All major world religions have at their core the same principles, namely, that there are gods, goddesses, or higher states of existence requiring action on the part of adherents to ensure they will arrive at a designated end. In other words, if we do the right things, think the right way, or adopt certain principles of life, we can hope to arrive at the desired destination after we die. All religions are alike because the stated goal can be attained by human effort. Christianity does not fit into that category because it is fundamentally opposed to the very principles that make an ideology a religion. In religion, mankind reaches up toward God. With Christianity, God reaches down toward man. In religion, man works to attain his own salvation. In Christianity, God has already done the work required to grant us salvation (John 3:16–18; 2 Corinthians 5:21). So Christianity must be considered on its own merits rather than in comparison to other religions. Just as we cannot select the best fruit by comparing an apple with a hammer, we cannot adopt a worldview by comparing the statements of the Son of God with man-made religion. In considering why you should become a Christian, it is important to start with a bigger question: Why are you here? Where did you come from, and is there a purpose for your existence? Every human being wrestles with those big questions because, despite what we may have been taught about evolutionary theories, we are deeply conscious that to be human is to be distinct from all other life forms. Animals don’t grapple with philosophical quandaries—only humans do. We have a soul that longs for eternity. We sense that we exist for a reason. The Bible tells us exactly why we are like that. It is because we were created by God to be more like Him than anything else He created (Genesis 1:27). When God breathed His own life into the first man, man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). That soul is immortal, reflecting God’s eternal nature. The soul will live on forever, either with God or apart from Him. But part of being human means we have free moral choice. Dogs do not make choices based on right or wrong. Apes do not ponder the meaning of life. Animals make choices based on instinct and conditioning. Humans, however, are held to a different standard because we have an innate understanding of morality. God’s moral law is etched into our hearts, but with our free will, we violate it. That violation is sin. Romans 5:12 says, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned” (NLT). God is perfect, heaven is perfect, and we are not (Roman 3:23). None of us are (Romans 3:10). Our good does not outweigh our bad (Isaiah 64:6). The justice of God requires that our high treason against our Creator be punished, and the only rightful punishment of crimes so great is eternal separation from God in hell (Romans 6:23). We have a serious problem we cannot solve. This problem is not altered by our level of belief, just as the law of gravity is not altered by our acceptance of it. The problem of separation from God is a universal issue, so our job is not to ignore, redefine, or hate it. Our job is to listen to the One we’ve offended and follow His directions for remedying the situation. If you feel a stirring in your heart to seek God, it is because God Himself is seeking you (Luke 19:10; John 6:44). Life’s highest honor is to be pursued by the Creator of the universe and offered an invitation to become His own child. In addition to recognizing the great gift you are being offered, there are other reasons you should become a Christian: your past, your present, and your future. Why should I become a Christian? - Your past. Since the moment you let out your first wail, your nature has demanded its own way. Children do not have to be taught to sin; they come by it naturally because we all inherited a sin nature from our first parent, Adam. The knowledge of...
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