A Modern Parable

Once there was a man-we'll call him John--born in the country of Amerigo. Despite the fact that Amerigo was a wonderful country that had educated him, provided a police force and a fire department that protected his property, and a utility grid from which he purchased his power, sewer and water, John decided that he no longer wanted to be a citizen of his country of birth.

John decided to secede from Amerigo. He built a large fence around his property and dubbed his domain Johnistan. Then he notified the government that he renounced his citizenship, and declared his property a sovereign country in its own right.

John did business with his neighbors, used the currency of Amerigo, and proceeded with his life with the added benefit that he no longer paid taxes.

John grew old and contented, and eventually decided to retire. He went to the office of Amerigo's sate pension, and applied for his pension payments, upon which he was notified by the pension case worker that he was not eligible to receive a pension.

"But I've worked hard all my life!" John protested. "I've never broken any Amerigo laws, and citizens of Amerigo have benefitted from my labor."

"That may be true," said the case worker, "but you're not a citizen yourself. You seceded, remember? You renounced your allegiance to Amerigo many years ago, and quit paying taxes. The fact that you obeyed our laws and contributed to the larger economy in other ways simply has no bearing."

John went home in a rage, only to find that his house was on fire. He quickly called the fire department, but upon giving them his address, was told they could not fight fires outside of the borders of Amerigo: John's house resided in the country of Johnistan. John had to watch his house burn, and over the next few days, surrounded by its ruins, he found his neighbors picking through the rubble for valuables that had survived the fire. He tried to chase them off, but because of his age and weakness, they ignored him. When he appealed to police for help, they too informed him that they had no jurisdiction in the country of Johnistan.

* * * * *

A common misunderstanding of sin is that its just breaking rules and that there will be a sort of cosmic ledger that God will consult at our eternal judgement; that if we have done more good things than bad things, we will be allowed into heaven. It's a comforting thought to those who have never done anything really bad, you know, like murder, or rape, or robbing a bank.

But the problem is, this idea is just plain wrong. Rule breaking is merely a symptom of the real problem, which is our state of rebellion against God. Sin is a state of being, a condition, in which we have seceded from his sovereignty and renounced our allegiance. Appeals to God to be given entrance to eternal life in his presence because we are "good," will make about as much sense as our protagonist, John, trying to collect his social security benefits from the country from which he had seceded.

If one spends his whole life ignoring his creator, and especially the sacrifice that Jesus made to repair that breech and reconcile us to God, his reliance on his own "goodness" will get him about as far as John's pleas to the fire department and police force of fictional Amerigo.

As C.S. Lewis said in The Problem of Pain

In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: "What are you asking God to do?" To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. (John 3:36 NIV)