Publications
Partners
Hopefully the title is not too surprising, offensive Yes, maybe even repulsive to a few, but surely not surprising to anybody.
This is another reason why people do not like Christianity. At the heart of our faith system is this notion that nobody is good, that all people have fallen short of God’s standards. That nobody is worthy of mercy and nobody is worthy of grace or forgiveness. Nobody can impress God with their self restrain or moral behaviour. It is impossible to “make God proud” through some virtues sacrifice or selfless deed. This is why it is not only futile but stupid to go to church on Sundays or during Easter and Christmas as it only tells God that you know what should be and chose against it.
Not only is this notion enforced by Jesus Himself when he told an inquirer that nobody is good except God, but normal people in everyday life in all religions or non religions know that this notion is true as it does not matter how old one gets, sin is always happy to pay rent, no matter how high you hike the price, sin is a life companion that will never leave you alone.
Even logic agrees with this notion: Consider this: A Bad person who is fundamentally bad can do the odd good thing…this makes logical sense, one can pretend to be nice in exchange for a favour, you see this most vividly in the corporate marketplace. There is gain in good, so a wolf will cross dress to get something out of it. However there is no gain in bad. The logic is not reciprocally feasible.
A good person who is fundamentally good cannot and would not do the occasional bad thing. There is no gain in it, it is often if not always either regretted or frowned at. There is no motive to be bad, therefore, a good person who is fundamentally good has absolutely no reason to be bad either, even for a jiffy. So, if you have ever done or thought of something bad…. you cannot possibly be fundamentally good, can you?
Apart from the 21 atheists on this forum, people in general have this idea that good people will go to heaven. That heaven is this place where people get rewarded for being moral and generally good people. Jesus did not share this idea at all. Consider the below two examples of people groups who are more than worthy of Heavenly citizenship and yet Jesus denies them even a visa.
“Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only He who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day “Lord Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles in your name?” Then I will tell them plainly “Away from me, you evildoers, I never Knew you” Mt 7:21-23
The second is that found in Luke 18. A rich man had carefully and diligently obeyed all the ten commandments since his birth… Jesus does not challenge this claim at all, rather He asks the rich man to give up his wealth and follow him, to which the rich man declined the offer.
In both instances, these are not criminals, these are not normal people who are minding their own business not hurting anyone. These are activists. These are moral high horses. These are people committed to change and to well being and to helping others and to upliftment and to personal holiness, These are people who by anybody’s standards would be classified as “Good people”. Yet, it was the good people who believed that they had no need of a doctor who opposed Jesus most. Would you say that you are so good that you can make it into heaven apart from Jesus purely based on the type of person that you are?
This lie was a result of another lie that there are many ways to Heaven. This gives birth to the notion that good people go to heaven because God is good and God is Just and God always does the right thing. The problem is just there. Who is good? How good can a person be who lives in denial of God? How good can a person be who lives independently of God. How good can a person be who has never shown appreciation to God for their many blessings. How good can a person be who has not made it a daily practise to consult with God.
Consequently, against popular belief, many good people are going to get surprised, many law abiding, trouble averse, tax paying, moral people are going to find themselves in an uncomfortable situation on the wrong side of an omnipotent and slightly pissed off being who will not be concerned with how good you were but with how much you needed Him.
Make it rain...
