Why not?

When I was thinking about my time teaching Sunday school yesterday I remembered something that still bothers me to this day.  It was back when I was helping teach a VBS (Vacation Bible School) and our theme was under the sea.  I was teaching about Jonah and the whale.  Which now when I think back about it, oy...  a guy in a whale for days and lived?  I don't even want to think about how I thought  it was true. 

Anyway...  As I said in my previous post I was a pretty neat teacher, so for this lesson I constructed a 'whale belly' out of black plastic garbage bags and a fan at one end to inflate it.  So the kids and I crawled into the 'belly' and I talked about Jonah and stuff.  Then I asked the kids if there was one question they could ask God what would it be?

This is the part I'll never forget, one boy (who I was very fond of and still miss to this day) asked the very simple and direct question, "Why can't God just save everyone?"

I remembered I stared at him for a bit, I knew the answers I was supposed to say.  'He wants us to choose Him', blah blah blah.  But, I just couldn't answer him, nothing would come out of my mouth.  I eventually said, 'that's a good question' and moved on to the next kid.

I couldn't answer him because the pat answers just sounded so lame and quite honestly, they sounded stupid.  Why can't God just save everyone?  Its his rules that we supposedly are breaking, if he really wanted to why couldn't he just forgive everyone and let them into heaven?  Isn't that what we were supposed to be teaching?  That God is forgiving, compassionate and is love?  If you really love someone enough to die for them, can't you just forgive everything? 

Let's face it the god of the bible is petty, mean and violent.  In my opinion I think if anyone should ask for forgiveness, God should ask us to forgive him. 

I will also never forget when I asked the Children's pastor that I assisted if she really believed if people who had never heard of Jesus would really be sent to hell.  Her answer came quick with unwavering belief behind it, "I have to believe what the bible says, and it says yes, they will go to hell."

So through no fault of their own, this kind, loving 'father' would send his 'children' to hell simply because they had never heard of him?  I know there some Christians who don't even believe in hell and that no one is going there.  But I just could not swallow this blanket belief in everything anymore. 

I wish I could go back in time and answer that one boy and say, "God can't save everyone because he isn't real and there's nothing to be 'saved' from."  Then maybe I could get the look on his face out of my head.  Perhaps one day I'll have a chance to talk to him again and have a grown-up discussion.  Until then, at least I have the peace of mind to know that we are responsible for saving ourselves and don't have to ask a deity to do it for us.