Is God Fair?

By Rey Diaz

I have mentioned it many times in the past, that justice and fairness are major issues for me.  In many ways, these issues have helped me develop my love for people in suffering.

Yet this sense of justice has also served as an obstacle in my walk with God.  When I look around at the injustice in this world, I can’t help but shout to God: “It’s not fair!”  For many of us, this hurdle is one we cannot seem to get over.  Although we would probably never vocalize it like this, it’s as if we say “I cannot accept, believe, or have faith in a God that is not fair.”

Over the years, and after many hours in the bible and on my knees, I have come to realize a couple things that have shaken my understanding of fairness and justice.  The first is simple: something can be true and unfair at the same time.  I know it seems like such a trivial matter but just recognizing this fact has helped me.  For example, every male in my family has a full head of hair.  Yet I’m going bald.  That’s not fair.  But it is true.  So although I might not think Christianity is fair, I can’t make the assumption that it is not true just because I don’t think it’s fair.  

The second truth that has helped me in my struggle to understand fairness is Christianity is the idea of grace.  When I look at my life and the times I have walked away from God, I realize that I need grace and mercy.  When I see what the bible teaches about sin and its consequences, I realize that God has not been fair with me.  God has not given me what I deserve.  Instead, God gave me mercy.  Instead God gave me grace.  I have come to realize that I don’t want fairness because I would be in big trouble if God kept a record of my sins.  Like King David, I ask “If God kept a record of our sins, who could stand?  But with God there is forgiveness. That is why I worship him. And now I realize that I need both of those in large quantities every single day.What about you? What's your take on the "fairness" or justice of God? Are you glad that he went beyond fair with you?

Do Good People Go to Heaven?

By Rey Diaz

We all like the sound of "good people go to heaven" and it makes sense to us.  We like the idea that there is a good God who has a good heaven reserved for good people.  We like it when the good guy wins and the bad guy loses.  Yet when put to the test, this theory really doesn't hold up that well.  Here are some of the problems with this way of thinking:

-          How many good deeds do we need to outweigh a bad deed?

-          What percentage of good deeds do we need to pass?

-          Which good deeds are most important?

-          Which set of laws do we follow?

-          What happens if what I think is right hurts others?

This list can go on and on because there are so many glaring holes in the logic of this system.  As I mentioned in the Sunday message, it’s the equivalent of a teacher telling the class “Good morning.  This class will have one final exam on the final day.  It’s pass/fail.  See you then.  By the way, there is no syllabus, study guide, no one you can talk to, no notes, and no text book.  Good luck.”  That wouldn’t be fair would it?  That wouldn't produce peace, would it?  In fact that class would produce stress, anxiety, and worry.  And that is how many Christians live their lives never sure of their identity and standing before God. 

More importantly, believing good people go to heaven makes a liar out of Jesus, because Jesus taught the exact opposite.  He invited many “bad” people into heaven and refused the way for some “good” people.  Better stated, Jesus taught that forgiven people go to heaven.  In fact the Bibles goes as far as to say that no one on earth is good…that all of us have made mistakes.  These mistakes are called “sin,” separate us from God, and mandate punishment.  But in His mercy, God sent his son to pay for our sins, thus forgiving us.  Now when we throw ourselves in the mercy of Jesus who forgives us, we experience heaven. 

I ask you to reconsider the idea that “good people go to heaven” because it isn’t as clear as we might think.  I ask you to process the idea: Forgiven people go to heaven. 

What might this change in paradigm mean for our assurance of salvation? For our faith? Perhaps it takes more faith to trust God to his goodness on us instead of earning it ourselves.  How does this change how we see ourselves? How we see others?