What does it mean to be a Christian?  I went to the doctor yesterday, and while I was there, we started talking and I asked him if he was a Christian.  He said, "We all believe in the same God.  Hindu, Muslim, Jew and Christian.  It will turn out ok because we all have one God."

I said, "Well, I believe that Jesus was God.  That he is God.  That makes a difference."

The problem with religion is that people get "religious."  They quit thinking.  They quit listening.  They don't read the account of God speaking to us--the Bible.

The problem with people  is that they are sinful.  They have an inner thermostat that measures whether something is right or wrong.  They know when they do wrong.  And do it anyway.  And somehow, they know that they need forgiveness.  But where is a person to go??

Living with the wrong things you have done is hard because you can't undo them.  Ken always said that the mind is like a picture gallery where you hang the events of your life.  And when you least expect it, a picture pops up  that you desperately want to forget.  But it hangs there, and haunts you.  You can't get rid of it.

But then Ken would add that when the master painter comes into your gallery, he is able to paint over those pictures and paint new ones.  He is the only one who can do away with our sins.  That is what Jesus (God) died for.  No other religion offers forgiveness of sin, and redemption.  The death of Christ gives us a path to God.  His resurrection offers us hope.

Clean.  We can be clean.  "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."  Romans 3:23
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9