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Personal from
Abundant Living
W
HY oo so rne religious
people feel that their reli–
gious life must be one of
giving up all the fun and enjoyment
of living - that in order to please
God, they must endure a life of
morbid gloom?
For that matler why do sorne
NON-religious people feel that to be–
come a Christian would mean
a
life
ofliving painfu l penance?
As a boy
J
was brought up in a re–
spectable Protestan! church of tradi–
tional Christianity.
1
never did know
very much, as a boy, about what the
cburch believed - but
J
did know
that it regarded
sin
as violating
their
many ooN'Ts: - don ' t smoke, don' t
dance, don ' t play cards. don't go to
the theater, don't drink a drop of
wine. don ' t do this, don't do that !
A world-famous philosopher, edi–
tor, and lecturer whom
1
knew said
he had no desire to live a life of
Christian repression.
" 1
desire," he
said, " to be radiant , cheerful.
friendly - to meet people with a
smile." He was a highly educated
rnan - but he was a Biblical illiter–
ate !
PLAIN TRUTH Febrvory 1973
Where do people get all these dis–
torted ideas about the religion of
Jesus Christ? Certainly NOT out of
the Bible. Strangely, none of the
people in the category I have de–
scribed KNEW HOW TO UVE!
As my son Gamer Ted Arm–
strong has been asking on the air re–
cently , "wHICH Jesus?" T hey know
nothing of the Jesus of the Bible,
who said ,
" I
am come that they
m ight have LIFE, and tha t they
might have it more abundant ly."
Somehow a lot of people have re–
ceived a lot of weird and false ideas
about Jesus Christ -
1
mean the
Jesus of YOUR BIBLE. Actually,
1
think almost NO ONE knows what
the Bible says about H im.
It
seems rnost people think SIN is
the thing that is BEST for us, but
which a stern, wrathful God denies
us. Sorne years ago a little book was
selling big on Hollywood news–
stands.
It
was titled:
How lo Sin in
Hollywood.
Why don't people know that God
our Creator has never forbidden us
a single thing that is oooo for us -
never said "ooN'T" about a single
thing except that which is going to
HARM us to our own hurt. What God
does command us NOT to do a re the
very things that bring on unhappi–
ness, frustration, pain, suffering, and
a life ofmorbid gloom.
Sorne people endure a solemn,
stiff, formal church service. And
sorne of the emotionally inclined go
to the kind of church meeting where
there is much shout ing, and high
emotional response by the congre–
gation - merely to have what they
call " a good time" during the mee t–
ing. T hen the rest of the week, reli–
gion doesn't seem to have any part
in their lives.
Others feel that if they are to be–
come. as they call it, "saved," they
must live a gloomy and depressing
life of giving up everything that
might be enjoyed. Apparently they
believe their gloomy, unhappy Iives
will please God. But they don' t
KNOW God. That kind of religion is
a
SUPERSTITJON!
Let's get this matter straight. T he
REAL J esus Christ said He carne to
bring
US
HAPPINESS and JOY! Jesus
(Continued on page 47)