AuburnChick's Adventures

Last week, the pastors at my church started a new series, titled “Mythbusters – Debunking Myths about Christianity.”

Because I was visiting Chicky, I missed the first sermon, but I plan on listening to it online.

I was eager for this week’s sermon:  “All Good People Go to Heaven”

See, I run into people all the time who have many misleading ideas about who will be going to heaven.

Not that I profess to be the Know-it-All where it comes to theological ponderings, mind you.

But still…I’ve done my share of reading, and I’ve prayed about this.

My pastor began his sermon, and he admitted to following a very academic, analytical route as he studied, choosing to focus on statistics and whatnot.

Until he happened upon this picture…

And that’s when he paused.

Gone were the numbers he had been prepared to put forth.

Instead, what remained was a question.

Can someone as vile as Timothy McVeigh (not his exact words, but mine) be redeemed?

The Bible teaches that grace is available for all who call on the name of Jesus.

Even while hanging on the cross, unjustly accused of crimes He did not commit, Jesus meted out grace to the criminal hanging beside him.

Now, my pastor posited that people might have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that God can and does redeem all sinners…even those who commit the most heinous of crimes.

Call me naive, but I don’t struggle with this issue.  Could it be that this is because I’ve never personally been affected by such horrendous acts?  Think about it.

In this week’s issue of People Magazine, there is the story of Dr. William Petit, Jr., who was viciously beaten, left for dead, and whose wife and two daughters were brutally murdered.  I don’t know what this man’s religious views are.  However, it would be fair to expect him to shake his head vehemently at the thought of his family’s murderers, who are about to stand trial, being redeemed by God, should they ask for forgiveness.

Here’s the issue for me.

Who defines the word, “good?”

Do you consider “good” people those who give tons of money to help the poor?

Or what about people who never commit crimes and lead fairly uneventful lives?

Or better yet, what about the teacher who works 70 hours per week, always has a smile on her face in class, and volunteers with her children’s activities.

What’s wrong with this?

See, we’re measuring ourselves according to the world’s standards.  The only problem with this is that everyone has their own standards, if you will.  What I consider “good” might not be what you consider “good.”

No.

We need, instead, to measure ourselves against God’s standard…the ONLY TRUE standard…the ONE that NEVER changes.

According to God’s word, we all fall short.

In fact, which one of us has kept all Ten Commandments?

This is the standard that we are all held to.

Just because we might not have murdered anyone in cold blood, how many of us haven’t hated someone in our hearts?

According to 1 John 3:15, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in Him.”

Thus, there isn’t a whole lot of difference between a person who kills someone with a knife and a person who hates the person he works with, or the classmate the next seat over, or even second grade teacher who spewed coffee dragon breath in your face every day during reading time (oops…I digress).

We could go through all of the Commandments, and we’d find that all of us have broken most, if not all, of them.

Thus, we are not “good.”

Thus, we all need God’s redemptive grace, which He gave us when His Son died on the cross for us.

How incredibly horrible that this one, perfect person, who had never done anything wrong, died for our sins.

And yet, how incredibly and amazingly wonderful that He did.

Hence, I do not have a problem if a “Timothy McVeigh” was to make it to heaven, even in the moments before execution, because I know that said person will have missed the blessing of a life spent walking with his Maker and spreading that joy to others.

So, do all good people go to heaven?

I would say no.

But, all people who acknowledge that they are sinners, that Jesus, God’s Son, died for their sins, and that Jesus rose again and sits at the right hand of His Father – THESE are the people who, God has promised, will go to heaven.

We can’t earn it with “good” works.  All we can do is accept the grace that God is waiting to bestow upon us.

I’ve done this.

What about you?

Filed under: Christian | Tagged: Christianity, heaven |