I don't think that it would be much of a lie if I said that Christianity was a trap. I mean, think about it (rationally, I mean, since we're sooo big on rationality). Here's this religion that promises eternal joy in the union with God (don't be Freudian), a God eager for your friendship, a God eternally in love with you, a God who will put things in your life so that you would be a better person, a divine confidant, savior of the world, someone who will remain faithful, loyal, and true to you in every situation, someone who gives you authority even over the spiritual realm, someone who wants you to partake in his eternal redemptive plan, and a God who promises life in abundance. Now, I would be a fool to pass all this up. All you have to do is... accept it. So simple!

But, there is the trap.

Accept it? What does that mean? Do I intuitively understand it, rationally cognate it, emotionally feel its depth? No. It means, you give up your life for it. True acceptance of Christ is death of self, death of personal ambitions, death within this "culture of fun", death to personal ambition and goals, death to past, present, and future. Surprise! Not so simple anymore, is it? Is it a wonder that "Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain?" Have you died to yourself? Are you serious about Christ's call? Or are you being a Judas and using Christianity for personal counseling? Better grades, good spouse? You must have it wrong then, because you have killed God in Christianity rather than putting to death yourself! It would be false pretense if I said I die to self everyday, because I don't. But, because I don't want to make this a self-loathing piece, let's conveniently ignore that fact right now. (I am the greatest of hypocrites! The greatest of sinners!)

But the funny thing is, I think, we are already dead. If I have no new life in me now, I have no life for me when I die. When I die, I die. When I live, I live. But if I am dead while I am living, how much greater is the death when I die? Thus, death to self, along with the self's death, is true life. I am dead to death, and I cannot die. (I'm invincible!)

On a lighter note, God is good and will provide for all your shortcomings. I think he's telling me this more and more now, but I wish he would make it clearer.