None of us are perfect and we were created that way so that we could evolve into perfection as God is perfect, but how deep does our sin go on an individual basis? Being imperfect and being condemned by man as a sinner because I don't believe that Jesus died for me are two different things, and only God makes the final call on that. I know I don't want to be blamed for things that other people did, and I refuse to own their sin. I hope you will do the same and cast off this ignorant church teaching. Just as I refuse to wear other people's sin as my burial shroud, I refuse to drink other people's atonement as my water of life, and vice versa as the case may be.

If I sin, it is of my own accord and usually because I need to be taught a lesson about something. Once I realize I have done something wrong, I go before the throne alone, to atone in my own way. I do not need man between myself and the Lord, thank you very much, whether that man is considered by some to be God-incarnate or not. Just as I do not need someone to intercede for me, I do not need someone to atone for me. Neither is effective unless I choose in accordance with God's will for my life anyway. I am the only one who can save me, and I am the only one who can condemn me. I do not require man to tell me what that will is. Man always had the straight route to God, before Jesus was ever born. Let us not forget that Adam walked with God in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden.

Paul said we are all saved in Christ and through Christ there is no condemnation; however, no one's death can take away the gift of free will that God gives each one of us, to either condemn or save ourselves by our own choosing, as much as we would like the opposite to be true because it's easier. We are not automatically saved just because we claim to believe in a fairy tale about Jesus put about by his former enemies who "miraculously" turned into religious fanatics for him. Salvation is a process, just like perfection, and only God decides where we go when our bodies die. We must first be purified many, many times before we are fully saved.

Let no one boast in Jesus' work on the cross as the Pharisees did about being the descendants of Abraham: "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, 'Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come! Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (John the Baptist; Matthew 3:7-10)

Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matthew 7-21-23)

Jesus also said, "But he who endures to the end shall be saved." (Matthew 10:22) and the same sentiment is echoed throughout the New Testament. In the Book of Revelation, there is the description of the overcomer's reward: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the holy manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it." (Rev. 2:17)

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