Isn't Christianity Just an Emotional Experience?

By Dianne E. Butts
Guest Writer

CBN.com - When a person newly understands that Jesus is God and took his or her death penalty for sin on himself, it can definitely be an emotional experience. When he or she has crossed over from eternal death to eternal life, that can be an emotional experience, too.

But the emotional experience is not all there is to Christianity.

Some think when they have a religious experience and suddenly want to live well and do good in the world, that is Christianity. They may get some emotional joy out of helping others, but that is not Christianity.

Christianity is based on facts:

1. That there is only one true God.
2. That He is perfect and holy and requires all who enter his presence to be the same (without sin).
3. That since Adam and Eve introduced sin into the world, everyone born has sinned.
4. That the only way, then, for us to enter God's presence and survive is to have our sins dealt with.
5. That the only way to deal with our sins is to die for them -- or to have someone else step in to die for us.
6. That the only person qualified to step in for us must be a perfect sacrifice (sinless), and the only one who can live sinless is God Himself. So God came as a man, Jesus, and took the death penalty for our sins upon Himself on the cross.
7. And that anyone who accepts this fact (believes it, understands it, owns it for themselves) is saved from the death penalty of sin and will spend eternity in the presence of God (in heaven).

Those are facts. Facts are not based on emotion. Facts are facts.

Emotions come and go, ebb and flow like waves on a shore. Anything based on emotions will also rise and fall, grow and fade, wax and wane.

True Christian faith is based on reason and understanding of God's history of work on earth. When a person truly understands and believes in Christ (the definition of a Christian), then his or her faith stands strong through any emotional episode.

Emotions may erupt and fade, but true faith remains.

I'm Not a Bad Person, so Why do I Need Anything Else?

By Jeanne Dennis
Guest Writer

CBN.com - This is a case where "not bad" isn't good enough. In fact, "pretty good" isn't good enough.

If someone were to offer you a glass of crystal clear, distilled water with just a tiny drop of arsenic in it, would you drink it? Probably not. How about a drop of red food coloring? You might drink that, if you were sure it was safe. But just one drop of arsenic, food coloring, or any other substance would change the purity of that glass of water.

It's the same with you. You say you're not a bad person, but are you a perfect person?

"Nobody's perfect," you might say.

That's true. Nobody's perfect except God. The problem is that just because you're a good person doesn't give you a ticket to heaven. In order to live forever in the presence of the perfect, holy God, you must be pure-totally without sin. You must be perfect and without blemish.

"That's impossible for anyone," you might say.

And you would be right. It is impossible, and that's why you need a Savior. Even your smallest sins must be paid for and forgiven before you can hope to enter heaven. You also must rid yourself of the inborn sinfulness we all inherited from our father Adam.

Jesus, the only human who never sinned, already paid the penalty for your sins on the cross. But you must ask for God's forgiveness. You must admit that you are a sinner and turn your life over to Him. Even if your sins seem small and insignificant, they are an affront to the holy God who created you. And they will keep you out of heaven.

You can never be perfect in yourself, but when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you become a new creation in Him. He replaces your inherent sin nature with God's nature and helps you to live a better life. After accepting Christ, you still will not be perfect. But if you confess your sins, He will forgive you and make you pure again (1 John 1:8-9).

Almighty God will not taint the crystal clear perfection of heaven with even a tiny drop of sinfulness. You must be covered by His Son's perfection. Then God will see you as His beloved child, and you won't need anything else.

The next one is one of the most asked questions.