The two sides of Christianity

Some would argue that Christianity is man made. However, I contend that it is not the kind of religion that humanity would ever create for itself, at least as it should be practiced. How it is sometimes practiced is a different story. That is where the drawing comes in.

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You might have noticed I always portray Jesus with a two colored robe. The red side represents the love and forgiveness side of Christianity. The white represents the holiness and discipline side of it. Sometimes people will twist Christianity to our liking by forsaking the side of it that they don't find favorable, or too hard to live up to.

If we make it all about discipline and no love, it becomes heartless legalism, which leads to criticism, judgement, contempt, and condemnation. People would create this kind of belief since they are so fond of complaining, finding fault, and exalting their own sense of superiority. Not to mention it's a cut and dry, easy to understand, cause and effect theology. While righteousness is the goal, we cannot forget that holiness is not simply a list of rules to follow, because God says so, and if you don't you're in trouble. It is meant to be an expression of love towards God (John 14:23) as well as a reflection of God's very character. (Ephesians 4:24) By following it, our knowledge of him can turn into understanding of him, if we do so in more than a merely obligatory way. When legalists try to promote righteousness via impatience, unkindness, rudeness, or any other unloving behavior, our understanding and emulation of him is way off. Not to mention our righteousness is completely missing the mark since critical Christians are in fact, sinful Christians.

Make it all about forgiveness and no discipline, it becomes self-indulgent and permissive. Which leads us to rationalizing our bad self-destructive behavior. Which people would naturally gravitate towards and would want to follow, since humanity has never been at a loss for making excuses to avoid change. If we embrace that clean slate that God freely gives us, yet make no attempt to build a holy and meaningful life with our new and forgiven status; obviously we do not understand God's role of father in our lives. Such people are diluting themselves by claiming all the privileges as heir to the kingdom, but none of the responsibility of it.

This is why Jesus is saying to them "You are both half right, yet you are both completely wrong." While mankind would create half of true Christian doctrine, humanity would never unite these concepts together, and leave us absolutely no room to indulge our sinful nature in some fashion. That is what makes it unique, and impossible to live up to without supernatural assistance that only God can provide. Which he will do if we worship more than just half a God.

Let me leave you with one last thought; most people tend to judge a belief system by the people who claim to follow it. The problem with that is, no matter how good a belief may be, people are still people, imperfect and prone to error. I've just pointed out two ways how Christians make errors with their faith. The worst part is, many have no idea just how shallow their pursuit of their beliefs really are by forsaking half of it.

The Visual PARABLEist