Deciding what religion (if any) to adhere to seems like a risky proposition.

I mean, what if you don’t pick the right one? If you pick the wrong one, does everyone else basically get to hear the losing horn from “Price is Right” in the afterlife — if there is one?

I happen to be a follower of Jesus, and I really do believe the things He says about God and the nature of reality. I have found a fullness of life which I simply didn’t have before making the choice to believe in Jesus. I’m never going back.

But if you are not currently a follower of Jesus, I can totally understand why you might hesitate to make a commitment. So allow me to consider what it means if people who take Jesus at His word are just flat out wrong.

Even if Christianity is wrong, I spent my life trying to be more encouraging to other people instead of hurtful.

Even if Christianity is wrong, I sought to use my talents and abilities to create community between other men and women around concepts of mutual respect and acceptance — community where everyone belonged.

Even if Christianity is wrong, I tried to grow in patience and joy and peace and to help my family do the same.

It’s hard for me to regret those choices.

See, I’m one of those people who always needs a big picture — a higher goal I’m working towards.

Christianity teaches that God is going to set right all the wrongs in this world and that Christians are supposed to be part of that process. Over the past 2000 years, we’ve worked through healthcare, education, literature, music, social reform and a thousand other methods to make that renewal and restoration a reality.

We have messed up on many occasions, failing in both small and large ways. But over the course of the past 2000 years, Christianity has helped create a better world.

Again, it’s hard for me to find regret there.

Now, perhaps you will want to point out that Christianity has failed to create an altogether healthy world. Perhaps that because of all the preachers who are seemingly in it for money, or acting like hypocrites in some way. I gotta tell you, this doesn’t make me shrug my shoulders and want to give up pressing forward toward lofty goals.

The fact that we have fallen short of what Jesus called us to accomplish does not mean they are not worthy endeavors. It does not mean that this world has not improved because of the efforts made toward these directives.

Again, to be clear, I don’t believe that the words of Christ are wrong or incorrectly recorded; but even if you proved to me that somehow this was all wrong, all a mistake, I would not change my focus from the life and truth and hope I have found in the good news of the Christian scriptures.

You’re asking me to ignore all of that? To wish I was the person who I used to be, before choosing to love others and learn to be less selfish? No thanks.

I was miserable. I’m never going back there.

Before following Jesus I was miserable. I’m never going back there.

You may say I’m just fooling myself. Maybe you agree with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura who once said,

“Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.”

I respectfully disagree.

I’m part of a local church community who uses the power of community to help and encourage and care for people in our city.

If that’s a sham, I don’t know whether having a genuine community is even possible.

Are there people who have abused and stolen in the name of religion? Sure. But that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with religion. It means those people were broken, flawed, corrupt people. The kind of people in need of true religion.

If you’re wondering what true religion is, the good news is that the half brother of Jesus, a guy named James, wrote it down a couple thousand years ago, but you’ll find that it still applies today:

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”

These are some of the core concepts of following Jesus and I believe it would be hard to go wrong in seeking to follow the life giving principles found in his teachings, and those of his followers.

If you’re looking for me to try to prove that all other faiths are wrong, you’re not going to get that here. I’ve studied other faiths, and I have made the conscious choice to follow Jesus. I don’t have any disdain for the faithful in other religions, I simply believe the words of Jesus.

And if it were to turn out I was mistaken, I would have no regrets.