I was reading a rather cool and snarky blog post that was entitled, "21 Brilliant Analogies." A couple of them were really good: "Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Or this one, "Cats are like dogs for lazy people." And then I stumbled across one that really caught my attention. It is crass, but I think it reveals an opinion a lot people have towards Christians and Christianity. Here it is: It's point is this: People who are nice Christians are probably just trying to fool God with false kindness to steal eternal bliss from him. I really think a lot of cynics believe this statement to be true; that is why this quote is deemed to be brilliant. "Those hypocrites aren't going to fool me! They are all a bunch of plastic tea-totaling, Stepford living, tie-wearing people who are trying to appease an angry adolescent God." I am sure many people living in our predominantly secular culture think Christians are only acting a part.
But if you honestly were to stop and think about it, this analogy reveals four horrible misconceptions the secularist believes about Christian teaching. Each one of them is categorically false: (1) Misconception One: God can be fooled. Jesus says, "The problem with most people is that they don't know the scriptures nor the power of God." And scripture is very clear on the nature of God: He searches the hearts (hidden motives & true desires) of all people and knows them intimately. You can't fool him, lie to him, mock him, or get away with flattery or false devotion. And there is no one who is more irritating to God than the hypocrite. If they make you angry, just think of how God feels toward the person that claims Jesus as their own and is just putting on an act! Truth One: God will not be mocked! (2) Misconception Two: Kindness can be produced by an act of the will. Jesus says, "You will know a tree by it's fruit." An apple tree will eventually produce apples, a peach tree, peaches, and a cherry tree, cherries. You can tie peaches on an apple tree for a while, but an abundance of apples will eventually appear on the branches overwhelming the peaches. In Galatians 5:19-23 the apostle Paul points out the kind of fruit that is produced by the flesh and by the Spirit of God. Overtime, a person from his own reservoir of self-determination, will only produce "acts of the flesh" which include hatred, discord, jealousy and selfishness. Sure a person can be kind, but selfish fruit will be predominant in their lives. Only the Spirit of God can consistently produce "kindness, goodness and gentleness" which are the ingredients to genuine niceness. And Christian niceness isn't trying to earn that which it already has.Truth Two: Bona Fide kindness is only produced by true Christians. (3) Misconception Three: People can sustain a lifetime of hypocrisy. This is the further outworking of the previous misconception. Overtime your true self will ALWAYS be revealed. It is impossible to fake something for 70 years. I can fake a lot of things, but I can't sustain any of them for a long time. I can tell you I like fishing, but after three fishing trips I am done. I can tell you I like the Detroit Tigers, but after three games I am done. I can tell you I like to listen to pop music, and after one song by Taylor Swift I am done! You can't sustain what is NOT in you, and a non-Christian cannot be nice for a life-time, let alone for a week. Truth Three: Who you are will always come out, and if you are not a Christian, crankiness, anger and selfishness will mark your life. (4) Misconception Four: Niceness is the primary element needed for procuring salvation. C'mon, whoever believes this lie must have never cracked open the pages of scripture? Perfection is the real requirement to make it through the pearly gates. Other words are used for perfection: Holiness, Righteousness, Glory of God and Absolute Sinlessness. If you want to make it to heaven by effort, good luck trying to be perfect. . . you can't do it. Niceness is nothing like perfection. You need niceness to impress the average girl in high school; but it requires perfection to win the super-model. God is not average. He is holy, and you can not win his favor by being average. You have to be perfect. Truth Four: Jesus is the only one who was perfect, you sin everyday - that is why you need him! Maybe I am over-reacting to a funny quote, but I think insightful humor often reveals how people really think. An if this is truly how they think, it shows how out of touch people are with true biblical teaching. It reminds me of Chesterton's favorite quote: "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried." Have you tried it, or are you only a mocker! Be very careful, Truth One is still in play!!!
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