I’ve sure we’ve all heard this. A “concerned Christian” comes on a board like this and sees a bunch of people bitter with religion. So they come and share their “good news” that “true Christians” don’t have to be bigoted judgmental assholes, and how the “true gospel” is that you don’t need good works to get into heaven, you just need to believe. “It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship with Jesus Christ” says the overly excited Christian. I’ve seen that episode play out so many times on different forums that I practically know the dialog.
Well sorry to burst your bubble, but what you’re offering is no different than what most of the other churches offered. All churches claim to have the truth, most of the protestant ones emphasize faith in Christ as the most important thing, and the “it’s not a religion” is now such a cliché that saying it actually is a religion would be the real twist. In reality, all churches have an idea of what the truth might be, there’s always some other catch to the faith thing (especially since they claim most people are going to hell anyway), and the “relationship” with God is in odd one (worthy of an entirely different topic). When you bring Jesus dying for your sins into the equation, you’re not preaching anything revolutionary. You’re just delivering in a different package (only it’s not really a different package now is it?).
