The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1952-04-17
No Ladder TO Heaven

HOWEVER, G e n inside the
church, Christians often have
mistaken notions about the law Of
God, particularly the basic laws
embodied in the Ten Command
ments. Two of these wrong ideas
are almost exactly opposite each
other, with the truth in the middle.
One mistaken idea is that the law
is kind of ladder to Heaven. That
is to say: God is supposed to run
sort of bookkeeping department.
with Recording Angel (or perhaps
millions of them, one looking over
every mans shoulder), jotting down
everything a person does from birth
to death. Every time he acts in ac-
cordanCe with the Commandments
down goes plus mark. Every time
he breaks one, down goes a minus
mark. At the time of his death the
account is balanced. If there are
more pluses than minuses. then the
man is admitted to heaven: if the
minus side puts the man Fin the
red with God, then off he is
hustled to Hell. In other words, on
this theory (Which is very popu-
lar though false), you write your
own ticket to Heaven, you climb
there on ladder of your own good
deeds.
Jesus did not hold to this no
ton, indeed taught quite the con-
trary. Call no man good! he
said. For one thing, plus-marks
do not cancel out minus marks,
and for another thing, seen
with the eyes of God, as the ia
nous Richard Hooker said, "the
best things we do siaVe some
what in them to be pardOned."
Jesus, the New Testament, and
the church after them, teach with
one voice that we are saved by
faith,-it is God that saves us, not
we ourselves.
Love Is No Excuse for Sin
THE mistake at the opposite end
1 of the line is to fancy that if we
love God we can do as we please.
In other words, the idea is that
love is a substitute for obedience.
If we just love God fervently
enough, then his laws do not apply
to us.
Now this mistake is just as bad
as the first one What would we say
to man who is a careless driver,
and when arrested for hit-and-run
driving tells the Judge, Your
honor, I love everybody, I have
nothing against anybody, 1 love my
country, and you ought not to bother
me with traffic laws!"
What could we say about a
man who claimed he loved his
wife very much but never paid
any attention to the common
rules of pOliteness when in her
presence? What would q grocer
say to man who owed him
fifty dollars if the customer
claimed to be such a good friend
the grocer ought not to send
him a bill?
Living in Obedience
IN the contrary, a Christian will
be all the more eager to do What
God commands, not because he
fears punishment, not because he
thinks he can earn his way into
Gods love, but because obedience
IS the way God has given us by
which we can sincerely show our
love to him and to our fellowmen.
AS Cardinal Newman put it:
Justification (the theOI0gianS'
word for a persons being on
right terms with Cod is re-
ceived by faith; consists in Gcd'5
inward presence, and lives in
obedience
To put it another way Doing
what God desires is not the cause
of being saved it is the result Of
being saved. When we have done
all we can, indeed all we have been
commanded, Jesus said, we are still
Improbable servants; we have
nothing to boast of, at our best, for
our best comes from God.
Seventy-eight thousand were made