I'm a Christian as well. I respect your perspective but I have to criticize your understanding of the lords compassion. I'm glad that you have found the light of life in Jesus, and I see that your passion to share his mercy is bar none, but I have to denote the fact that Jesus would "go out for drinks" with sinners. This implies that he would be living [i]in[/i] the world (that he is said to have overcame; if we are reading the same gospel). Psalms 13:20 "Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm." Isn't the church his bride after all? Why would he not be in his church, cleansing and sanctifying the ones that are diligently seeking his redemptive power? Jesus is a friend to the sinners that turn from their ways. Jesus would not go out of his way to follow around a group of "bad" people just to help them. He didn't chase after the Pharisees, but surrounded himself with those who would willingly turn from their ways and seek to follow and obey him at heart. You are spreading false gospel to appease the sinners contention. Jesus loves all people and he would not refrain from addressing wickedness. Proverbs 14:9 "Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright." Now, in today's society, we no longer acknowledge our sin, and we detest guilt. Our society instills self empowerment, reverting the need for this guilt into the love of self and not love of god. Tldr; Jesus loves everyone, but he tells us who will not inherit the kingdom, and they are the ones who find reasons to continue in their sin, instead of seeking the salvation in his sacrifice. I appreciate how you show love to others, but proclaiming that Jesus would do this instead of being critical of our wicked self righteousness is blasphemy.

I think I may have been a bit unclear, but I based my opinion off the following scripture: [quote]When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is he eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?" And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinner."[/quote] (Mark 2: 16-17) In other words, Jesus doesn't neglect His Church, but by no means would he stay clear of sinners who need saving - as opposed to popular belief, claiming that people would need to be perfect and righteous before they could come before Him and be loved. Thank you for your honesty though, I appreciate it :)

I do concur, whole heartedly, but the only analogy I can draw up to clarify my point is this: Jesus is the popular guy in school. The most popular guy of everyone, to be more specific; including teachers, athletes, nerds, emos, and everyone in between. He is the one that everyone wants to be and be with. Now, I did acknowledge that verse throughout the entirety of my response to you, so forgive me for not drawing the relation sooner. I would like to point out Matthew 15:21, where a Canaanite woman pleas for his help; her daughter is possessed by a demon, yet is ignored. Why would he ignore a sobering cry for help? Why would he tell her that gods chosen people are the ones he came to feed(they are his first priority), and that healing her daughter is as throwing the child's food to the dogs? [b]Only when she yells to him that even the dog eats the masters crumbs that fall from his table is Jesus moved to admire her faith. It's all about faith, brother. Communion cannot occur with the holy one if we cannot accept that we do not deserve what is on his plate. [/b] The reason I bring this point up is because you are insisting that Jesus would set down his plate for others to take from when we see that in the story of the two fish and the loaf of bread, Andrew found a child that was willing to give his plate to god, instead of trying to get what was on his. [b] I never said Jesus would look past these people, although the verse I chose may seem like it, my point is that Jesus wasn't going out and saying, who are the good and the bad, rather who have faith in my fathers words and who rejects the gift that I bring.[/b] "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god" So if we all have sinned, then the Pharisees surely would not look past their own sin, right? Even moreover, everyone who Jesus ever met had to have been a sinner. Back to my analogy, it's lunch time at school Jesus takes his seat. Some will come around him because he looks lonely, some will come to learn about him, some will come before him to let [i]him[/i]know of them, and others will come to dehumanize and mock him. We all know an example of these people, some are friendly, some are arrogant, some are humble and some are ruthless in their intent to put you in the dirt. [b]Jesus did not turn these people away, even knowing their every intent and every thought. Even as his disciples asked him to turn this desperate Canaanite woman away, he did not.[/b] Matthew 9:13 "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." [b]Sinner means one who stumbles over their burdens and is bound by the chain of their iniquity. We must remember that we ARE sinners, but we called out of our death by Jesus that we may not stumble or sin anymore. We do not keep our sin when we accept Jesus into our lives. We crucify the old man and live in the newness of life. Our burdens and sins are nailed to the cross and by the grace of god we are washed with unblemished blood of Christ. Afterwards we are shrouded with his robes of righteousness. Nowhere does the bible say that a sinner can become pure; only by the blood of Jesus.[/b]. Tldr: i don't see how you can use that verse to place Jesus in the position partaking in the wickedness that we do. The gospel of Luke tells this same story, except in Luke 5, Jesus told the Pharisees that he is called sinners to repent. Luke 5:31 31Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” You're telling the drunkards and the practitioners of iniquity to continue because Jesus wouldn't turn away from them while they are doing it, but there's no greater lie than this, because those who practice death cannot know life. I suppose your interpretation can suffice if you find it easier to love people without telling them the truth of the matter, but Jesus spoke about the sinners in their presence to the Pharisees, not worried that he would be ridiculed for saying that they should turn from their ways. He didn't stare them in the eyes and say "you wicked people", but openly shared the need of the sinners repentance. I hope that you see the true interpretation, that Jesus saves by grace and repentance. Jesus does not follow, he leads. He is the head of our lives so why would he partake in the folly we can't seem to get ourselves away from? So he can relate? Oh I cry out god forbid that we need someone to do as we do in order to consider their words! For someone who exalts Jesus with their words, you've have made him insignificant with your gospel by saying he is no greater than the drunkards, but his wisdom and mercy is makes it okay to sin until he tells you to stop.