Have you noticed what various religions teach that their deity requires in order to be admitted into eternal bliss after death, in other words “to be saved?” False religions all have this one thing in common: that it requires some kind of meritorious work in this life to earn that reward, perhaps having lived a good moral life, or that good deeds will be found to outweigh bad deeds, or maybe following prescribed religious rituals. All of these fail on several counts. One is that no one is good, and our sin nature will prevent us from following through on the most noble intents. Another cause for failure is that each of these efforts involves, in a sense, bribing a god, or tricking that god into thinking we are better than we actually are (maybe even by failing to see), as we are lost in the crowd of humanity. A third failure is that such a view has too high a view of fallen human nature and too low a view of the holiness of God. That a God who is too pure to even look on sin, and too just to let sin go unpunished, could possibly overlook our wickedness, turns Him into a benevolent Santa Claus who brings gifts at Christmas whether we’ve been bad or good, one who turns a blind eye to our treason, and who treats the criminal in the same way He does the saint.
Add to that the conclusion that if we could make it on our own, then Christ’s death on the cross was useless. Not only that, it turns the Father into a monster. When Jesus cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was pleading with the Father that if there was any other way than the cross, to spare Him. If our efforts would suffice to pay the price of our evil deeds, and the Father knew it, it would mean that He said to His beloved Son (in effect), “No, the cross isn’t necessary; they’re each able to manage on their own. But go ahead anyway and let them torture You and put You to a horrible death.” Is that a God worthy of worship? Is that a God with whom we would want to spend eternity? Not me!