I have on seldom occasion met a Christian who I agree with at any significant theological level. Any in depth conversation with these people nearly always ends with them calling me a Satanist.. in so many words. "I'm leading people from God, I'm making things too complicated, I'm ignorant, stupid, heretical."
Why?
Simply because I maintain that a Christian's foremost duty is to abstain as much as possible from sinful behavior. This throws these so called people of God into a fit. The Protestants are the worst of the sects. For a people who "don't interpret God's word," they sure do interpret circles around "if your right hand offend against thee, cut it off."
I now realize that what I am arguing against is not a logical theology. By a vast margin, people turn to God as a cope. They are unhappy with the state of the world, unhappy with their lives, frustrated with lack of success, seek healing and comfort. Perhaps I am guilty of this as well in some sense. It is an emotional adjournment as the result of some trauma. Yes, God will be your high tower. But what does Christ say to the rich man who asks *what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?*
The answer, *if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.* So yes, there are terms on eternal life; Jesus lists various conditions multiple times.
However the average Christian is far from a zealot. This is a person who seeks one thing from God and to disrupt the uninvolved ease at which he believes the end is obtained has confronted his desire of comfort. He wants to sin, and by simply feigning ignorance of scripture he believes that he receives both the world of the flesh and the spirit. But what does Jesus say?
My thinking is that it's better to have the possibility of good than to not have evil, and that we, as extensions of God, have responsibilities to the world, each other, and ourselves as divine beings. But this is completely at odds with the idea that the best thing we can do is to not sin.
If we don't have a duty that we need to perform, that justifies the inevitable pain we experience, then all we're doing is suffering. Refraining from sinning does not end suffering. Trying to eliminate suffering does not end suffering. At that point, why would I even want eternal life, if it just means suffering and self-denial forever?