Christianity Verses Works Based Religion
Author: Steven Coffman

Over the centuries Christianity has grown immensely in
popularity. I feel that why this has come to pass is because it
is the only religious doctrine that is based solely on us
praying in the name of Jesus to God to ask forgiveness for our
sins, and forgiveness being granted by God. In John 14:5-6
(NKJV) Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are
going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me." These two passages clearly instruct each of
us to ask forgiveness of our sins in Jesus name.

Our Father in Heaven knew that no matter how hard mankind
tried, because of our imperfections, we would always be
sinners; and sinners are not permitted to enter His kingdom in
heaven. In the Old Testament we can read how mankind, in
general, kept falling short of God's commandments, and how even
when led by Moses, the people had weak days and could not
sustain these commandments of the Living God on a continual
basis. My conception of the Old Testament and other major
religions portray to me that they are works based. God bridged
this gap from the works based type in one sole act. He sent
forth to earth His Son for all of mankind. This is best
summarized by Jesus' disciple John in the New Testament; John
3:16 (KJV) which says, "God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life." This is also reinforced by
The New Testament in 1 John 2:1, 2:2 (NCV) which says, "But if
anyone does sin, we have a helper in the presence of the
Father—Jesus Christ, the One who is right. He is the way our
sins are taken away, and not only our sins but the sins of all
people." In my mindset only the New Testament of Christianity
offers mankind the only feasible alternative.

The unique posture that Jesus Christ offers mankind in the New
Testament of Bible is His covenant that He made with God, and
is expressed by Jesus at the Last Supper, in the New Testament
in Luke 22:19, 20 (NCV). Then Jesus took some bread, gave
thanks, broke it, and gave it to the apostles, saying, "This is
my body, which I am giving for you. Do this to remember me." In
the same way, after supper, Jesus took the cup and said, "This
cup is the new agreement that God makes with His people. This
new agreement begins with my blood which is poured out for
you."  From this point forward Christianity was born, and
mankind truly had the way to enter heaven.

Jesus, during His crucifixion, said in Luke 23:34 (KJV),
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do".
Alone, this selfless statement by Jesus, thinking only about
us, in His ultimate anguish and pain of taking on all on the
mankind's sins past, present and future during the crucifixion
portrays the truest love that He had for all of mankind, and
set the example for His Father's second greatest commandment,
"Love your neighbor as you love yourself."


About The Author:
http://www1.ecxmall.com/stores/familyestore/StoreFront.bok will
try to provide you with articles of interest to a Christian and
patriotic way of life. The articles are written by Steven E
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