Yes, it's that simple. I didn't say it was easy to do, but it is that simple. People make mistakes all the time, and there is a path to forgiveness for those mistakes. The problem comes when you make those mistakes, knowing full well they are mistakes at the time you are making them, or worse, before you make them, because you have that ace in the hole of asking for forgiveness at the next alter call or in a confession booth. That's manipulating the religion for your own personal ends, and it doesn't even smack of hypocrisy, it's full-blown hypocrisy at its finest.
I'm not picking on you personally, necessarily, but I use your example since it was so freely and effortlessly given, as is so often the case with most Christians. Examples of Christians who exploit Christianity are all around us every day, far too numerous to start pointing them out. (This is, of course, true for all religions which contain a path of salvation.) But examples of people who live their lives by the Word of God and the teachings of Jesus are truly few and far between.
I had a great-uncle who from the time he was 16 until his death at 98 was a Baptist preacher. But he wasn't your average, ordinary, run-o-the-mill Baptist preacher. He was a man who lived his life, every day, by the WWJD principle, and did so long before WWJD was invented as a catchy bracelet or T-shirt adornment. He talked the talk, like most of 'em, but he walked the walk, every day, in a way few even think possible. But he did it, and others can, too. He was never famous, always humble, and the only monuments to him are the lives he touched.
