"It doesn’t matter if you do good works or are a good person." Wow! This is truly horrifying. So much for charity, the Good Samaritan, loving thy neighbor etc. How selfish-- when these people could instead be helping others, they only care about their own self-righteousness. This reminds me how glad I am to live in a country that's free of religious pressure. And thank goodness this is only open to foreign passport holders -- the youth of China don't need this selfish zealotry in their lives.

I feel the need to add a little something, since the 350 words I am given sometimes means leaving something out. The service made no qualms about being about Jesus, and did explicitly exclude "Spiritual, but not religious" views on morality. That said, I was definitely impressed that there seemed to be some genuine self-reflection involved about what it meant to live ethically. I don't dispute that it is possible to do so without Jesus Christ as a vehicle. However, if the people at these services find using that model useful, and it does indeed help them, I don't see the harm.

From a Reader via Email: I would like to respectfully leave a comment for the first reply that was posted to this article. I believe the quote "It doesn't matter if you do good works or are a good person" can be misunderstood if it’s taken out of context. And, if I understood the first response correctly, a misunderstanding did in fact take place. To understand the complete meaning of this quote, one needs to see it from the perspective of "grace." First of all, it would be good to know that this quote is a somewhat loose, contemporary translation of a Bible verse that says, "It is by grace that you have been saved through faith; not by yourselves, but it is the gift of God. Not by good works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9). To give an historical context, the people of Ephesus were proud of their good deeds, but Paul, who was writing to them, was reminding them of a core truth in the Christian faith: man’s goodness, no matter how good, can never match up to God's standard of goodness - which is perfection itself. As human beings, the question we are forced to ask is, "How good is good enough?" We often rationalize our lives, saying "I’m a good person. I'll probably get in to heaven... right?" If that's the case, where's the cut off line between "good" and "bad"? One little lie? Two lustful looks at a woman (or man)? The fact of the matter is that no one is perfect. Not one. Every single person, no matter how good, still falls short of the perfection of God. Most people would agree with that, regardless of their faith background. So, now you're thinking, great. That sucks. So, there's no way I'm getting to heaven if I have to meet this impossible standard of perfection. It'd be a lot better just not to believe in that stuff. Hold on, let's back up for a minute to Ephesians. Paul says it is by GRACE - a gift of God - that people are saved. The definition of grace is mercy: Not getting what we deserve (in this case, hell, because our good works are just not good enough to get us into heave)… but then getting what we don't deserve (heaven… eternity with God… because Jesus Christ paid the price for us to cross the bridge between our imperfection and God’s perfection). That's what grace, through faith, is. So, going back to the whole point of this response: The Bible doesn’t say that doing good works doesn't matter. In fact, Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works..." Believe it or not, those Christian folk actually DO believe in the importance of doing good works. But here's the difference...don't miss this!! Christians who do good works do it out of a response to the grace of God, not because they believe it will get them to heaven.

From a reader via email, PART 2; Let's say you owe an exorbitant sum of money, something you know you’d never be able to pay back. In fact, you owe so much money that death would be a better option. Now imagine that out of the blue, someone hands you the exact amount you need to pay everything back, completely free of charge and without any strings attached. How do you respond? Do you take it? Do you throw it back at that person and say, "I'd rather die!" Or do you receive the gift for what it is: a gift of grace. If you do the latter, my guess is your response would be something out of extreme gratitude. You would probably want to do everything in your power to show that person how grateful you are that they paid that debt for you. For people who believe in Jesus Christ, that's exactly how it is. They do good works, not because they think that it will earn their way to heaven... because it won't. Rather, they do good works and try to live a good life because they know that it honors the person who already paid that debt for them. Without the understanding of grace, the comment that "It doesn't matter if you do good works or are a good person" can be completely misunderstood. But, WITH an understanding of grace, the meaning of the sentence completely changes. Good works and being a good person mean absolutely nothing without first experiencing the grace of God. But, speaking from personal experience, one taste of that grace is transformational. Accepting that gift of grace was the best choice I ever made. I'm far from perfect, but doing good and being a good person is something I WANT to do, because I believe that it's what I CAN do to honor the One who already paid that debt for me. That gift is there for you, too. Do you want it?