the greek word "gospel" translates into english as "good news".
John 3:16 is the "good news" that gives understanding to our lives. without John 3:16 our lives in this evil world--made evil by our sins--makes no sense.
praise God for the "good news".
amen
what do you tell a 5 or 6 year old child about being a Christian? when I was a child in catholic grade school, I was taught: "if you're good, then you'll go to heaven. if you're bad, then you'll go to hell." today, 65 years later, I still hear the same thing from pulpits (along with "it's simple ... it's easy"). (there are passages in the bible that back this up.)
I've had some people say to me "what else can you tell a 6 year old child? at that age they can't understand serious sin and our need for redemption in the same way that an adult can." while this may be true, why am I still hearing the same thing ("good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell") from pulpits 65 years later? if it's true that bad people go to hell, then we're all going to hell.
Jesus says that we should "keep His commandments" (John 15 9-17). while there's nothing in Jesus' command that's unclear or ambiguous, is it simple or easy?
we all sin. why do we sin? answer: because we choose to. as damning as this is, the facts are that we all choose to sin.
sometimes sin is unambiguous. we know that it's wrong and we do it anyway. there are other times when it isn't quite so clear. how do we treat ourselves and others who commit serious sin? do we "trash" ourselves and others because we don't follow Jesus' commandments? Jesus didn't "trash" people who didn't follow His commandments (John 8 1-11, John 4: 4-42, John 8: 1-11, Luke 22: 54-62, etc.). which is more important--the principle or the sinner?
The "bottom line" is that all people sin. we should keep God's commandments--but, we don't. we need a Redeemer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nsUbPFDktY
fortunately for us, the "good news" is that Jesus is our Redeemer. Jesus loves those who believe in Him even though we sin. "...whoever believes in Jesus will not perish, but will have eternal life".
praise be to God forever.
one last thing--don't tell a child "if you're good, then you'll go to heaven. if you're bad, then you'll go to hell." it's simply not true--and, it could stick with the child for the rest of their life on earth. tell a child instead: "God loves you. If you love God like God loves you, then, when you die, you will live with God forever in heaven."
faith
hope
love
No comments:
Post a Comment