OK, ok, I know some of you who read these blogs were raised Catholic so please do not think I am simply Catholic bashing (I mean, seriously, I bash everyone including me).

Yesterday I took a tour of the Vatican, an OFFICIAL TOUR led by an official guide from the Vatican. She was saying things like “mos impourtant” “you like” and “mmmm, yes.” After about 3 hours of her showing us the “most extraordinary, most exquisite, most unique” piece for the 100th time I started to tune her out.

We passed through the Sistine Chapel and headed into Saint Peter’s Basilica, and then she said something that stopped me in my tracks. She pointed to a door to the right of main door of the cathedral and said it was called the “Holy Door.” They open it up in the time of jubilee (the last one was in 2000, the next will be 2025). She told us that if you are a true Catholic, a true believer, you can come during the jubilee and walk through this door and your sins will be forgiven. She also stated that she waited 5 hours to get through it when it was open last.

Now, really, I walk through a door and get my sins forgiven? That’s how it works? I mean, Jesus WAS a carpenter and all, so maybe that makes a little sense. But if true, don’t you think God the Father should have sent Jesus a memo that said, “hey, you are a carpenter, just build a door, you don’t need to die on a Roman cross.”

This is one of the many dangers of religion, that we will make it about ourselves and what we do (ie: walking through a door). This line of thinking has been around forever…from Pelagius to Arminius to any number of religious systems that make your salvation about you and not Jesus.

It is ALL about Jesus, period. When we get our eyes off Him we will lose perspective of who we even are. 1 John 2:2 reminds that He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. When Jesus died he said “it is finished” (John 19:30). It is finished means “paid in full” because we can’t pay for our sins by doing anything, only he could pay our penalty.

And finally Hebrews 9:12 (one of the greatest statements in scripture) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. In Hebrews 9:28 it reminds us that Christ was offered once (ONCE) to bear our sins. Your sins have been paid for, you should LIVE in the life Jesus has provided for you.