[boatbums]

It actually is a spiritual blindness - one that is inherent in ALL religions that place the burden upon the person to merit the end result. It doesn't matter if that end is Paradise, Heaven, Nirvana, god-consciousness or Happy Hunting grounds, man made religions all make the reward conditional upon the man/woman working for it and deserving of it. Sad to say, there are many "Christian" groups (Christian in that they claim to follow Jesus Christ) that assert one MUST earn salvation by works of righteousness, obedience, works of "charity", and any number of whatever the powers in place determine is required. This makes ALL religions the total opposite of genuine Christianity. Because it is NOT what we must do for God but what He has done for us. He saves us by His grace THROUGH faith and not by our deeds.

Grace means undeserved, unmerited, not worked for. It is by faith that Abraham was declared righteous and it has always been so. A holy life is what results from the new spiritual birth - not the cause of it.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:4,5)

[Mark17]

Agree. You know, I figure if Mankind were to create a religion, true Biblical Christianity, would be the last thing on earth that they would create. Mankind would create a works based religion, that would glorify himself, and not God.
In fact, mankind HAS created religions, lots of them. If any of them emphasize something other than good works, to reach Heaven, or Paradise, or whatever they call it, I would like to hear about it.
Christianity, on the other hand, forces one to admit they are totally, 100%, morally bankrupt, and deserve the fires of Hell. A lot of people don't want to admit that.

[Elsie]

...man made religions all make the reward conditional upon the man/woman working for it and deserving of it.

I know of NONE that has a SAVIOR.