this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2023
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Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI5: If you're a Christian, why do you have to be good if Jesus will forgive you no matter what? (self.explainlikeimfive)
submitted 2 years ago by minorninth to c/explainlikeimfive
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I grew up going to church but I'm not religious now and I never really understood this part.

Please, no answers along the lines of "aha, that's why Christianity is a sham" or "religions aren't logical". I don't want to debate whether it's right or wrong, I just want to understand the logic and reasoning that Christians use to explain this.

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[–] ARNiM 1 points 2 years ago

Good ELI5 answer. The “push” to do good comes from the feeling of thankfulness that you don’t have to take a death penalty from a wrongdoing, someone else is taking it instead.

Another take: Imagine when a friend takes you for a dinner treat, you’d be thankful for them that they paid for your food (and the food is not necessarily free, someone actually paid for the food). You’d at least try to be nice to him, as a gesture of thankfulness, and you wouldn’t want hurt their feeling after they took you for a treat. Deliberately or not.