In sixth grade, I went on a mission to figure out this whole Christianity thing. I found a Bible tucked away in a cubby in my grandparent’s bedroom and decided — as I had only been to church once — I should give it a read and try to figure out for myself what all the hubbub was about.

I waded through Genesis and Exodus halfway decently. Weird indeed, but I followed for the most part.

And then Leviticus.

The book outlines, among other things, the laws which God told Moses to share with the people in order for them to remain holy in His sight.

That’s where it lost me.

Sacrificing calves and pigeons and fine flour with or without oil and sentencing people to death for deeds that could not be restituted with grain and blood?

What the heck kind of backward hick religion was I getting myself into? I was horrified at the hypocrisy dripping off these pages. Of the piousness of Christians who blatantly ignore the commands of this book and then proceed to criticize other religious practices.

I stuffed the book back in its cubby and ignored the whole religion thing for a long time.

Now with a new eye and a better understanding of what I’m studying, Leviticus is to me the perfect illustration of why Jesus is so desperately needed. Can you even imagine a world where animals and grain had to be sacrificed for every wrongdoing?

But I think that’s what God is trying tot tell us. We were created to be perfect, but, as illustrated by the story of the Fall, we rejected that perfection. Now we have a perfect God, and a group of imperfect people who have sepreated themselves from that God. And the work that has to be done to bridge that gap is unimaginable.

To be in God’s presence, we must be perfect again, exactly as we were intended to be in creation … which in a fallen world isn’t possible. Anyone who is honest with themselves would probably spend their whole day dragging livestock to the alter.

Many religions still function this way, not necessarily with animal sacrifices, but on the notion that there are acts we must complete and things we must offer up to make up for our inadequacies in front of God.

That is one of the unique things about Christianity. No matter what all of the extremist Christians say, believing in Jesus is all you need. Jesus is the only sacrifice big enough to cover all our wrong-doings, and there is nothing bad we can do to diminish that sacrifice — and no good works we can do to make ourselves even more acceptable with God.

Some will still try to argue that certain sins are unforgivable, or that people who live certain lifestyles couldn’t actually be Christian. But the fact is, every day every person snubs God in one way or another because we live in a world separate from God. And those blemishes on our record are on an equal plane as whatever deed is fashionable for Christians to attack this week.

And because Jesus covers EVERYTHING, it doesn’t have to be up to us to decide which actions are acceptable before God. If God is OK with it, then nothing to worry about. If God is displeased with it, it’s forgiven anyway. And I have long said that if God is displeased with something, there is a good reason for it. He doesn’t just arbitrarily make up rules to screw with us, and His reasoning will become clear in good time, without someone slamming a Bible into your face.

We’re slow to learn … and God gets that. So as long as we are not harming others, the details of the alleged crime should be left between the individual and God.

Really it comes down to our own choices as to the extent to which we abuse the grace and mercy we’ve been given.

We’ve been let off the hook from the whole barnyard slaughter rituals thing. So how do we thank a God who despite our stupid decisions wipes our slate clean every day?

Personally, I screw up again the next day and keep learning.