Right, but wrong

The American Humanist Association has purchased a series of ads for the Washington DC Metro reading: 'Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake.' This is going to be plastered on the sides of buses, along with a picture of some Rastafarian lookin' guy dressed like Santa Claus. Hard hitting social commentary, that. Methinks the AHA has some beefs with Kris-gins, might even be downright scornful of church going, gun-totin' unsophisticated oafs who cling to their pews and praise Jesus with every drawn breath. You know, Republicans. Why, if those gap-toothed Holy Rollers would just actually think instead of locksteppin' with Jerry Falwell, they'd realize good arises from within. They'd shed their prejudices, come to love their fellow man, accept all forms of sexual expression and chemically induced reality, embrace Third World cultures and practices while eschewing profit and become, you know, Democrats.

The AHA is right. Good does emanate from within. But that's not the point.

Being good or bad is immaterial in Christianity. Has no bearing. Is superfluous. Just doesn't play. That's because Christianity cares not a whit if you're good or bad. It only cares if you accept Christ's sacrifice- that, while on the cross, He paid the penalty for the sins you did and do, which means you, the actual purveyor of the sin, won't pay the penalty for it at all. Ever.

Whoa, wait a minute! Won't pay? Then what's all this 'being saved' crap and going to hell if you don't turn Pentecostal and strain in a closet and pray round the clock and smile at all those disapproving old biddies who are just trying to keep us from having a good time, man? Hey, news flash, that's all something else, and has far more to do with how people want and expect you to act if you call yourself a Christian than it does with Christianity itself. God's not going to throw you in hell for your good time banana-fana rock and roll party-your-butt-off lifestyle. Nope.

He's going to throw you in hell for your good deeds.

What in the blue blazes am I talking about? Pay attention, this is going to be condensed- God, being absolute and all, has a couple of problems. He can't abide our sins. Just can't. Wouldn't be God if He did, but He loves us and doesn't want us separated from Him for eternity so Christ became incarnate, avoiding birth through procreation (which passes on the very sin nature God can't abide), meaning Christ was the only Person ever born who didn't have a sin nature so, therefore, no sins of his own to punish so, therefore He could go to the Cross and be punished for ours.

Got it?

Which bring us to the second problem, God's Own Righteousness. See, if you don't want to believe in Christ, and no one's beheading you if you don't, then you're declaring to God the merit of your own good deeds. Fine. He'll take a look at your lifelong passion for saving whales and taking money from mean ole rich people to give to noble Palestinian terrorists and how much you recycle and your real tolerance of those ignorant hillbilly hicks from Wassila. Yep, God, I'm a real good person, got lots of noble deeds piled up on that golden scale, yes sir, I'm gonna get a throne right next to the Almighty Himself. 'Cept, your good deeds don't measure up to God's Goodness. They can't. God's Goodness is Absolute, yours is relative and the Absolute cannot tolerate the relative. In fact, your good deeds are described in Isaiah as "filthy rags," which is kind of mild because the actual Hebrew words there are "used menstrual cloths." Do you think God wants used menstrual cloths sitting next to Him in the Throne Room? Into the fire you go, boy.

So, be as good as you want to be. Won't matter. The only issue is, what think ye of Christ?