I’m a good person.
I truly believe this and I can back it up………with facts and figures.
Sometimes I mess up…….more often than I wish. But for the most part…. I’m good.
You are a good person too…….why else would you be reading this?
I really don’t know any truly bad people. I probably avoid them. But……I only have to watch the news for a few minutes to see that they are out there.
In my heart I tell myself that I am going to paradise and the truly bad people are going to hell. This is very satisfying.
So far so good.
The trouble is……..that this entire stream of logic is untrue.
Why?
Because just about everybody believes that they are good people. Adolph Hitler believed that he wasn’t just good…… he believed that he was great……. possibly messianic.
I want as many people as possible to enter paradise. I want you in paradise. I worry a lot about the ideas that could keep them out……that could keep you out.
So…… what are two most dangerous ideas that could prevent you from reaching paradise?
Deadly idea #1:
There is no paradise. When you die……you are dirt. There are a lot of variants of this idea: secular humanism, Darwinian Evolution, the Goddess within, new age thinking, wicca, etc. If you don’t believe in paradise……an afterlife, then you needn’t read further…….unless you are curious……and I truly hope that you are.
Deadly idea #2:
I’m a good person.
These two ideas will account for the vast majority of people who will miss out on paradise.
Obviously, today I am dealing with deadly idea #2.
I know dozens of people who confidently embrace this idea……..at their peril.
What makes this idea so dangerous?
First off, let me be clear……..being a good person is a good thing. We need more good people. The “good people” whom I know truly are good.
In this temporal world, being a good person is enough. You are truthful, honest, generous, kind. You love and care for the people around you. You contribute to the community. On the occasions when you do something “bad”, you typically have a very good reason……..a justification. But, when you add it all up, the world is a better place because of you.
So far so good.
However, there are several problems.
- Being good can lead to self satisfaction…….. complacency. If you are already good……why strive to be better?
- Being good allows you to feel superior to your neighbors who aren’t as good as you. It can lead to judgementalism.
- There is, at best a weak link between being good and entering paradise……..unless you have devised a paradise of your own……..one that only good people like you can enter. These “home brew” paradises all share one suspicious feature. They allow you to live your life as you please……and still qualify.
- You cut God out of the equation. Paradise is completely up to you. The people I know who focus on their “goodness” rarely mention God……their creator……..the guy who created paradise in the first place.
- There is an element of entitlement here. Because I am a good person, I have earned paradise…..I deserve it. God owes it to me. His opinion about my qualifications is………. irrelevant.
- Once you become comfortable with your “goodness”………and all of your justifications……..it is very easy to look at what God is up to and what he has already done…….and decide that he was wrong……..that he was ” bad”. A lot of people reject God because they believe that they have a better idea as to how things should be run. They are angry about something that God has done………or something that he has allowed to happen.
- The final result of the “I’m a good person” argument is that you wind up putting yourself at the center of your world…….and shoving God off into a corner……..where he can’t interfere with your plans for today. Where he can’t interfere with your appetites……with your fun.
Here is the truth.
If God created paradise, then God sets up the parameters for admission…….and “goodness”, while important, is not at the top of the list. (More on this later.)
If you set up the parameters for admission to paradise……..(be a good person)………then you are God. No problem……..unless you aren’t……… God that is.
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
Paul, NIV
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Paul, NIV
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus, NIV