Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should (part 2): Why Christianity Fails as a Moral System

In the previous blog, I talked about the controversy that has been fabricated by ESPN in order to satiate their insane desire for viewers, between Tony Dungy and Rex Ryan.

I ended that blog by saying that Christians do not fare well on the morality scale. Other world religions that we Christians would consider untrue often produce high levels of morality, or moral behavior, in their observers.  Ever wondered why?  Here are some reasons.

  • Christianity teaches that we are made right with God, made whole, at peace, saved, going to heaven on the merit of Jesus Christ; not our own human moral performance.
  • Before you can become a Christian, you have to confess the fact that you are incapable of changing your own heart, that a moral perfection is out of the question, and that you desperately need a savior.
  • Christianity teaches that a relationship with God is based on faith through the finished work of Jesus Christ; that we are born again, converted in our hearts, and that conversion transfers us judiciously into a right relationship with God.
  • Christianity teaches that we are right with God, saved, converted by faith, kept by faith, and can embrace the promises of God through the merits of Christ through faith.
  • Christianity teaches that a true conversion will be evidenced in a change of heart, which is evidenced in the change of lifestyle; not the other way around.
  • Christianity teaches be, to do; that we become something and that becoming is expressed in our doing.
  • Christianity teaches that the moral standard by which we are called to live is an expression of the true heart and personality of our Creator, God; taught by Christ, embraced by Christians, but practiced understanding that we’re still human and flawed.
  • Christianity teaches that we grow into our faith. We work our faith out in the real world where there exist every single day in a broken, wounded, fallen culture, moral dilemmas; decisions in which sometimes the moral rightness is hard to recognize.
  • Christianity teaches that I am free to make moral decisions on the basis of the teachings of Christ, and where the teachings of Christ are not directed – which is most of daily life – I’m free to use wisdom to make decisions.

Unlike other world religions, Christians are not saved by their works, by their moral perfection, they are saved only because of the merit of Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Savior. No one wants our lives to reflect that more beautifully and joyfully than we do, and no one is more painfully aware of how we woefully fail.

Remember, Christianity is about Jesus; not about David, or Sally, or Fred, or the Baptist Church.  It’s a relationship with Jesus that changes everything based on grace, motivated by grace, and sustained by grace so that imperfect people can relate on a personal level to a perfect God.