Human Problem

People's nature

Another important truth found in the Bible is that people aren't like God. We are not righteous, holy, loving or perfect like God. In fact, we are pretty horrible.

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God,"
They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice;
There is no one who does good.
God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there is anyone who understands,
Who seeks after God.
Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one. Psalm 53:1-3 (NASB^®)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 (ASV)

For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 (ASV) (capitalisation and punctuation edited for easier reading)

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20 (ESV)

What we deserve

In fact, we are so full of wrongdoing and evilness that we all deserve death! How many wrong things have you done in your life, both great and small? We have all sinned, as the above verses make clear. Even if you haven't murdered millions of people like Hitler did, you have certainly done an almost uncountable number of other evils like hate, lust, theft, and lying. These are not minor things in God's eyes. He calls lustful looking, adultery, and hatred, murder. God is so great, and we are so disgusting. All this sinfulness makes us unworthy of God, and deserving of eternal punishment - to go to Hell instead of Heaven. We are so far from God.

Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1:13-15 (ESV)

For the wages of sin is death; Romans 6:23a (KJV)

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 (NIV)

"So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous,
and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:49-50 (NASB^®)

We all deserve to go to Hell forever for our evilness, and there's no way that we can get out of this dismal situation on our own. We are helpless to remove our sin or be forgiven for it under our own steam, no matter how hard we try. What can we do?

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