Atheists and Grace

 “What's So Amazing About Grace?” That's the title of a really good book by Philip Yancey. I read it maybe ten years ago. The book may get old but Grace never does. Nor does its weirdness.

How in the world does God love the sinner, but hate the sin?

How does He love the sinner but accomplish justice?

From a human standpoint, there are some sinners so awful that they should never be forgiven. From God's perspective, that couldn't be more wrong. As the saying goes:

“No one is so good that forgiveness isn't needed. No one is so bad that forgiveness isn't offered.”

On the other hand, Here’s what one atheist said at the thought that people more “guilty” than herself should be pronounced “not guilty” by God. While she's thinking of someone else, let's call this person Jerry Sandusky:

“All this bastard has to do is say, "Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name I repent of my sins and open my heart to let Jesus come inside of me. I come before you to say that I’m guilty. I admit to you that I’ve done horrible things to many people. Jesus, You are my Lord and Savior and even though I’m a degenerate scum, I believe you died for my sins and you were raised from the dead. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank You Father for saving me in Jesus' name. Amen.” See. Anybody gets to go to heaven. You accept Jesus as your personal lord and savior and whatever you’ve done, it no longer matters. Ignoring that you might have even killed a child? NOT IMPORTANT. Because according to the New Testament, all you have to do is ask for forgiveness and BAMMO. Get out of hell free card. FUCK THAT!”

If "Jerry's" confession is genuine, this atheist's theology is actually pretty accurate. That's what makes her so angry!

She understands grace.

Her first mistake however is saying, "It no longer matters what you've done." The fact is, what you've done matters so much that it cost Jesus His life. What you've done matters so much that knowing in advance that He would be used, abused, lied to and lie about, knowing that He would be rejected by His family and abandoned by His closest friends, knowing that humanity would do our absolute worst to Him, Jesus came to earth to take upon Himself the consequences of sin - our sin - your sin - my sin.

Unlike atheism where wrongs will go unpunished, it would be unjust for God to overlook what we've done wrong. He can't pretend that our sin doesn't exist. That's what would happen under atheism. As soon as a certain category of sin becomes prevalent enough, we declare it to be no longer wrong. Divorce, adultery, abortion; the list goes on.

Because God is perfectly Just, that is not an option for Him. So here is what He did -

“God was in Jesus reconciling the world to Himself?”

Got that?

No?

Unlike us, Jesus had no sin on His record. Not a single wrong thought or action. So God superimposed His record onto ours. Jesus paid the price of our sins and then Himself declared us not guilty. Through His perfect life Jesus fulfilled the commands of the law. And through His sacrificial death He fufilled the demands of sin. Jesus didn't suffer like a sinner. He suffered as a sinner.

Because of that, God didn't condone our sins yet neither did He compromise His standard. He didn't ignore our rebellion yet neither did He move the goalposts. Instead of ignoring our sins, He assumed the consequences of our sin and took upon Himself the penalty of our sin.

God is God

The penalty of sin is paid

We are made perfect

“With one sacrifice He made perfect forever those who are being made holy,” Hebrews 10:14

God justifies the unjust.

He forgives the unforgiveable.

He makes righteous the unrighteous.

“He cancelled the debt of sin which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross.” Colossians 2:14

What kind of person would reject and push away that kind of offer?