Blind Religion and God

I read an article the other day that my wife came across about the son of a leader of Hamas, the Islamic militant group, who has converted to Christianity. I've included the link below. He made a very valid point about the majority of Muslims not really knowing what their religion teaches. Islam is an all-inclusive religion in that it not only is a belief system, but it also instructs it's followers on how to live day-to-day. Most are simply born as Muslim and accept it blindly as truth - without really examining it and asking the "hard" questions. All world views need to explain origin, meaning, morality, and destiny. It's truly a shame that the majority of what is called the Christian church of today is guilty of the same blind acceptance. Many are born into "Christian" families and even go to church regularly and have no clue as to what the Bible teaches. Just because someone goes to church doesn't mean they are a Christian - any more than going into a hospital makes you a doctor.

What is the true desire of your heart? Where does God fit into your life? What does God expect from you? Surely that question needs to be answered. Do you think he just put you on this earth to simply live however you see fit? Is God a personal being, or does he just sit back and watch us? If you've ever prayed to God, then surely you must believe He does interact in some way with humanity. Which religion's view of God is correct? They can all be wrong, but they can't all be right - there are just too many contradicting views that cannot be resolved.

God has created us to have a relationship with Him. Our sin has damaged that relationship and since God is holy and perfect, we're no longer able to have the relationship He intended. I spoke to someone recently who has the common view that when he dies, as long as his good deeds outweigh his bad deeds, everything will be OK. My question to him was "What about the bad deeds? They still exist. What is going to get rid of those?" One outweighing the other is a moot point to a perfect and holy God, as His standard of perfection obviously hasn't been met. It's commonly said that "no one is perfect" - that's exactly the point. It would require absolute perfection and holiness for us to be restored to God and since we've sinned, it's no longer possible - unless God makes a way. Sin is an abhorrent thing to God and since He is just, He has to judge sin accordingly. The end result of sin is death. God has provided us His son, Jesus, who lived a perfect life, died in our place, and had all the sins of the world - past, present, and future - placed upon Himself. When we believe in Jesus and ask for forgiveness of our sins, the perfect life He lived is attributed to us, so that when God looks at us, He sees His son's perfection. The Christian life means living in constant submission to God's will, continually turning from sin, asking for forgiveness when we do sin, and being ever thankful for the grace He has given to us. The Bible says that we must be "born again" to see the kingdom of God. The old person goes away and we become new people. We are adopted into God's family and are guaranteed that we will spend eternity with Him - all for simply believing in Him.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html