Monday, March 30, 2009

The Worst Of Sinners...


From CNN:
Kaing Guek Eav is an elderly former math teacher and a born-again Christian.He is also -- prosecutors contend -- a former prison chief with Cambodia's Khmer Rouge movement who oversaw the torture and killing of more than 15,000 men, women and children three decades ago.

Does it mess with our idea of "fairness" to think that a man who oversaw the torture and killing of 15,000 people will be in heaven? Does it mess with our sense of "decency" to know we will be worshiping Jesus in heaven standing next to a man who supervised the brutal murdering of children, women and men?

If it does, it reveals our own lack of understanding of our own depravity, and God's Holiness. And we need to listen again to the words of another murderer and former genocide leader, the Apostle Paul:

"I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (1 Tim 1: 12-17)

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