Christianity is based on an events, principally the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). It is not rule-based, like all the other religions in this world are.
The Bible has Ten Commandments and the Pharisees came up with a complex system to fulfil the letter but ignore the spirit of the law. You don't have to be a genius to be a hypocrite. Give me any rule and I will show you how to unfollow it.
In a rule-based meritocracy, if I did not follow the rule, I do not get the reward. It is fair. If I choose not to get the reward, I can don't follow the rules. I am fair. I may suffer, yes, but I saved my face and my pride.
Christianity is not about following a set of rules to be saved. It is about what God has done through Christ Jesus to save me. If I have to live my life as a response to what God has graciously done for me to save me, how can I wriggle myself out of the demand of someone who has loved and saved me and done so much for me? I would be a reprobate. I would see myself as ungrateful. My motivation for doing good is not to gain merit, to get what I deserve, but out of gratitude to my God and Saviour who had died for my sins.
Turning to the woman, He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she, with her tears, has washed My feet and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing My feet since I came in. You didn’t anoint My head with olive oil, but she has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little." Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." (Luke 7:44-48 HCSB)
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