It has been awhile since I posted my article on the good news of the Bible, so before I move on to Part 2, let us review. In Part 1 I looked at what the good news of the Bible is: 1. According to the Bible, we are not accidents of chance, and the whole earth was made good. And 2. According to the Bible, God had a good reason for creating us! To read this post, go here.
In this post I will talk about the bad, often uncomfortable news of the Bible. Why is this necessary? It is often easier to see the good, when contrasted with the bad, like a bright star shining on the backdrop of a black sky. This will put the third part of this series, the "Great News" into perspective for you the reader. Thanks for asking!
The bad news is:
1. The earth is no longer good.
What happened? Why is the earth no longer good? Very good questions, the Bible gives us the answers:
Genesis 2: 16, 17
And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
You see, when God first created humans, this is the only command He gave them. Don't eat the fruit of that tree. Just one, nothing about stealing or lying or anything else... but the woman and man, the first humans broke that command.
Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Unfortunately for us as humans, that is all it took, one broken commandment to make the earth less than perfect. Sinning, or breaking God's law, corrupts a person, as surely as a disease does, and that disease is passed down from parent to child. In just a few generations of the above incident, this is how God described the earth:
Genesis 6:5
The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
Now, I understand that a lot of you reading this probably do not believe that you think about evil all the time, and can name good things that you have done just recently. But the Bible, for some reason, looks at this differently which is discussed more fully under the next point.
2. Only good people get into heaven, sinners are punished for their sin in Hell.
Romans 5: 12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned
Some may say, "Huh? That doesn't make sense; I thought you said this was BAD news? I'm a good person, so I don't have to worry about it." Oh, but it is. You see, the definition of 'good' is God's definition, not yours or mine. To show you what I mean, let's look at a couple other things the Bible says about humans on this planet.
Psalm 14:3
All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
And
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
How can this be, when so many humans do so many good things, like give a friend a ride to work, or recycle? Let’s look at point number 3.
3
. To find out if you are a good person in God's eyes you need to take the good person test.
A good measure of God's standard of 'good' is His ten commandments. These can be found in the Bible at
Exodus, 20:1-17, click here to read the whole section. In this blog I will just pick a few for the good person test. Answer yes or no to the following questions:
a. Have you ever stolen anything, regardless of the value/size? Yes or No?
b. Have you ever told a lie? Yes or No?
c. Have you ever used "God," "Jesus," or "Christ," as a curse word? Yes or No?
d. Have you ever done anything to dishonor your parents? (Keep in mind if
you answered yes to a, b, or c, these actions would dishonor them) Yes or No?
e. Have you ever looked at another person not your spouse and lusted over them? Yes or No?
Let’s now on that same piece of paper, score your answers:
a. If you answered yes to this question, what do you call someone who steals? A thief, write this
next to letter a.
b. If you answered yes to this question, what do you call a person who lies? A liar, write this next
to question b.
c. If you answered yes to this question, what do you call a person who uses God's name as a curse
word? A blasphemer. Write this next to question c.
d. If you answered yes to this question, write "I've dishonored my parents" next to question d.
e. The Seventh of the Ten Commandments is "You shall not commit adultery." Jesus said, in
Matthew 5:28 "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has
already committed adultery with her in his heart." Therefore, if you answered yes
to this question write “adulterer at heart’ next to question e.
**If you would like to try a different version of the Good Person Test and see if you get a different result, you can go here**
Now, according to the Bible if you have broken one of God's Ten Commandments, you have broken them all. If you answered yes, to even one of the above questions, God no longer sees you as a good person, because you have broken his law.
James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
If you remember above, only good people get into heaven, the others, sadly, are destined for punishment for their sins in Hell. That is the very bad news of the Bible.
Romans 5: 12b
...and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned
If this bad news is distressing you now, I want to remind you there is still one part left to my series. I have still not written about the great news of the Bible. If you are angry, despairing or otherwise upset by this post, you will want to read my last entry, to find out what God did so you don't have to spend eternity in Hell. It is the Great News, the most important news, of the Bible.
Thank you for reading and please comment below.
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