What the God

Written by Jesse Medina

They say that Jesus was fully God and fully man…like some sort of superhero or something. And its not that he switched modes or anything like Bruce Wayne/Batman. It is not even that he was half God and half man like a spiritual Tumnus (but with a cooler beard). Nope, he was fully God and fully man.

They also say that God can’t sin. I like to picture it like Jim Carrey’s Liar, Liar – you know, where if God tried to sin his face would get all crazy and he’d beat the crap out of himself in heaven’s bathroom. It makes sense, I guess…if God could sin, he probably wouldn’t be God-like. He’d just be some dude who can get away with whatever he wanted. Kind of like Tiger Woods except less black and he wouldn’t get caught.

So it begs the question…could Jesus have sinned? I mean, aside from the fact that it would change some things for the crucifixion with him not being spotless anymore, if he had wanted to, could he have sinned? Or would he turn into a bearded Jim Carrey in a tunic and say things like,

“No, Peter, I do not think your butt looks good in that robe.”

“I know you want to believe he is in heaven, but he’s actually burning up right now in hell.”

“Eh…I’ve had better…wine.”

There are some who think that because Jesus was 100% God he couldn’t have sinned. After all, God can’t sin. Sin is disobeying God and he can’t disobey himself, right? Plus, if we believe that God is actually good, we have to believe that he couldn’t do any bad, under any circumstances.

Then again, if he couldn’t have sinned, how could he be tempted? If he couldn’t have sinned, couldn’t he just say to Satan when he was tempting Jesus in the desert, “Dude, it doesn’t even matter, I couldn’t turn that rock into bread even if I wanted!”

But if he could…does that make him not 100% God anymore? Or would that have nullified the point of the cross?

I propose that Jesus had to have been able to sin for three reasons:

1. He thought he could. That’s why he was tempted. I mean, you cannot be tempted by something you know you couldn’t have even if you wanted.
2. He wouldn’t be fully man – by that I don’t mean he’d be like Clay Aiken. As men, we sin – or at least we have the ability to. The ladies are probably very surprised by that revelation, but its true. Without the ability to sin (i.e. free will), he would have ceased to be human.
3. It would be cheating. Like unlimited lives in video games or a deck of cards up his sleeve. You can’t convince everyone that you’re a man only to pull one over on them by really not being very man-like at all. Nobody likes a cheater.

What do you think…could Jesus have sinned if he wanted to?

Written by AJ Teaters

I have recently been reflecting on all the accomplishments in my life (just to note, I am only 25) but nevertheless I like to reflect. I came across and interesting fact while thinking about this, I have never been fired from a job. While thinking about this fact I recalled all the previous jobs I have had up to this point in my life (this is chronological): Chirstmas Tree Lot 'Gopher', Papa John's, Bennigan's Host, Hot Topic, Stock Boy, University Copy/Mail Boy, Starbucks, Delivery Boy (not the kind you think), Starbucks (again), Teacher's assistant, Warehouse Distribution, 1st grade teacher and finally 6th grade teacher.

That's more than a job a year from the time I turned 15! I would like to submit that 14 jobs in 10 years is a lot of work. Having worked at so many jobs I have come into contact with a fair amount of people, customers and co-workers alike. I have had every range of emotion known to man, depending on the circumstance I could have been frustrated, happy, depressed or hungry. Most of the jobs I have had have been remedial, and at times (most times) I thought that Hell couldn't be much worse.

Some of the the worst memories from working at these jobs are as follows:


Having customers call in to order a pizza and tell me that they live on Williams Field Rd. Well that's just crazy, no one actually lives on a road. So I went on to ask them which side of the road they live on (North or South). You would have thought this cleared things up... sadly, no. They insisted that they lived on Williams Field Rd. To say the least, the conversation ended with me asking them if they lived on Williams Field Rd did they have cars driving through their living room, and hanging up on them.

Making coffee type beverages for 8 straight hours and the entire time being short-handed and only being able to work as fast as the automatic espresso machine...which wasn't fast enough. Having 20 pairs of eyes watching your every move, making sure that their coffee is made their outrageously specific instructions. "A quad, half-caf, 2 pump vanilla, 3 pump sugar-free hazelnut, non-fat, with whip, 180 degree latte."  No joke, I've had someone order that and watch me like over the bar to make sure it was made correctly. I couldn't help but want to scream at these people, "IT'S JUST COFFEE!" After Papa John's I didn't think I could have found anything worse than going home with every imaginable pizza topping crushed under my fingernails, but Starbucks beat them out. Nothing is worse than going home sticky from being covered in every imaginable syrup flavor, and smelling like hot rancid milk.

Nothing beats having a job where all you do is pick up boxes from a conveyor belt, put them on pallets and wrap them in plastic for 10-12 hours. All the while having half your co-workers talk about you behind your back in another language and seeing people who do less than you, on a daily basis, get promoted around you.

In each one of these jobs I felt like Peter Gibbons from Office Space. The only real motivation to do my job was because I didn't want to be hassled or get fired, other than that I just didn't care.

The one thought that got me through each and every one of those hellish jobs was the knowledge that I wasn't going to be stuck in this "place" for very long. I know "very long" is a relative and rather subjective statement, but in comparison to the rest of my life I didn't really spend a lot of time doing meaningless mind-numbing work.

Why did I just go into an in depth record of my work history, outlining specific instances that made it feel like Hell on Earth, because nothing of this world is eternal, nothing here lasts forever.Things may be inevitable (taxes, death, premature ejaculation) but nothing lasts forever.

So if the closest thing in my life to Hell was working at forsaken asinine jobs then that is the closest thing that I have to relate to Hell. The problem with Hell is that no one knows what it is like to be there. You can't just randomly walk up to someone and ask them, "So Jim, you've been to Hell right? What's it like?"

Over my short tenure of being a Christian I have heard a handful of explanations and interpretations of Hell. They range anywhere from lakes of fire, never ending torture and pain, to a black void of nothingness (no feeling, no emotion).

Does it really matter what Hell is like? 

Would it make a difference if it were flames and sulfur or nothingness? The one common fact about Hell is that it is eternal; it is forever, and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever times infinity plus one. I think that's what we need to concern ourselves with when thinking about Hell; Hell is never ending.  But why? Why is Hell eternal?

What we have to look at is our human nature.

• Ever since Eve brought us down (yeah, I said it! It was Eve's fault) we have been ruled by sin.
• Sin is the only way to separate ourselves from The Big Guy Upstairs.
• Jesus came to take on the sins of the world. He gave His life in place of our sin.
• We need to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior to not be damned to Hell.
• We continue to sin but seek repentance from God when we royally screw up.
• Those chose to reject faith/belief in God are not let into Heaven; thus are eternally placed in Hell

The way I see it is that if Hell wasn't eternal we (Christians, more importantly humans) would find a way to excuse our sin. If we knew that eventually Hell would end we would start to marginalize sin. We would downplay the consequences of being sinful.

The thought process if Hell WASN'T eternal:

1. Should I commit this sin?
2. Is it worth going to Hell for a period of time?
3. Sure... I could spend some time in Hell if I get to commit this sin.

The thought process knowing the Hell IS eternal:

1. Should I commit this sin?
2. Is it worth going to Hell forever?
3. NO!

Hell is eternal for a reason, because if Hell was just a jail sentence (hmmm... say 30-60 years, 20 years with good behavior) then we would be prone to weigh the consequences of being sinful. Sin is separation from God and Hell is the consequence of never repenting for your sinful life. Hell is eternal separation from God.

Do you think Hell won't be eternal? Is God unjust for making Hell eternal?