What is the purpose of Christianity

I wanted to share one of my personal journal entries from a month ago... I was questioning the purpose of Christianity (which isn't a bad thing). I wasn't questioning my faith - but rather searching for somewhat of a logical explanation for such an abstract thing.

First, I have a solid foundation in my faith - I believe that God exists & sent Jesus to die for our sins, MY sins. I know that the only way to heaven... to life AFTER this life is thru Jesus - that he's the bridge to knowing and being forgiven - I recognize that I was one person before accepting Jesus and I'm a completely different person now after the fact and finally I can see a marked change in who I am... so again, not questioning the fact that I believe in all this -

OK. On to the entry:

January 10, 2010

"God sent Jesus to get our attention. He could do any number of things, to include doing nothing - but he chooses not to because he desires a relationship with his creation, us. He's showing us that without him, we live a life of sin & a downward spiraling one, with lust, greed, gluttony, gossip, jealousy, pride... all these things make life hard - hard on ourselves and hard on each other.

God's desperately trying to say - 'LOOK AT ME!' Look TO me... I can fix all this! I WANT to fix all this. Your SIN is keeping you from me.

...living in sin, is living apart from God. you can't do these things and have a relationship with him. - not because He won't let you, but because WE can't. The idea and act of sin is worldly, not Godly. God gave us free will - so He could have a relationship. It's not a 'relationship' if the other part is a robot or forced slave. A decision has to be made on both parts... willingly.

Why does sin keep you from God?

'Faith eliminates the pride of human effort'
'Faith exalts what God has done, not what we do'
'Faith admits that we can't keep the law'
'Faith is based on relationship... not performance'

God designed us... part of that design is 'you can't get something for nothing' God can't just say 'I forgive you for whatever you've done - come back to Me' We're not wired for that. We inherently know, understand & grasp that sin is wrong. We - as entire population - know this, regardless of our regardless of our religious or political affiliation. 'Sin' is what goes against our morals which is where our modern day laws come from.

We understand that sin hurts us personally and those around us - in so many ways. Justifiably, a price has to be paid to wipe those sins clean. It's like that in our legal system today. That's why Jesus was sent - to pay that price. For God to say 'Look, I'm paying that price... the punishment is delivered. Please come back to me.'
'...for the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying it' Romans 3:20b"

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it."
John 3:16-17