I think that was the main reason that Christianity spread so quickly and, as Ken pointed out, took over the Roman Empire. No matter how bad you are, you are not beyond redemption. The converse being that, no matter how good you are, your can never be good enough to earn salvation by your own efforts, you need help. That's why Jesus has been called the Savior and the Redeemer. When the Jews screwed up, they sacrificed animals to atone for their sins. Jesus became the Ultimate Sacrifice that made all other sacrifices both unnecessary and ineffective. Jesus was more than a preacher and a teacher, He died for our sins so that we don't have to. I grew up hearing that stuff and just took it for granted but, if you think about it objectively, it doesn't make a lot of sense. If you want to be a true Christian, however, that's what you are supposed to believe. The idea of a point system, like what they have on "The Good Place", is closer to what many professed Christians believe, but it's not a Christian doctrine. As near as I can tell it came from Zarathustra, who was neither a Jew nor a Christian.
I read a couple books about Zen Buddhism back in the 60s, I think they were both by the same author, Allen Watt or Alan Watts, some thing like that. He had me on board with the first book but, in the second book, he said that the first book had been an over simplification. Too bad, because the second book was largely incomprehensible to me. I think Buddhism, like may other religions, takes a relatively straightforward message and then corrupts it beyond recognition. If Zarathustra, Moses, Buddha, and Jesus could see what their followers have done to their original teachings, they would be turning over in their graves.
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