I wrote a post about Aaron Hernandez a little while back, but due to new details, I'd like to expand on it. If you go to the comments section of that article, you will find many cynical remarks from non-christians/atheists regarding the possibility of Aaron Hernandez being forgiven. It's sort of your classic "Hitler-could've-been-saved-means-you're-wrong" argument. Here were my three responses:
1) If there is no God, then murder is simply a part of the evolutionary process whereby the strong subdue the weak. Survival of the fittest, right? Murder would, in fact, not only being amoral, but it would actually be the greatest "good"! It would be the epitome of what natural processes are accomplishing in our world. In order to use the argument that grace makes our system morally nonsensical, you have to assume morality.
2) God can forgive anyone. The point of grace is that you don't deserve it. Jesus told his disciples that those who are forgiven more appreciate it more. This is not a license to sin, but a call to recognize that God's ability to forgive is not dependent on the depth of our depravity. The more sinful we were (please note the past tense there), the more His grace shines. We can assume that Hernandez's conversion, if true, would've produced a life of repentance. We can never know, but that shouldn't make us doubt that authentic deathbed confessions are possible.
3) You deserve hell as much as Aaron Hernandez does. Have you ever done anything you would admit is wrong? Only extreme moral relativists would deny that they have. If you have done something wrong, you had better hope that God could forgive Hernandez, because it would take as much grace to forgive you as it would to forgive him. Not all sins are equal, but all are worthy of damnation. A thief can't argue that he shouldn't be punished for his crime simply because he is not a murderer or a rapist. Being "not as bad" as your brother, neighbor, or uncle won't stand up before God on the final day of judgment.
Obviously, no one but God knows Aaron Hernandez's heart. These new details could tell a tale of either true remorse or unfathomable spiritual darkness. It's hard to tell. All I know is that God can work in the heart of a murderer as easily as He can work in the hearts of us "regular" sinners.
1) If there is no God, then murder is simply a part of the evolutionary process whereby the strong subdue the weak. Survival of the fittest, right? Murder would, in fact, not only being amoral, but it would actually be the greatest "good"! It would be the epitome of what natural processes are accomplishing in our world. In order to use the argument that grace makes our system morally nonsensical, you have to assume morality.
2) God can forgive anyone. The point of grace is that you don't deserve it. Jesus told his disciples that those who are forgiven more appreciate it more. This is not a license to sin, but a call to recognize that God's ability to forgive is not dependent on the depth of our depravity. The more sinful we were (please note the past tense there), the more His grace shines. We can assume that Hernandez's conversion, if true, would've produced a life of repentance. We can never know, but that shouldn't make us doubt that authentic deathbed confessions are possible.
3) You deserve hell as much as Aaron Hernandez does. Have you ever done anything you would admit is wrong? Only extreme moral relativists would deny that they have. If you have done something wrong, you had better hope that God could forgive Hernandez, because it would take as much grace to forgive you as it would to forgive him. Not all sins are equal, but all are worthy of damnation. A thief can't argue that he shouldn't be punished for his crime simply because he is not a murderer or a rapist. Being "not as bad" as your brother, neighbor, or uncle won't stand up before God on the final day of judgment.
Obviously, no one but God knows Aaron Hernandez's heart. These new details could tell a tale of either true remorse or unfathomable spiritual darkness. It's hard to tell. All I know is that God can work in the heart of a murderer as easily as He can work in the hearts of us "regular" sinners.
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