Grades Based On The Cross!

Every once in a while I get a particular inspiration to write a blog post on a particular subject. This is one of those occasions. It happened while I was driving home from work, and was listening to The O'Reilly Factor on my Sirius radio. It was about half way through the program, and I just caught a minute at the end of a segment with Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son. I think the segment was in response to an earlier day in which I caught the last minute of an interview with another minister on the program who seemed to be supporting the fact that there was no hell.

Bill O'Reilly is a Catholic, and will often state his Catholic beliefs as fact when a religious subject comes up. He was quick to dismiss that there was no hell. He is convinced that someone like Hitler could not possibly be in heaven, and the very idea of God being able to "let" him in was unthinkable. He confirmed his beliefs in the interview with Graham when he said that God gave everyone a free will, and we are all free to choose, and we suffer the consequences of our choices, and it's all up to us what we do.... yada, yada, yada. Of course Graham agreed.

Well, statements like that always get my goat! My mind was forming all kinds of arguments countering such ridiculous assertions! When you think about it, Hitler did not personally kill six million Jews. I don't know that he personally killed anyone! He ordered it, but if people did not carry out his orders, then none of it would have happened. And not a few carried out those orders. But Hitler is the only one people blame.

It also got me to thinking that if people are responsible for the choices they make because they all have free will, then is there a difference between the choices a person makes who grows up in a privledged home, with happy loving parents, and a good education, and their needs and wants taken care of, and someone else who grows up in a poor home, with a drunken father, and a drug addicted mom, who is beaten, and barely fed, and left alone, abandoned?

Take any extremes you want. But to make a statement that everyone has a free will and is responsible for the choices they make, as if everyone starts off from an even playing field is not truthful with the facts! Of course, they would have to admit that not everyone has the same upbringing, and are not all treated the same, with the same influences in their life, so then the answer must be then that everyone would be judged according to the choices they make based on their circumstances. That is the only way they could seem to be fair.

I then thought to myself that if such would be their answer, then would it mean that they think God grades peoples actions based on a curve? You don't have to be perfect, you only have to be above the average?

Then immediately my thoughts went to an answer in response, (and I sincerely believe these thoughts were birthed in my spirit inspired by His Spirit within me), and I thought "No, God grades based on the cross!"

If Hitler is in hell because of what he did, then what Jesus did on the cross wasn't enough!

Did you get that? Read it again..... If Hitler is in hell because of what he did, then what Jesus did on the cross wasn't enough!

But what Jesus did not the cross WAS ENOUGH! It satisfied all the requirements for sin. The wages of sin is death, and Jesus died for every man! There is nothing else required. It is not Jesus and.... anything. It is not Jesus and your being good. It is not Jesus and your reading your bible. It is not Jesus and your praying. It is not Jesus and your trying to obey the Ten Commandments!

"Yes! But they have to accept it", you say.

"Oh, they will."

"Not everyone does", you say.

"Oh yes they do!" I reply.

What most people seem to believe is that God is finished dealing with His created beings during their mortal life on this earth, and after that ends, there is nothing else that He can do to influence or alter our lives during or after, but that is simply not accurate to scriptural truth! We all know the verse from Philippians 2:10,11 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  It is EVERY KNEE and EVERY TONGUE that is bowing and confessing! The only way that is possible is if He reveals Himself to everyone, and there is no way that one single person is capable of resisting God revealing Himself! It is simply not possible!

Oh, you might resist a "salvation sermon being preached in church. You might resist a Christian getting in your face, and warning you about your path to hell unless you pray this prayer. You might even resist what you know to be a true voice within of God Himself speaking to you. But to think that your puny will and resistance is any match for a single moment of direct revelation of God, is delusional at the very least.

Oh, but the argument goes on to suggest that God is a gentleman, and would not interfere with your free will, and does not go where He is not wanted. He would not force Himself on anyone. Oh really?? That is your idea of a gentleman? To design a place of eternal fiery torment and torture, and then require people with questionable information to give their life over to someone whom they do not know, and do not trust, or He will throw them into a fiery pit. But He would not want to force Himself on anyone because He is a gentleman!

It is this silly notion of a free will that has many people confused. It is not to say that we do not have a will, but our will is subject to the greatest amount of influence. Will we do good or evil? What is the greatest influence on our choice?  The bible is clear, that our will is in bondage to unrighteousness, as long as we are a slave to sin. Once we become believers, then we become a servant to righteousness.

Besides all of this, the fact remains that we are not saved by our righteousness, but by His! God does not keep Hitler out of heaven because of what he did, but rather lets him in because of what Jesus did! "Hitler doesn't deserve it" you say? Well, neither do you! And it is not a question of deserving anything! Grace is a free gift! Faith is a gift as well! "We are saved by grace through faith and THAT not of yourselves it is a gift of God." What is a gift of God? FAITH. The very faith that you believe with is the gift your are given. "Lest anyone should boast."  There is no boasting in your believing if the fact that you believe because you were given that faith to believe.

Christians come up with some of the strangest statements sometimes, thinking that they qualify for God's favor based on their own actions, and others deserve God's judgment based on their actions otherwise. Perhaps we think that God hates the same people we do. Better yet, maybe we should start loving the same people God does instead! Who do you think that leaves out? Read John 3:16

I will discuss this more in future posts, but for now aren't you glad, when you really consider it that God does not grade us on a curve but rather Grades Based On The Cross!