A Nice Religion

I read this article in the World Magazine the other day and found it...well...depressing. Unfortunately, from what I have personally seen and experienced, I think it is rather true . There seems to be a large focus among Christians of merely being nice people. We seem to forget that there is a God who is very real and is not merely a good icon to remind us to do good stuff and to be moral. The article refers to it as "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism": doing good things to make ourselves feel good while believing in a god who is far away, uninvolved, and basically powerless and impertinent in the real world. In that religion, the most important commandment is merely to "be nice." The subjects of sin, punishment, and redemption are left for the most part untouched because they are not nice to think and talk about. In reality, we should be doing that "good stuff" because there is deeper meaning behind it than just feeling good: a very involved, pertinent God who shows us great mercy and grace.