| |
Justice and Mercy
Both Justice and Mercy must be satisfied.
"Is it really fair that everyone who does not
believe in Jesus will be damned?"
There are Eternal Principles that even God is
bound by. It is important to
understand that the requirements of salvation were not Jesus' idea, nor was it
the idea of his Father. Rather, these are eternal laws, co-eternal with God,
that the Father and the Son are bound to follow. If they were to
make exceptions to these rules, they would no longer be Gods, and their power
to save man-kind would be lost for-ever.
If the Father and the Son ceased to obey eternal laws,
they would be just as lost as we are without Jesus. And, as with all the other
laws of the universe; the law that only those who believe in Jesus will be
saved, really makes sense;
The perfect plan makes perfect sense. Truth is always simple
and elegant. See how easy it is to understand why the law has to be as it is:
- God has to be perfectly just.
- Justice requires rewards for
good deeds, punishment for evil deeds.
- God can never reward the
sinner (he who makes evil deeds) with the rewards reserved for the people
doing good deeds.
- The reward is life.
- The punishment is death.
- Ergo, God cannot let the
sinner live, or the righteous to die.
- Sinning is to sell ones right
to live to the Accuser. It has nothing to do with
God!
- Jesus could pay our debt to
the Accuser, if it wasn't for one thing...
- …this would not be just for
someone who earned life by himself (no-one but Jesus managed such a life,
but in order to understand the principle of justice we will suppose that
it is possible for someone else too).
- This dilemma (that Jesus
cannot rob justice of its claims) makes the sinner fear God's punishment,
and makes him filled with regret and remorse.
- A good God must possess mercy.
- Justice requires the death of
the sinner, mercy
requires that the suffering, remorseful sinner will be saved.
- This contradiction requires a
middle-man, a go-between, if both justice and mercy is to be satisfied.
- Jesus is that go-between. He
takes my death…
- …on condition that I am filled with remorse and regret.
- This way Justice gets the death that it requires for sin, and mercy gets the salvation of the sinner
that it requires.
- Mercy cannot rob justice.
Both eternal principles - justice and mercy - have to be appeased.
- Someone of another religion
will not fear punishment and ask Jesus for forgiveness.
- Therefore they can only
receive justice (death).
- No one can be saved by
justice, since we have all sinned.
- This is why no-one can be
saved without believing in Jesus. It is Jesus I beg to release me from my
well deserved death.
But since God has to
be just he must give everyone the chance to receive both justice and mercy. If he did not provide this opportunity for
every single individual, he would not be just, and he would cease to be God!
Will non-believers be damned? Absolutely! Since
everyone gets a chance to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, and have the
Holy Ghost testify in their heart that it is true, to be an unbeliever is not a
passive state of mind, but an act of open rebellion! But don't think for a
second that all believers will be
saved! No, salvation comes by faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. But
faith without works is dead (James 2:17), and for many there is a huge gap
between believing and actually serving God and fellow man (which are the same
thing).
Faith or Works?
|
