This question brings us to the heart of the gospel message. How can people be set right with God? How can people get into heaven? Is it through the things they do? Is a Christian simply a synonym for a 'good' person? Is that what Christianity is all about: loving your neighbour as you love yourself?
Well, to start with, Christianity is really all about how none of us are intrinsically 'good' as people. In fact, we're all naturally born into darkness, a spiritual ignorance and defiance of God. We want to make the rules ourselves (this is what Adam and Eve did when they took the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3). And this dislocates us from God, and puts us under His righteous judgement. You can't commit a crime and get away with it in God's universe. And the ultimate crime in God's universe is this: rejecting God as the King of that universe.
As humans our standards of goodness are very different to God's. We may define a 'good' person as someone who gives to charity, who loves their family and friends, who seeks to care for those around them. They may even devote their entire life to philanthropic work in developing countries. But, as the Bible reveals, the litmus test of true goodness is how a person responds to God. Loving the people around you but still ignoring God is like trying to live in a household where you love your siblings but ignore your parents. It's ludicrous! God wants us to love Him with our whole heart, soul and mind (Deut 6:5), and if we're honest, none of us have done that perfectly for every moment of our lives. If we're really honest, the only person we have ever loved that perfectly is ourselves.
I don't want to seem scathing of charity work and helping others -far from it!- but what I want to convey is how paltry these things are compared with God's absolute purity and holiness. Can you imagine if someone asked Obama 'Why should you be president of the US?', and he replied, 'Well, I can count to 10 and I know my ABC.' How ridiculous would that be? But that's what our 'good works' are like to God- utter childish simplicity compared with Him.
The truth is that the whole world is chained up and locked into a vicious cycle of sin and rebellion against God. Jesus said 'everyone who sins is a slave to sin' (Jn 8:34) and if you don't believe this, try going for one whole day without sinning at all. It's impossible! Even if you never rob a bank or kill someone, you probably still lie, and think corrupt thoughts, and in your heart want to rule your own life instead of worshipping God and letting Him call the shots.
The good news is that God did not just sit in heaven passively watching human history unfold. He had an action plan to bring about restoration and reconciliation between Himself and mankind. That's what the Bible is all about: Genesis shows God creating a perfect world, man rejecting God and falling into sin, and then the rest of Scripture shows what God did to 'undo' the cycle of degeneration.
God sent Jesus into the world, as His own Son, to be God-in-flesh (John 1:14). Perfectly human, perfectly divine, Jesus lived life as we never could: free from sin. He died as a pure sacrifice, taking on Himself the punishment that should have been ours, so that if we believe and trust in Him, we can be forgiven (John 3:16).
Therefore, Christianity is not primarily about being good; it's about accepting that you're NOT good in God's eyes, and that you need Jesus.
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