Theology Thursday - Is Being Good Enough?

I am an avid Facebook user, and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter you can participate in Throwback Thursday by posting an old picture of yourself or something around you.  So, for my blog, instead of throwback Thursday, we are going have Theology Thursday.  Exciting right?  My guess is that very few of you would actually agree and several are contemplating going to Facebook and looking up some Throwback Thursday photos, but stick with me, this is worth it!

Today I want to look at something that came up in the class I teach on Sunday mornings.  Do good people go to heaven?  Actually, to ask it in a clearer way – do good people go to heaven regardless of what they do/don’t believe?  If you do enough good things, if you are nice enough to people, if you help enough and are selfless enough, can you earn your way into heaven? 

There are many people who want to say yes, and many who do say yes, that good people go to heaven regardless of their beliefs, but I can’t say that.  Even though saying yes is the easier answer, and one that many people want, I still can’t say yes.  There are several reasons I can’t say yes, and honestly we don’t have time to look at all of the reasons, or explain all of the doctrines in detail.  What I want to look at is the doctrine of total depravity.  This is a fancy way of saying that we are all sinful and broken, that we  are radically corrupt.  According to Romans 3:23 “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”   All of us are sinners, every single one of us.  The only way we can go to heaven is if we are completely righteous and sinless.  I don’t know about you, but I know that I am not completely righteous or sinless.  If, in order to earn my way into heaven, I need to be completely free from sin and totally righteous, I know it is impossible. 

One of the problems with thinking that we can earn our way into heaven by doing good things is we are looking at it from a skewed perspective.  We want to think that deep down we are all good, and that we just need to keep the bad stuff out and we will be fine.  If we can maintain the good that is in us and keep out the bad stuff we are golden.  The problem is that we are not good.  We are broken and sinful deep down to our core.  There is no way to keep the sin out, because it is already there.  It is because we start broken, and can’t fix the ultimate brokenness we have, that there is no way we can ever become good enough no matter how hard we try.

As John Gerstner said, “Nothing in my hands I bring, to the cross of Christ I cling.”  The only way we can be healed, the only way our brokenness can be fixed and our sins forgiven, is by God’s grace alone given to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16.  We can’t live sinless and righteous lives, but Christ did, and the righteousness of Christ is given to us when we receive Him as our Lord and Savior.  Christ also pays the penalty for our sin and brokenness.  It is a debt we could never pay on our own.  The good news is that none of us can earn our way into heaven, and we don’t have to!  Christ has already done everything for us when we accept Him as Lord and Savior!  We don’t have to spend our lives wondering if we are good enough, but we can spend our lives knowing that through Christ we are forgiven, saved, and free.  “My chains are gone, I've been set free.  My God, my Savior has ransomed me, and like a flood His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace.” Chris Tomlin

I want to note that all of these blogs are written from a Reformed Evangelical perspective because that is my tradition and what I believe.  Find out more about what my church believes and why by going to our web site:  www.LivingHopeEC.org, and I invite you to join us!

God bless, Rev. Liz Arakelian, www.LivingHopeEC.org