Do you think you are a bad person?

A repost from another blog of mine that I think fits here:

Do you think you are a bad person? If so, please answer yes or no to the following questions.

1. Have you ever given without expecting anything in return?
2. Have you ever done a good thing in secret and never mentioned it?
3. Have you ever opened the door for an old lady?
4. Have you ever told the truth when it had consequences?
5. Have you ever given money to charity?
6. Have you ever worshiped God sincerely?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are a not a bad person....... *tongue in cheek*

So a pet peeve of mine, if you can't tell, are those evangelistic approaches that do the whole "Do you think you are a good person" routine and then turned around and ask the question have you ever done certain sinful things all of done, which then in turn means that you are not a good person and therefore need Christ. Of course, we see how foolish the thinking is "If I have done bad once, I am bad" is in light of the reverse "If I have a done good once, I am good."

I agree that evangelism needs to reveal a person's personal guilt to a person. However, the theology about it and the approach are horribly off in those schemes. First off, evangelism needs to reveal the theme of good or sin in our life, not a one time action. People need to recognize how greatly disobedient they have been to God, not just that they have been at one time. Repentance is crucial to the Gospel and salvation, but how can a person repent of their whole sinful lifestyle when they don't really see it.

Also, it pretty much presents God as this person who is just waiting to see us fail and the moment we fail once, then he turns from this loving God to this angry God and in order to subvert this wrath that He has, He has to kill an innocent person in order to satisfy His wrath. If we had a father who was nice to us until we messed up once and then showed us only anger and the only way to appease his anger is to take it out on someone else (say abusing the innocent mother), we would call that person horrible. And yet the God whom we call good is portrayed in this way by many. See my previous posts on atonement theory.

Now don't get me wrong. Christ died for our sins, but in order to set us free from the life of sin, not merely to procure a pardon. We all need God's grace through Christ in order to be saved in this world and without that we can not live a life that is righteous and pleasing before God. And God is good, He just isn't the bipolar being that some portray Him as. I am just tired of the legalistic view of sin and salvation and the ultimately shallow evangelistic methods that result from it and the shallowness of some forms of Christianity that come from the legalistic view.