Grace Over Good

I've never understood the literal sin of idolatry. I completely understand putting false Gods in my heart where God should be, like money, materialistic things, or lust. But the actual worship of someone other than Jesus Christ puzzles me. I remember in college I was working on my minor in religion and I took the class World Religions. This gave you a general look at the other deities, beliefs, traditions, and customs found within a certain world religion. This class continued to give me clarity into the absolute truth of Jesus Christ. Knowing the bible pretty well and the character of God allowed me to pick away at some falsehoods and theology holes I found in these other world religions. Take Buddhism and the belief of reincarnation for example, it's the idea of living more than once. So in essence, being born, dying, and then being reborn many times over. It all centers around karma, if you have good karma you can come back as someone more prominent. If you have bad karma you may comeback as an animal or an insect...etc. The question that I have trouble with is, how good is good enough? How many good deeds or how much good karma must I build up? Can't we all do better, can't we always do more good?

How about my bad deeds, my bad thoughts and emotions? Or take for example the ‘elite’ of Buddhists...monks. They isolate and separate themselves from the rest of the world trying to achieve spiritual nirvana. But doesn’t that seem to be a bit of a waste, a bit selfish? How can we help our fellow man by isolating ourselves and being so consumed and busy with being ‘holy’ that we're unable to lift a finger to help? I know I don’t know as much about Buddhism as I should, so please forgive me for my ignorance, and I’m truly not trying to judge. I know it’s not black and white, and is far more complicated than I’m leading on. But these holes that I have brought up are too big for me. It’s why I believe in Christianity. It’s why I believe the Gospel. It’s why I believe Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Because I can’t build up my good deeds, good thoughts, and make them greater than my bad ones. I need grace. I need a savior that can take away my sins. I need Jesus’ righteousness to cover me, because I'm unrighteous. I can’t function properly in a religious system like Buddhism because it’s just that...a system. An imperfect system built upon spiritually with the idea that if you do good, good things will come back to you. But no one is good. Only God alone is good. It’s why I choose Christianity It’s why I chose Christ, or rather, why He chose me. Because I’m not good at systems. I need a relationship with a God that loves me and can make me holy by His work, not by my own. So I’ll stick with Christ over karma, and thank Him for grace over good.