Apologetics

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In light of recent rebuttals of Christianity based on the goodness of a hypothetical person, I have put together this brief apology, that those who are interested may dig deeper into said question. For those who are not interested, it seems to me that they are merely using the first thing that comes into their heads to protect themselves from further thought. I am not impressed with this, as a person’s reason is given to them for the purpose of use. I ask that you read this document, as it goes some way towards explaining how I see the matter. Read it, think about it, then toss it out if you want. But do read it thoughtfully first.

The question we are looking at goes along these lines. We are told that those who have faith in Christ will go to heaven when they die, while those who do not will go to hell. So, goes the argument, what about those people who will not believe but live good lives? Do they also get sent to hell? Who could love a God who acts like that?

Be warned, as the question itself presupposes the existence of a Christian God, I have drawn largely on Christian theology for my argument. If you do not want me to do this, ask another question which does not presuppose God’s existence.

Almost everyone in western society has heard of the ten commandments. Do not murder, do not steal, do not use the Lord’s name in vain, do not commit adultery. Technically someone could keep these basic commandments all their lives. It is unlikely, but possible.

Then we look at some of the other commandments. Do not envy another’s possessions, do not give false testimony (lie), honour you parents (always) and, worst of all, honour God before anything else. Ouch. It seems that even a believer is going to have a problem with this lot.

When we get to the new testament, things get steadily worse. In the old we are told not to murder. Jesus tells us in the sermon on the mount that to hate another is to have murdered them in your heart. Don’t commit adultery? Lust after a person and you have committed adultery with them in your heart. Forgive others, no matter what they do against you or against another. Do not judge others. Love your enemies. Give to the needy, but do it in secret so that you do not do it for pride’s sake. The greatest commandment is to love God more than anything. The second greatest to love others above anything else. The fact is, by biblical definition, no person can be good. For here we get to the core of the issue. Pride.

Pride was the original sin. It is placing yourself above God or others. It drove Lucifer from his position in the heavens. It was the root of the fall. Pride is behind every sin. A drive to be better than others. A drive to possess. Don’t imagine that this means you will get into heaven by disliking or even hating yourself: it is still a form of self-obsession, a looking away from God to yourself. All sin has it’s root in pride. This is why the two greatest commandments are to first love God and to then love others. They encompass the entire law. They are the antithesis of pride.

Imagine for a moment if people could get into heaven by good works alone. Not perfect goodness, but close enough. Would heaven not then be full of the self-satisfied? Would that then be heaven? Heaven is an eternity in the presence of God, living with others in humility and love. Can those who are proud enjoy this? At all? When someone is convicted of sin, they see what they are, and in the process start to see who God is. This destruction of pride allows God to take them by the hand and renew them, forming them into new creatures. But without this breaking of pride, heaven would be hell.

Note that this does not imply that hell is the same place as heaven. It is indeed the very opposite. It is the loss of all contact with God, an eternity left to focus on yourself. Yet it is more merciful for these people to be sent to an eternity of self-centred pain than to be forced to undergo an eternity in the light. And there will be pain. They will be thrown into the dark to cry and gnash their teeth. I’m not saying hell is good. But it is perhaps the best thing for those who will not let God do anything more for them. For those who live in the dark, light is more terrifying than the worst the dark can conjure up.

The ten commandments are the temporary antidote to pride’s poison. Jesus’ teachings even more so, as they show the principles behind the law. Study and attempted application of these temporary measures will not do however. We are sick, and cannot heal ourselves. Those who try to fix themselves by good works often fall even more easily into pride, for they eventually start believing they do not need to be healed. Accepting Christ‘s sacrifice and love, repenting and trusting Him. These are the only ways to be truly healed. The cure is offered, it is up to us to partake of its medicine.

It is only when we put our trust in God that He starts to fix us. It hurts terribly. Of course it hurts, we are being changed from the inside out. But pulling out a thorn also hurts, and, at the end of the day, the thorn needs to come out. The longer we leave it in, the more pain it causes, and the more damage it does. We need to be healed, and it is only when we give up trying to have our own way and start to trust God that we start to become well. Everyday we move towards heaven or hell. There is no middle ground, and we are eternal.

Yours sincerely,
R. Kim


Bibliography:

“Mere Christianity” and “The Pilgrim’s Regress” by C. S. Lewis
“You Can’t Be Serious” by Michael Green

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