It may be a bit simplistic, and maybe I haven’t thought hard enough, but I’m wondering if every question regarding the Christian faith can be boiled down to one of two answers. It’s either ‘Jesus’ or ‘sin’.

Most people are mildly happy with those answers. Let’s face it, everyone likes Jesus. He is a great religious teacher, a world changer, a man of peace. And most are happy to accept that they are, in some ways, bit of a sinner – after all no one’s perfect, we all make mistakes, and who doesn’t need a bit of ‘fun’ in their life.

Most are mildly happy with those answers, but almost everyone is deeply offended by their absolute ramifications.

Who likes to be told that they are a sinner who has fallen short of God’s holy standard of perfection? Who likes to admit that they have the heart of a rebel and are, by nature, an enemy of God who stands condemned under his righteous wrath? We like to think we can save ourselves, that we’re OK with God and God’s OK with us. The biblical concept of sin is deeply offensive.

But even ‘sin’ is not as offensive as the person of Jesus. The Bible says he is the only way we can be reconciled with God. He is the light, the gate, the bread of life, the Word made flesh. Moreover, he is Lord, the answer to all our hopes and needs, and before him we all must bow. I’m sorry, but that’s offensive – except for those willing to humble themselves, admit their sin, and bend the knee.