Reason number 48 why unbelievers don't take the time to consider Christianity

Reason #48 why unbelievers don't take the time to consider Christianity:
They think Christianity is equivalent to Puritanism (e.g. legalism).

Now there are two reactions against paganism (a.k.a. living a life of unbelief focused on only the natural world and the self): a right one and the wrong one. Let's talk about the wrong one. Let's talk about puritanism.

The problem with the Puritans is that they attacked the pleasures of the pagans which are only the pleasures of all mankind ... good things that can be abused like all the good things that God created. It was the abuse of those pleasures that led to puritanism. But it was not a principled response; it was simply a mood.

The Puritan is a "man whose mind has no holidays". It's an enemy of righteousness, or, more subtly, a rival of righteousness. The Puritan substituted a God who wishes to damn people for a God who wishes to save them.

This is the essential Puritan idea, that God can be praised with only our brains; [apparently] it is wicked to praise him with your passions or your physical habits or your gestures or your instincts of beauty. Therefore it is wicked to worship by singing or dancing or drinking wines or building beautiful churches or repeating magnificent prayers. We must not worship by dancing, drinking, building, or singing; we can only worship by thinking. Our heads can praise God, but never our hands and feet. That is the true impulse of puritanism, and there is a great deal to be said for it. It is a bleak, but blazing truth. But it doesn't relax. It is pure austerity. Asceticism without joy. It is not something positive; it is only a negation.

Common Sense 101: Lessons from GK Chesterton, Dale Ahlquist

God has no wish to damn people. Conveying that image of God is incredibly displeasing to Him. When people refer to using the Lord's name in vain, this is a prime example of it. This image of God does not draw people to Him. In fact, it does the exact opposite. Don't get me wrong, we shouldn't be painting a cartoon-like picture of God where is only about love but He is love, not a tyrannical dictator waiting to squash you.

God wishes to love people. He wants a relationship with them . He wants a relationship with YOU. God does not damn people ... people damn themselves by rejecting Him. Real Christians obey God and try each day to be more and more like His son Jesus because they know that is what is best for them, because they know that God is a good and loving God whose promises are always kept.

Call to action:
Don't be a Puritan. Be a loving and obedient Christian who tries his or her best each day to please our Heavenly Father, not because she believes she'll be thrown into hell, but because he trusts Him with all his heart.

Don't chase a list of to dos. Chase God.