results for breaking His many natural laws, there are results for breaking His laws for living.

When God created us, he could have made it so that we never made any mistakes or were ever unkind to others. But, we would have been like robots. Instead, He created us with free will. He loved us enough to let us make decisions, to choose for ourselves. He gave us the ability to choose, and even left us with His instructions on how to live successfully. With the ability to choose, He knew that we would not always make the best choice and would break His laws for living.

He called the breaking of His laws for living, “sin”. In 1st John chapter 3 and verse 4, He tells us that, anyone that commits a sin has broken His law, because that is what sin is. Sin is the braking of His law. Like all laws, there are penalties for breaking God’s laws for living. Some might say, “I’m a pretty good person, I haven’t killed anyone, or robbed them, and I help people whenever I can.” No matter how hard you try, or how well your are doing today, you are not perfect and have failed, you have made bad choices, you have broken God’s law.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23

The penalty for sin is death. The penalty had to be there or God would not be a just God.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Knowing that we would make some bad choices and break His laws, God loved us so much that he make a way for us to escape the penalty of death without ignoring His own law. The penalty had to be paid. He sent His own son to pay the penalty for Your sins and my sins. Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice, because he had never sinned. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and then rose from the grave to give us eternal life with Him. This is where the second half of the verse we just read comes in.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 KJV)

What He did for us is a free gift from Him. Like all gifts, it is not yours unless you receive it. If you do not accept the gift, you do not have it.

If someone were to tell you that they have a gift for you and it is a Thousand Dollars in a box. And you told him that you did not believe him and that you do not know why anyone would give you a Thousand Dollars, and just walked away. Would the gift, that you refused, do you any good? Remember, God gave us the freedom to choose, He will not force us to accept His gift. He will not force you to go the heaven with Him and live forever. Will you refuse His pardon, His gift, and just walk away? God has offered you His free gift, will you accept / receive it? He paid a debt that He did not owe, because I owed a debt that I could not pay.

How do we accept / receive God’s free gift? A person can not be saved from being lost, if they refuse to acknowledge that they are lost.

To receive the free gift, we need to recognize that we are a sinner, we have broken God’s laws and we need Him as our saviour.

We need to believe that He died for our sins, rose again, and that He is God.

We need to repent of our sins, which mean more than just being sorry. It means that with God’s help we are turning from our sins and going the other way. We are turning our lives over to Him.
We need to pray and asked Him to forgive us of our sins and save us.
We need to be Baptized (by immersion), which is His first instruction to us.

When we have done this, we are sealed by His spirit and have His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. I recommend that a person make their decision to accept Christ as their saviour publicly known at a good Bible believing church, where they can have the fellowship of their brothers and sisters in Christ. It is at good Bible believing churches that Christians can learn and grow. Get yourself a good Bible (I recommend the King James Version, ask the pastor about it) and begin to study it. God will help you to understand.
I pray that , if you were not a Christian, that you followed the instructions above and prayed and asked God to save you. If you prayed and meant it, then God meant it also and He has saved you. You a now a Christian and have just gained a lot of brothers and sisters in Christ.