Not a Feel Good Religion :-/

Anyone who says Christianity is a feel good religion is a liar. It totally sucks. To be truly in step with God and to go after His Will for your life is to go against what you want. Christianity isn't a better yourself religion either, because I know there are plenty of ways to better myself outside of God. If that were true the apostle Paul would never be an apostle because when it comes to being a better person he had it. Paul writes to the Philippian church talking of people who believed that being circumcised was the way to salvation not just belief.

"For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh--though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless."

According to the standards of that time, Paul was at one point one of the best. He bettered himself like no one else, yet what does he say?

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness of my own that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

Christianity isn't a better myself religion, it is a religion where you lose yourself and put on Christ by giving up all things. if Christianity, and God was to better Paul then it doesn't make sense how he was bettered through his life because instead of being a law abider he became a law breaker. What was to Paul's profit? What was to his gain? He was imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, and later put to death. What a waste of a life. He could have lived his life for someone on earth, for a family, for other people. Yet he chose something that is unseen.

Talking to my friend Chris, relating things to him, he knows how I feel about these things. Christianity can be so isolating. It breaks you, it causes you to be vulnerable. If you want to be a strong person don't be a christian because the weak are the christians. Thinking about these things I realized that sometimes God doesn't make me strong, he gives me strength but He doesn't always make me strong especially being in His presence.

Being in the presence of God, I haven't been there often but when I have it doesn't feel good at all. Another rebuttal to christianity being a feel good religion. Chris' facebook status quote describes it, "If you have never stood before God and been afraid then you have probably never stood before God."

C.S. Lewis says the same in his children's book, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. "Safe?' said Mr. Beaver...'Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe, but he is good. He's the King I tell you.' "

What does the Bible say about finding God? "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise." Psalm 111:10

Notice how you need both. We need to know about God in order to understand Him, but if we don't fear Him, we have no wisdom and our understanding of Him is pointless. We need both to know God.

It doesn't matter if you have been to church all your life or if you have never been to church. Honestly both people can never find the presence of God if they search within their religion or within their self. You have to go outside your religion, outside of yourself, to find God. I didn't become a Christian and believe these things by going to church. I became a Christian when I told God in my own heart, alone in my room, with no one there telling me what to do or what to say, that I would do anything for Him. My religion, going to church doesn't keep me going. Honestly I stopped going to church at one point because I felt it got in the way of me and God. It is so easy to let our religious ways come before God.

America is so messed up. It is so christian and so religious it keeps us from knowing and fearing God. We are living in the belly of the beast. A place where there are so many different types of religions, so many different types of ways to live, so many different types of truth. I agree with Chris in that our generation is searching for truth because the generations before took out that truth and put in their own feel good doctrines claiming it pleased God. It doesn't please God. What pleases God, what makes Him smile, is when you finally give up yourself and say I would do anything for You. You give up trying to be a better person, trying to live up to someone's expectations, trying to reach an enlightened state of being.

I'm not living my life to better myself because honestly, I don't know how much more I could better myself. If I compare myself to most people my age, I am striving for perfection. I am going beyond bettering myself. Yet I know that is not what I am doing. I am living my life in fear of a Holy God, who's authority is over my life, and I follow in His Will and in His ways, no matter what it means I have to give up. I may give up my job, my education, my family, my friends, my happiness, but that is the life of a true Christian. What does Jesus Christ teach?

"As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holds and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family," Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

Luke 9:57-62

Christianity is not a feel good safe religion. It is a hardcore isolating religion. It asks of you to give up everything for it. You could claim it to be the greatest cult that there is, and maybe you are right. Maybe I am wasting my life away, seeking out a life that doesn't exist, a kingdom that doesn't exist, a god that doesn't exist. That is the choice I have made and it is totally foolish and irrational to the human's mind and logical ways.

Quoting Lewis again, in his children's book the Silver Chair, "I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia."

I'll rephrase it, "I am on God's side even if there isn't any God to lead it. I'm going to live like a Christian as I can even if there isn't any Heaven."

I believe Jesus' teachings. I believe He is the Son of God, and that He is God. I believe He lived a sinless life, was crucified, buried, and then rose on the third day. I believe in the law and the prophets of the Old Testament claiming these things centuries before they happened. Do I have substantial proof? No. I am a fool. I am illogical. I am irrational. But I know this is Truth. I cannot explain why I know, I just do. I could be said to be brainwashed, I could be said to be in this 2000 year old worldwide cult of a useless religion.

but I know in my own heart, that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.