Roots by the River

In recent days we have had a free book table on the University of Idaho campus. One of those days we had a sign at the end of the book table that said “You Have to be Bad to Go to Heaven.” A student came up to the table and began and continued to turn over each book so the back cover was up. Out of curiosity we asked him why he did this. He replied, “If I have to be bad to go to heaven, I thought I would do something not very bad so I would be sure to go to Heaven.” I assured him that he had already qualified with a minimum of badness long before he turned over books. I asked him what his background was. He said that he had been baptized Roman Catholic. Soon he asked if I knew what Unitarian was. I assured him I knew. He said, “I am Unitarian.” “You just told me you were Roman Catholic.” “In Unitarian you can believe anything and it all counts.” I changed the subject and asked him, “If I believe the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around the earth, does that make i

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20) This is such an obvious truth that we think no one would do such a thing. It is dumb, and the consequences are “woe.” They are anti-moral but said to be moral. Let's look at a few of these “dumb” things, since Isaiah wrote them in the eighth century B.C. In the United States alone we have said it is a good thing to kill innocent people. God says He hates it. “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood , a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” (Proverbs 6:16-19) We have murdered millions of innocent people by saying, “it is good.” Many nations are now doing the same with the unborn, saying it is g