What You Believe
Part 6
The Big Picture: The Gospel
This is what it's all about. God's Good News. The reason (the only reason) for hope. It's
The Solution to
The Problem.
What's The Problem? I touched on it in Part 2. Every human being is evil, and destined for (possibly) eternal punishment for being evil. If there were no solution to this problem, that would be a pretty sad situation! Everyone lives their lives and ends up in Hell. Every single human being that ever lived! They would all wish they had never been born!
But there is a solution. Hooray! There is salvation! For everyone! Everyone that believes and obeys, that is. Which, of course, is why it is fair and just that (probably) most of the people who ever lived will end up in Hell. They were offered a way out and didn't take it, so it's their own fault.
And what is the solution? Well, the way things are set up, if you ever commit a sin -- any sin, big or small -- and
everyone has committed at least one sin -- you have to die. Well, more correctly, somebody or something has to die. In the Old Testament, that could be an animal. A lamb could take your punishment for you, if the proper ritual was done, and God would be happy and give you a clean slate. That was pretty cool, I suppose, but now-a-days, there's an even better way! God's
Son died,
instead of millions of animals! That sure is good news for all those lambs, isn't it?
Oh yes, of course, it's good news for us, too. No more messy sacrifices on altars. And those animals can be put to other good uses, like food and wool.
And God gave us His Son, why? Because He loved us! Even when we were sinners! His Son became the Lamb of God, sacrificed -- yes,
killed -- for
us! Can you imagine allowing
your child to die for the benefit of mankind? But that's just what God Himself did. His Son
died! And
stayed dead for
three days!
That's not the whole story, of course. There is something we have to do before we "qualify" for this salvation. To get it, there is one or more steps to be taken. But I can't get into that in the "What You (
All) Believe" series, of course!
Oh, I should also mention that this new way of salvation (replacing the animal sacrifice method) is now the
only way. Killing animals won't work, anymore. That's a pretty important part of The Good News!