Christianity is variously seen as being too unscientific, politically conservative, naive, or simply improbable.
It is often thought of in terms of rules, restrictions, and an angry God, but the message of Christianity is a message of restoration: The relationship between God and man, the intimate personal relationship that we were intended to have with God, can be restored.
An objection to Christianity - which is particularly strong at present - is that it requires the individual to admit that he is not inherently good, that he needs to be forgiven by a just God.
We much prefer to think of ourselves as basically good people who deserve God's love. Although we know that our behavior is not beyond fault, we compare our virtues to another's faults and decide that we're doing all right.
Meaningful comparison of our goodness with another's is probably impossible; it is certainly irrelevant.
The question is not how I or anyone else would rate my goodness compared to that of my peers. The question is, am I good enough to come into the presence of a perfect and holy God? The answer for me is "no". The answer for you is "no", too.
There is a gap between who we are and who God is that has to be bridged.
Many religions and philosophies address the problem of our not being as good as we know we should be, and various methods and techniques are offered to help us improve ourselves.
There is also general agreement on what it means to be better than we are: patience, humility, generosity, compassion, honesty, unselfishness, etc. are held up as ideals of human behavior.
The problem that Christianity addresses - that I believe Christ solved - is that we cannot improve ourselves very much for very long.
God knows this. The Old Testament of the Bible records many stories of how individuals - and the people of Israel as a whole - tried to do what they knew to be right but failed, not once, but repeatedly.
I'm like the Israelites: I've tried and failed many times. I'm sure there are areas in your life where you have too.
God knows our struggles, and He wants us to overcome them. We can only do that with His help.
God came to earth as a man to restore the connection between man and Himself.
For that connection to be established, we need to know more about both who we are and who God is. By calling attention to the nature of our thoughts - not just our actions - God showed man how unrighteous even the most righteous men were.
Translating that into today's terminology, He teaches the good people - as most of us consider ourselves to be - that we aren't as good as we think we are.
He shows us that the thoughts of our hearts matter too, and who of us would want all of our thoughts known?
This isn't a message that we want to hear, but it's true, and we cannot get reconnected to God until we are a little more honest with ourselves.
We want to meet with God as equals. That's impossible.
We can't raise ourselves up to God - we have nothing to stand on - so He came down to us. He bridged the gap with Himself. This is the message of Christianity.
The result of God bridging the gap between us and Him is that we can be reconnected to God and, as a result, become better people, not by trying, but by submitting ourselves to the working of God within us.
As we submit to God, our connections to others also become clearer, stronger, and much more loving.
God is intimately near, infinitely holy, and wants to be in communion with us.
Read on . . .