Abundant Living - Herbert W Armstrong - June 1978

Herbert W Armstrong

Personal from Herbert W. Armstrong - Why do some religious people feel that their religious life must be one of giving up all the fun and enjoyment of living-that in order to please God, they must endure a life of morbid gloom? For that matter, why do some nonreligious people feel that to become a Christian would mean a life of living painful penance? As a boy I was brought up in a respectable Protestant church of traditional Christianity. I never did know very much, as a boy, about what the church believed-but I did know that it regarded sin as violating its many don'ts: Don't smoke, don't dance, don't play cards, don't go to the theater, don't drink a drop of wine, don't do this, don't do that! A world-famous philosopher, editor, and lecturer whom I knew said he had no desire to live a life of Christian repression. "I desire," he said, "to be radiant, cheerful, friendly-to meet people with a smile." He was a highly educated man-but he was a biblical illiterate! - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library