Thoughts from my Souled Out Group:
Sunday night we talked about sin. Yeah… not the best topic in the world. But the good part about talking about sin is that we get to talk about grace. God saved us from sin. We deserved Hell, He stepped in, and if we accept that free gift we are saved. Simple. Wonderful. Incredible.
During our discussion a question came up that has had me thinking for a few days, so I thought I would share my thoughts with my small group and my other readers (if I have any left, my blog has been neglected and left to starve to death. Sorry!) Here is the question: Do we really believe that all sins equally deserve Hell?
My Fundamental theological gut grunts “Yes!” My (overly) sensitive heart says “Can’t be.”
I try to operate on the principle that my heart, which is a liar (see Jeremiah 17), is not my spiritual authority. Instead I try to live and believe according to what the Bible says, it is the boss, whether I like what it says or not. So what does Scripture say about sin and its punishment?
Any Pastor worth his salt would immediately refer to Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This verse boils down to a simple truth: sin = death. “Death” is referring to the second death, namely, Hell. So sin = Hell. Clear? I thought so, but…
What is meant by “sin” here? Paul, the guy that wrote the letter, is in the middle of an argument about the ‘sinful nature’ of man. He’s talking about the fact that men are born sinners, selfishly seeking their own gain instead of the ultimate purpose of creation: to glorify God. So when he says that the punishment for sin is death he is NOT talking about stealing a cookie from the cookie jar or annihilating a race of people… He’s not saying that Little Suzie’s sin is just as bad as Mr. Hitler’s. He’s saying that our sinful nature is a disease inside all of us, and it is terminal, and that Jesus is the one and only cure.
That being said, Little Suzie and Mr. Hitler have the same problemo… they have the same ‘sinful nature disease’. And the end result of that disease is not pretty and not different: they will both go to Hell if they do not find the ‘Jesus cure’. They are not going to Hell for cookie stealing and/or mass murder, however. They are going to Hell because of a sinful nature; the individual sins are ‘symptoms’ of the disease. So when Little Suzie steals the last cookie, her willful offense is not the deed worthy of Hell, it is not the disease, it is a symptom of the disease. And, equally, Mr. Hitler’s disgusting plot is also a symptom, though a worse one, of the same disease. Therefore the individual commissions of sins are not equal, but the inner nature that rebels against God is. In other words, the symptoms are not the same, but the disease is identical.
Why does this matter?
1. It makes me sleep better at night knowing that my heart isn’t as far off the mark about justice as I thought it was. I think Suzie deserves a time-out and Mr. Hitler deserves a prison cell on death row, shared with a large man named Chris who goes by Chrissy. The Old Testament shows that God doesn’t treat all commissions of sin the same, either.
2. It makes me sleep worse at night, knowing that even though individual sins are not considered by God to be equal, individual sinners are only placed in two categories: Saved and Not Saved. Those who are Saved did and do deserve Hell, but they will live by the sacrifice of Jesus. Those of the Not Saved group will be permitted to carry their sinful lifestyle straight to the eternal death… Little Suzie and Mr. Hitler both, lest either one of them accepts the cure. The majority of people think that if they are good enough, they will get into Heaven, but controlling the symptoms does not eradicate the disease itself… they are wrong, hence my deprivation of sleep.
3. When Christians like me realize that they truly deserve Hell, it changes their life.
-Mike
