The myth of sin/perfection

A reader asks Billy Graham why he needs to ask God for forgiveness, since he isn't a bad person. And Graham simply regurgitates the same old claim that all are in need of forgiveness.

You think a sports car is expensive?
That's nothing compared to the price of 'Christian forgiveness'

We all stand in constant need of God's forgiveness

Q: You keep telling people they need to have God forgive them, but I'm not such a bad person and I don't feel any particular need to be forgiven for anything. Why should I pray for forgiveness? -- B.N.

A: No one is in greater spiritual danger than the person who feels no need of God. And that's your situation, for if you think you have no need for forgiveness, then you won't ever bother to turn to God.

And yet (as I said), this places you in great spiritual danger, for it means you'll never feel any need to have God in your life. But someday, we all must stand before God, and then the blazing searchlight of His holiness will illuminate every corner of our souls. Then we will be seen for what we truly are: sinners who stand in constant need of God's forgiveness and grace. Jesus warned that in that day, "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known" (Luke 12:2). Those are solemn words, and I pray you'll take them seriously.

Don't confuse true guilt with feelings of guilt. You may not feel guilty, and when you compare yourself with other people, perhaps it's somewhat understandable. But God doesn't compare us with other people. You may never have murdered anyone, but have you ever been angry at someone? You may never have stolen anything, but have you ever coveted what belongs to others?

I challenge you to ask God to help you see yourself as He sees you -- as someone who falls far short of His standard of perfection. I challenge you most of all to turn to Christ and open your heart and life to Him. Jesus said, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12).

Unlike asking Jesus to forgive you, when
you've done nothing to him. Apologize
to real people instead.

 Actually, BN (and everyone else) doesn't need to ask God for forgiveness. Graham claims that people like BN are actually at the greatest risk, but that's not the case at all. There is nothing to fear at all, for sin is but an invention of religion. Billy says that BN is in danger, but the only thing he may be in 'danger' of is seeing thing for what they are, and leaving the fantasy of religion behind.

And please spare the claims that we will one day face God, and there will be nothing that is hidden. Please prove your religion true first before throwing about such claims. Graham wouldn't pay any mind to someone that he will one day face Allah, Odin, Krishna, or any other god, so why should his assertion be taken seriously?

Graham talks of 'God's standard of perfection. But has he read the Bible? He certainly doesn't seem like he has. Many of the things that the Bible counts as sins, are quite laughable. To live a perfect life by God's standards, one would have to be an autonomous little robot to live up to them. Is a life not spent living, really living at all?

But God's standards of perfection aren't even possible. There are rules in the Bible that tell you never to do something in one place, and in another it says to do that very same thing it also says not to. Mixed signals much? Then you heap on the absurd notion of 'original sin', where they claim that all are born with sin. Born guilty, and deserving of eternal torment just for living. Tell me... what parent can look their newborn child right in the eye, and tell them that they deserve to die and be tortured? Because that's what the Christian god does.

And isn't it all rather convenient that they just so happen to offer the supposed cure, for the very disease they invented. Convince you that there's this terrible thing that you need to worry about. Something that had they never told you, would have gone unnoticed as if it were nonexistent. Then just as soon as they have you hooked, tell you they, and they alone have the fix for this problem. Maybe that's true. And if they could provide some proof rather than selling fear we could confirm it. But isn't it far more likely that the problem that they can't even prove exist, simply doesn't? That they are no more than fear merchants seeking control?

And the Christian god is neither...

Finally, why so much worry about 'God's standards of perfection'? Graham mentions that BN may not
be a thief of a murderer, but he needs to ask forgiveness all the same. Yet why point out these facts? If we look at the Christian teachings on forgiveness, it doesn't matter in one was good or bad. The school shooter, and the pedophile will find themselves in Heaven if they believe and ask forgiveness. Monsters like Hitler would great you at the pearly gates simply because they believed, rather than the kind of person they were.

What kind of god rewards genocidal monsters, but would punish someone who wouldn't hurt a fly? All over vanity no less. The Christian god is not a just god... actually quite the opposite. Is he really so vain that he ignores good acts in favor of who will kiss his ass the most? If the Bible is true about what it takes to go to Heaven, then count me out. I don't consider every criminal that says he found Jesus, or believed all along to be very good company. I'd rather rub shoulders with all the great minds and peaceful non-believers that would supposedly be damned to Hell any day.


-Brain Hulk

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