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THE BELL CURVE:
"I'm in the top half of my class."
In nature, a great many things are distributed by a "bell shaped curve." There are very fat people, and very skinny people. But most people fall somewhere in between. There are very tall people, and very short people, but most people fall somewhere in between. Society frequently governs rewards according to a bell shaped curve. In school, there are few who graduate "summa cum laude" (with highest honors), and few who flunk out of school. Most people fall somewhere in between. In a healthy economy, some people learn a great deal of money, and others earn very little. Most however fall somewhere in between. Men also fall along a bell shaped curve in terms of their degrees of goodness or wickedness.
(In future editions,, a bell curve will be drawn in this space. The left and right hand sides are very narrow. The center section is very tall or fat. On the far left will be the words "a very wicked." These will include child molesters, drug dealers and murderers. The far right-hand side of the bell curve will list "a very good." This will include persons like Mother Teresa, who gave selflessly on themselves. The center of the curve will be labeled "the average person.")
The Bible does, in fact, use the terms "innocent" (Proverbs 1:11, 6:17) and "wicked" (Genesis 3:13) in a relative sense, as illustrated by the bell curve above. But one does not gain eternal life simply by being "better than the average person." God is holy, and therefore requires perfection to enter his presence. And no matter where someone falls on the above bell curve, they fall short of God's standard.
For there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands...They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.
Romans 3:10-12
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
Man cannot enter God's presence or earn eternal life simply by graduating in the top half of his class. For a man to enter into God's presence on his own righteousness, he would have to be perfect. And only one such man has ever walked the earth.
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MORTAL AND VENIAL SINS
"I didn't do anything really bad!"
Closely related to the bell shaped curve is the concept of "mortal" and "venial" sins. A mortal sin is said to be sufficiently offensive to God to warrant eternal separation and punishment. Sins such as murder and sexual immorality are usually regarded as severe enough to be mortal. Lesser sins of the same nature, anger or lust for example, would be regarded as venial sins. A venial sin is said to be an offense to God, but not sufficient to warrant eternal damnation. Scripture however never makes such a distinction. In fact, Christ went so far as to utterly denounce this kind of thinking.
You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not murder," and whoever murders will be in danger of judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment. And whoever says to his brother "Raca!" shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says "You fool!" shall be in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:21-22
You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-28
(In a Future Edition, the picture, page 4 of the Gospel Booklet will be added here.)
One cannot avoid the judgment of God by avoiding the the most vile or heinous sins. It is only one moral condition but which a man may enter into the presence of holy God: perfection!
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect."
Matthew 5:48
(See also James 2:10-12, Galatians 3:10, 3:22, 4:21, 5:3
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