I am Liberated. Romans 6:23 by Susan L.

  "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." NKJV
  "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." JCB

  The lesson this week at church was about major religions to test the idea that all religions lead to God. They were broken down into three categories or combinations of these.
  1. Religions based on thinking. You master the right truths.
  2. Religions based on experience. Having the right mystical encounter.
  3. Religions based on doing. Keeping the right commandments.
  Drawing near the deity is rooted in performance and any sort of position in the after life is earned or not if a person falls short of doing everything they need to do.

  While the sermon focused on helping us understand the basics of faiths compared to Christianity, I am not going to go much further into detail because I feel inadequate to the task. The man who preached the sermon has spent years studying religions. (The Meeting house has his sermon on line as part of the series in Bad Ideas. This is #5. All of them are well worth checking out.)

  What I know for absolute certainty is the God I worship is a God of love and relationship. He is not distant or absent. I know for absolute certainty that one day, I will be with Him in Heaven.
  How do I know this?
  Because Jesus made it possible the moment I chose to make Him my Lord.
  There is nothing on this earth I could do or need to do to earn that place.

  Yes, I am called to live according to a higher calling.
  The highest calling of all is to live in and through the love of God.
  I've read this passage many times and baulked at the first part because it came across as a threat. With fresh understanding, I realize it's simply affirming that to live apart from the love of God (that's what sin is) means I am not living, I am dying.