Whoa, it is just a total chore being a Christian. You have to believe in a God you can’t see – and at the same time, you have to obey a bunch of tedious and boring rules that just serve to shut you off from fellowship all over the world – and you just can’t have any fun…! It really shouldn’t be called Christianity, but prohibition… or… something?

Well…. If you live in Denmark like I do, there are also lots of rules to follow. I can’t just not pay my taxes, I can’t drive too fast, I can’t go around killing people, I can’t make counterfeit documents, I can’t beat my children… etc. Why…? To protect the individual citizen – and because the individual actions have consequences for myself or others.

– Not paying taxes = no money in the treasury: No welfare, no roads or hospitals, etc.
– Speeding = accidents – in the worst case deadly accidents.
– Killing someone = destroying a family – and you will have to live with the guilt.
– Counterfeiting = guilty conscience – and destroys the person you signed for.
– Beating your children = destroying the children for life, e.g. through fear.

At the time of this writing, Denmark has a total of 1512 major laws and regulations, and then there is all the change legislation – and all of it is there to protect us.

Yes, it’s pretty difficult to be a Christian, because you get a new friend in Jesus… and getting new friends is not always the easiest thing, and how exactly do you get to know this “invisible” new friend anyway? You do that by BOTHERING to spend time with your new friend… and the funny thing is that the more time you BOTHER to spend with Jesus, the more “connected” you get. Just like with an earthly friend.

If you don’t bother spending time with Jesus, you will soon discover that some of the rules God has put in place seem stupid and ridiculous…. But if you do spend time on and with Jesus, God’s spirit will change a lot of things inside you, so you suddenly lose the desire to do the things that are wrong in the eyes of God. Then they are no longer things you miss doing, you simple don’t feel like it – and if you do it anyway, it just seems wrong.

After living close to God for some time and suddenly “fall off” or “fall into sin”, you will also experience that it feels SO wrong the first times you do so. This is because the Holy Spirit is guiding and correcting you. The only problem is that when you choose not to be guided, you become desensitized to the feeling of “wrong”, and you can just keep sinning away…

But why DID God actually set up these laws and rules…? He did so for one reason – He wants to take care of us. Here are a few examples:

– You can’t get drunk: Often, when people are drunk, they do a lot of stupid junk they regret the next day – a lot of what they do is sexual in nature (or at least crushing on people), but lots of things are just stupid too. See e.g. how many marriages falter because of infidelity during office Christmas parties, all because of people getting drunk – or people losing their jobs because of “crossing the line”. And the great thing is that you can actually have AT LEAST as much fun WITHOUT alcohol as with it… but peer pressure and “socializing” re attractions…! And for a lot of people, shallow “friendships” with alcohol become more important than true and deep friendships without alcohol.

– You can’t be homosexual: There are several parts to this – but first of all, it is to protect people against HIV. In addition, it is in order to preserve the natural genders and for children to grow up with both a mother and a father. It can cause severe social difficulties for a child who does not have both a mother and a father.

– You can’t lie: It’s just dumb – nobody will trust you, and you end up getting burned because you can’t keep track of your own lies, and people lose all trust in you. There is a reason why Jesus says that THE TRUTH will set us free. Lies can also ruin friendships and other relationships – and it will simply enslave you – including with a guilty conscience.

– You can’t steal: If you take other people’s things, you will simply discover that nobody trusts you – and you ruin far too much for other people. At the same time, the guilt is draining…

– You can’t be unfaithful: When you get married, you become “one flesh”. If you have a fling with another partner, it results in nothing but hurt. God knows perfectly well that the grass isn’t greener just because of a little initial excitement, the grass is greener where you water it. God wants whole hearts, not broken hearts.

– Don’t fill your mind with thrillers, gory movies, occult games and movies, etc. That is simply opening a giant barn door for Satan… and it is and always will be to protect you that Jesus wants you to be full of peace – not with strife, fear, anger, and jealousy.

– Don’t allow yourself to be filled with porn: If you are married, it is actually the same as being unfaithful, because you are lusting for someone who is not your partner. In most cases, your partner would also be quite unhappy if he or she found out about it. Furthermore, you are prostituting yourself and developing an extremely unnatural relationship to sex – and many couples are actually destroyed by it. Finally, you contribute to supporting the entire porn industry, where a huge number of women are bought and sold against their will and get their life ruined.