Is your religious faith a postive or negative force in your life? Do your friends observe you as a much nicer person because of your religion or does your religion repel people? A positive or negative religion expresses itself quite differently. One lives by having strong convictions of right and wrong, moral and immoral and acting accordingly. This makes for a positive, clear-cut liefstyle.
The other lives by a strong set of pre-determined rules, usually negative type rules. The life emphasizes the negatives that have been rejected. Religious life focuses on comparing the "forbidden fruit" of my religion with the forbidden of yours. I have met people who had one question for me, namely, "What are the things that you are against?" The greater the number of negatives meaning the larger degree of personal holiness. The Pharisees of Jesus' time often came across as weighing the seriousness of everyone else's actions. The majority of people don't want to be judged and condemned by someone else's standard.
People want a message of hope to live by that will bear fruit in their lives in the form of solid convictions. Someone else's standards won't fit you. Romans 5:5 (NIV) says "hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given to us."
Hope is attractive, Hope you can share with others. Hope is positive expectation about living up to God's commands from love and not from fear, meeting God face-to-face with the expectancy of hearing "well done, good and faithful servant." Hope frees you up to do all the good you possibly can and not having any time left to get involved in negatives or things forbidden.
I remember Jesus saying to a woman caught in a terrible public sin that He would not condemn her but forgive her.
"God, I want to have solid convictions but not to condemn others. I want solid
convictions so I will not be influenced by the pressures of the world. Amen"
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