Are we basically good people?

When I have opportunities to share my faith, one objection I often hear is that a loving God would never sentence a good person to an eternity in Hell. And it might sound a little harsh on the surface.  But I think that reasoning is flawed.  Here’s why:

First, thinking that we are basically good people and that we should get into heaven suggests that we can save ourselves by our good deeds.  But the Apostle Paul is very clear that we are “saved by faith, not by works.”  We are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ - nothing else.

Second, it isn’t really God that is sentencing us to Hell.  He has done everything he could to keep us out.  Again and again, He has responded in grace when we have wandered away, doing our thing.  If we wind up in Hell, it’s because we didn’t accept the grace poured out on us.

And finally, how good do you suppose you would have to be to be “good”?  Would “basically good” be enough to offset a lifetime of disobedience to God?  Probably not.  I suppose the standard would have to be set pretty high, if in fact you could be good enough on your own. 

In fact, to get an idea how high, in Mark 10:17-18, a rich young man runs up to Jesus and asks, “‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’  ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered.  ‘No one is good – except God alone.’”  Is Jesus saying that he is not good?  That perhaps not even Jesus is good enough on His own to inherit eternal life?  Is the standard so high that even the One that never sinned still wasn’t good enough?  Would any of us measure up? 

That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote, in Romans 3:23, “for we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  But Paul doesn’t stop there, he continues, “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Many think that we are born good, and it is life’s experiences that harden us.  But then why would we call that early stage in the development of our children the “terrible twos”?  Shouldn’t that be the best time in their development?  They are starting to freely interact with others, and they haven’t had any of the life experiences that would harden them yet.  They haven’t learned evil yet, having been sheltered by their parents up to this point.  The fact that almost every child goes through this stage might suggest that perhaps we aren’t born good.  Rather, we learn good from the rules established at home, beginning in this stage, but lasting throughout our lives.  Not that any of our kids are terrors, but perhaps they suffer the effects of sin from a very young age.

In our Bible Study yesterday, we looked at Deuteronomy, and in chapter 11, we studied the freedom to choose either a blessing or a curse.  In verse 11:26 we read, “I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse – the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey”.  The choice is ours.  We can follow God, obey His commands, trust Him in all things, or we can walk away and do our own thing. 

What we can’t do is blame Him for the consequences if we disobey.  He warned us long ago.  He even sent His Son to open the door for us.  We have to believe.

God is not evil or hard toward us.  Just the opposite.  God loves us so much he sent his own Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  God didn’t just meet us half way, He came the entire way, He did it all.  All we have to do is believe!