this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2023
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Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI5: If you're a Christian, why do you have to be good if Jesus will forgive you no matter what? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by minorninth@lemmy.world to c/explainlikeimfive@lemmy.world
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I grew up going to church but I'm not religious now and I never really understood this part.

Please, no answers along the lines of "aha, that's why Christianity is a sham" or "religions aren't logical". I don't want to debate whether it's right or wrong, I just want to understand the logic and reasoning that Christians use to explain this.

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[–] OpenStars@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

You don't...not really. It's like a child leaving their parents house - you "can" now do whatever you want: good luck with that.:-)

Another take: the whole "being good" part is Santa Claus, not Jesus. The whole "acting in a well-behaved manner" is more what parents tell their kids that Jesus wanted (oh uh...yeah, it's JESUS that wanted you to be quiet in your room at 8pm, totally), while what Jesus actually said essentially translates to: fuck hypocrites, imma leave you behind when I'm in charge beotches!

I mean that seriously though - like to pick just one example:

If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar;
(1 John 4:20)

So hating gays is...a choice one could make I suppose, but if you say you are a follower of Christ at the same time, then Jesus calls such people "liars".

The real question is: if Jesus says one thing, but a particular church/pastor/priest/pedo says something else, which one defines the "religion"? Just like everything else in the world, truth gets mixed in with fiction, and sold as a package to control the masses - e.g. Orwell's Animal Farm, like overthrowing The Man was a good thing, but then who they picked to replace him... urg:-(.