We do not have to be perfect to be accepted by God. But we do need to be original.
What God is looking for are people who will do their best to follow him. He is not looking for followers of his followers, but rather for people who will personally respond to his voice in their own conscience.
Most people choose to follow great people rather than follow God. And when we do this, we lose contact with the only real source of truth. The world is full of Wesleyans, Lutherans, Franciscans, Gandhians, Calvinists, in fact, followers of everyone except God. It is not enough to follow Billy Graham, St. Paul, or St. Mary. Unless we graduate from hiding behind human leaders to escape personal accountability, the human race is damned.
When not hiding behind past heroes, we often hide behind parents, pastors, and police, not daring to differ with any of these human authorities either; and that is why history is filled with atrocities and injustices.
Science teaches that we should use the learning of others merely as a launching pad from which to make new discoveries ourselves. And past "truths' should not be regarded as unchangeable if new evidence suggests otherwise.
Not everyone is capable of making dramatic improvements, but everyone should be trying to find more truth.
Many of the official "saints" in the church were opposed by the church hierarchy of their day. Of course it does not mean that everyone opposed by the establishment is necessarily right.
"It takes more than persecution to make you a Galileo; you must also be right." But being right will almost always lead to persecution. God seems to engineer it that way... probably as a way of testing sincerity.
We cannot rely on the faith of our parents or that of other spiritual forefathers. God has no grandchildren. Each of us must come to him personally.
It would anger most of the great heroes of faith if they were to see how their lives have been used to stop people from progressing spiritually. Gandhi, for example, talked of his whole life as being an experiment with truth. He urged people to ignore things he had said previously when new experience led him to change his conclusions. Enough time has elapsed since his death that we should be able to see a great many more errors in his observations, and yet many continue to blindly worship him. The same could be said of the way people respond to other leaders as well.
But what of our own commitment to following Jesus? Jesus is the one great exception. He is the only mediator between God and people. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is perfect. He is God.
Many have claimed to have an improvement on what Jesus taught, but so far we have not found one that even comes close to equalling what he taught. As we follow God in our conscience, we find ourselves drawn closer to all that Jesus said and did as well.
(See also System Worship.)
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