Here is a short list, in no particular order:
- When you become a Christian, it is because you have admitted the truth, that you are a sinner, and your sins have separated you from God. This opens the door to yielding to God for forgiveness, and enter into all the blessings.
- We are forgiven all of our past sins. This means we have a new past that has been wiped clean of past wrongs.
- We develop a confidence in God whereas before it was confidence in a church.
- God justifies us. This means that we have been declared righteous, not just forgiven.
- With sins forgiven, we enter into a right relationship with God. (This beats having a bad relationship with God.)
- That nagging guilt for our wrongdoing is washed away. Our guilty conscience is eased.
- God opens our eyes in a special way to understand the lessons in the Word of God, the Bible.
- God reveals His will to us. We don’t have to wonder why we are here any more. We become aware of our life’s purpose.
- God gives us a new identity. We don’t have to wonder who we are any more.
- God saves us from the power of death, for through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, we will rise again from the dead. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit; we are guaranteed to be raised from the dead.
- We lose the fear of death and look forward to eternity with God.
- We receive the Holy Spirit of God, and He teaches us the things of God that we could not grasp with our natural understanding. We understand the spiritual things we could not understand as atheists or agnostics.
- God imputes His own righteousness to us. We cannot improve on this righteousness by our good works.
- God promises an eternal inheritance to His children who prove themselves faithful to Him.
- We are put into His body on earth, and have the privilege of being used by God on earth.
- He delivers us from the deceptions and power of our enemies, of Satan and his demons.
- He delivers us from the power of sin in us. We find the ability to overcome the bad behavior we couldn’t control before.
- He transforms our character into the true human beings we were meant to be. From selfish to loving. From impatient to patient. From scornful to compassionate. From religious to spiritual.
- We develop hope in the life to come, where we had none. We develop an assurance that there is more to life than this, and we will live forever.
- We escape Hell and the Lake of Fire.
- We discover first-hand the working of God in our lives.
- We are accepted in the Beloved.
- We find prayers answered in a way they never were.
- We start to understand that the Bible has nuances the ordinary person misses. Life is not so simple. The Bible shines light on our personal life, and through it we discover that God is guiding us.
- We are translated into the kingdom of His Dear Son.
- We learn to love God as our Father. A wonderful thing for those who never had a father who loved them. We learn to rest in His love.
- We no longer liken prayer as talking to a brick wall. Prayer becomes meaningful. God becomes more substantial.
- We learn to love the Bible and appreciate it in a way we never did before. God reveals His mysterious ways to us.
- God shows us mercy. This is way better than having the haunting fear that God is holding a big stick over our heads for doing wrong.
- We experience the difference between being merely culturally religious vs. being a spiritual child of God.
Is there any other religion that provides all of these benefits because God so loved the world that He died to pay our penalty for sin in our place?
Masterful post.