The Complete Misconception

It was funny how an atheist taught me something about Christianity that I hadn't really realised. As I was speaking to her, I realised that her understanding reflected a general concept that Christianity is about doing good things to get into heaven or doing bad things and going to hell. This of course is a complete misfocus. The central theme of Christianity is actually the intervention of Jesus to make it possible for anyone to go to heaven. There's a place for doing good things, but that's not the central theme. Jesus walks this path again in Luke 7 with the story of the sinful woman who anointed him with alabaster oil. The pharisees were at pains to point out how sinful she was, and Jesus corrected them by placing the emphasis not on the size of sin but on the beauty of forgiveness. How often do we forget this is as Christians and stumble into our performance mindsets!