I remember being asked one time why Christians always think they are better than anyone else. Wanting to more, I asked the person who was asking me this what they meant. They said that they had had a few chats with a few Christians and they made them feel like anyone who didn't believe the same thing was inferior to them.

This is one of the most common objections people have to Christianity, and to all faiths in general. This is one of Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist who wrote The God Delusion, most central arguments. He says all faiths and religions are bad because they make people think they are better than other people, and this obviously leads to fighting, wars and all kinds of other troubles.

There's a big difference between faith and religion but I'll save that for another time. But in principle, I think Richard Dawkins is right. Many people who believe they know the truth do look down on others who don't hold the same beliefs.

But here's the thing, that's not what Jesus told his followers to do. In fact, in Matthew 7:1, Jesus says says the complete opposite when he says, 'Judge not, that you be not judged.'

But we need to be careful not to take this as Jesus saying, because I don't want you to judge you should never take a position on what is true or what is right. Instead it's more that, because you know the truth, don't fall into the trap of thinking you are better than everyone else.

In 1 John 4:10-11, John writes - In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

In here is a clear statement that you'll see all the way through the Bible, the only way we have access to God is through Jesus. This is obviously what Christians believe. But there's nothing that says anyone who doesn't believe this should be treated with contempt or judged or hated. In fact, those verses say the opposite. Because God loved us so much, and sent Jesus to take the punishment that we deserved, we should show this love to each other, friend or enemy, rich or poor, Canadian, British, American, no matter who they are or where they are from.

Compared to God, compared to perfection, we're all the same. No one is good. Romans 3:23 says - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You'll hear that all the time, but you don't often hear the verse in context with what else Paul, the writer of Romans, was saying: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. (Romans 3:23-25)

We need to remember that Paul was writing this letter to a church. This wasn't something being handed out on the street-corner to everyone who walked by. He was reminding the church, people who believed in Jesus Christ, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, including Christians!

It's only through Jesus that anyone can be justified, that anyone can be accepted by God, who is perfect, in spite of the fact that we are all so imperfect. Anyone who believes that Jesus was and is the son of God, and puts their faith in him and him alone, is seen by God through his son, who is perfect. So we can all benefit from the perfection of Jesus, that's the gift. When it comes to our actions, believing in Jesus doesn't make us better compared to God, it makes us accepted by God.

And this gets back what John was saying, this is love. That God loved us so much that he would make a way, through Jesus dying the death that we deserved, but coming back from death 3 days later, that we could still, as imperfect people, be loved and accepted by a perfect God who is so different than we are. There's nothing I can do on my own to raise myself up to God. But thankfully, through Jesus, God lowered himself down to me, to us. He made the way because any way we tried to come up with on our own to get to God would only lead to failure.

So Christians who thinks they are better than everyone else haven't really understood the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. They, as imperfect people, are compareing themselves to other imperfect people when in fact they should be comparing themselves to God. It's like comparing one painting of a sunset to another painting of a sunset, and trying to figure out which is the better sunset? The only way to know, is to look at a real sunset, the real standard of beauty and perfection. Compared to that, both paintings fall short.

Jesus makes up for our shortcomings. He bridges the huge gap that seperates us from God. Being accepted by God through Jesus is something that is available to everyone, there is not a single person that is excluded from this. There's no secret club with a secret handshake. It's a free gift, available to anyone.