“24 See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us–even eternal life.”

How many times do we get caught up in the lies the world constantly throws our way – drink this and you’ll get him/her, buy this and your life will improve, you can look like this if you only use this, etc. Another lie is that God grades on a curve, that as long as we do more good than bad He’ll let us in. Nowhere in any religion does it say that, only in the lies of the world and our wishful thinking. The stark reality is that some day we’ll be on the other side of life and will be unable to change any of the decisions we’ve made and we’ll be judged on those decisions.

I don’t understand the animosity towards Christ, nor do I understand the ambivalence or even repulsion. What part of His message is so unpalatable? Is it the people who deliver it? The hypocrisy? The sanctimonious, self-righteousness? OK, for sure that’s a turn off and rightfully so, but those are people not following The Word; that behavior is not acceptable to Christ either. They are acting just like everyone else. Do we expect more from Christians, expecting them to be better than everyone else? Think about that for a few minutes. We’re all the same broken people and that churches are filled with sinners.

Love, joy, peace, justice, perfect eternal life; those are the promises from God. What is so repulsive about that? Isn’t it worth the effort to delve deeply into the word to see what it is all about?