Time for Seagoon to weigh in... Can a convicted murderer get into heaven?
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Hi Sandman,
Sorry for the delay in answering, I've been away at a conference all week. You ask an interesting question, so I'll attempt to give a simple biblical answer, and as such I accept from the get-go that it won't satisfy the "all religion is a load of [expletive deleted]" bloc but so be it...
Did the Apostle Paul get into heaven? He was after all a self-confessed accomplice to the murder of Stephen (Acts 7:58, Acts 22:20). Did David get into heaven? He too confessed to the betrayal and murder of his faithful servant Uriah (2 Sam. 12:13) and yet the bible is full of testimonies to the fact that both of these men were ultimately saved. Why? Because they repented of these sins, and believed in promise of the Lord to purge them of the guilt of their iniquities through a redeemer (Isaiah 53). Their repentance was not merely an empty profession (as would be the case if they continued to murder as one poster suggested) but they showed by their actions that their hearts had been changed by the work of the Lord. That is why David could write afterwards in some of the most beautiful lines ever penned:
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart -- These, O God, You will not despise." (Psalm 51:7-17)
Our problem in looking at issues like whether one sin or another is "to great to be forgiven" is that we forget that to break one part of God's law is to be guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10-11), and that every sin being "cosmic treason" against a just and holy creator deserves death in the eternal (though not civil judicial) sense. Therefore if any of us are to be forgiven for any sin and get into heaven, it isn't going to be on the basis of our own works or repentance. What could we do to blot out our own guilt after all? That is why it was necessary for God to create an atonement for sin in our place, sacrificing his own Son to pay for the sins of "whoever believes in him" (John 3:16) and to give to us his own righteousness (Romans 3:21-26) in place of our own filthy rags and a new heart that strives to obey him (Ezek. 11:19-20) in place of our old hard heart.
So simply put,
while there is no sin so small that in the justice of God it can be overlooked, there is no sin so great that the mercy of God is not greater still.Anywho, I've included the scripture references in order that whether or not you believe the gospel, you'll at least know that I'm not making this up as I go along.
Hoping you and yours are well and that you have a good Sunday I remain....
- SEAGOON
