Good article from Jews for Jesus...

I'm basically a good person and I'm very happy with my own religion, so why should I believe in Jesus?
January 1, 2000

To tell you the truth, if everyone were good in God's sight, nobody would need Jesus and we wouldn't be spending our efforts making web sites like this one.

The psalmist long ago said that "there is no one that does good, not even one." Oh, to be sure, most of us aren't murderers or thieves or anything like that. We like to think of ourselves as respectable, with no need for major changes in our lives. Yet the picture the Scriptures present is that even the best of us is desperately sinful, deeply alienated from God, from each other and even from ourselves.

The problem of mankind, according to the Bible, is precisely that we are "happy with our own religion," "happy with what we believe." Usually what we believe is not what the Scriptures teach. We're happy to think that we're good, that surely God will overlook our "little" mistakes and shortcomings and that He isn't really serious about our sins. We're happy to place our own wills and desires at the center of our private universe, rather than making the will and the desires of our Creator primary.

But God is serious about our sin. As Jews we tend to think that sin is exclusively a matter of committing individual acts. But sin is much more than that. The Scriptures show us that sin is a condition of human existence which does not pertain to a particular act, but rather to an attitude, one of arrogance and rebellion. The best of men, like Abraham, Moses and King David, all committed acts of sin. The prophet Isaiah said, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way."2 This righteous prophet indicated that it is only human for each man, himself included, to seek self-fulfillment rather than to seek to fulfill the precepts of God. King David said that his sin was a condition from birth.3 Sin is universal--that's why the Day of Atonement is universally observed among Jewish people as the most solemn of all holidays. And that's why God provided a way of forgiveness, beginning with the Old Testament animal sacrifices and culminating in the death of the Messiah. Our responsibility is to respond in faith and to place our trust in Jesus as our atonement. We must return to a view of life centered in God's way of looking at things, rather than in our own preferences.

We really are sinful in the depths of our being, and all the education, affluence and technology in the world hasn't changed that; it's only enabled us to express our rebellion in a more sophisticated fashion. Jesus really did come in history, really did die and really did rise from the dead. All the objections in the world and all the ignoring of the evidence won't make that reality go away. Perhaps your attitude is that of the skeptic who said, "I won't believe--and don't confuse me with the facts!" But God really does hold us responsible for facing the facts about ourselves, and accepting His offer of forgiveness through Jesus.

In a word, you should believe in Jesus, not because it will make you happy, but because it's true.

Psalm 14:3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Psalm 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

http://www.jewsforjesus.org/answers/.../imagoodperson

There are too many individuals who go about blowing their trumpets of righteosuness. They are too convinced of ther sense of righteousness. Who among us is really good? Romans 3:11 tells us that we are not just.

We are perpetual l sinners and thus capable of doing great or bad things alike at any given moment. Today hopefully none of you have stolen money from anyone. Tomorrow you just might. Hopefully none have taken a life today. Tomorrow you just might. You could do great things today and heinous things tomorrow. I have found this better thn thou attititude prevalent in those who identify themselves as born again christians. They go about casting judgement and condemning those who do not share in thier views. They have taken the compassionate message of love and redemtpion and have thus corrupted it. Too much fire and brimstone talk will not bring about converts who come to our Lord out of love. We should have a respectfull fear of God and his might no doubt. But greater is is his love that was manisfested as his only begotten Son entered time and space so as to redeem us and makes us children of the Father once again. Jesus is the complete expression of the Father's love for us all. This is the message that everyone who idnetifies themselves as Christians should be spreading and living. Lutherans, Methodist, Pentecostals, Catholics and all other religions alike. Everyone is first and foremost a christian. Pentecostals should not be bashing Catholics, Catholics should not be bashing Mormons, Luherans should n't be bashing Methodist and so on

Why am I stating all of this? Well it's because I have heard Christians from many sects think that they are better than anyone else. Jesus condemned that sort of pride and arrogance. A great amount of discussion needs to be done on a level such as this. We can't leave it up to all of the authorities of the different religions. They weill just argue and go about protecting their own interests and that of the Church that the Church that they serve. Grassroots baby... all the way

Have a blessed day

Sinner7070