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There is a popular belief in America today among many who believe in God and the concept of an afterlife that somewhere, somehow, God is recording our good and bad deeds, and that at the end of our lives there will be some sort of accounting for how we lived, and as long as we were pretty good people, we’ll be in heaven.  I would venture to guess that most Americans, if asked, would believe they are going to heaven, and the reason they would give is that they’ve lived a pretty decent, moral, upstanding life.  They’ve been generous, tried their best to be kind, never killed anyone, and tried to pray and be faithful to God as they understood Him as best as they could.  Those same people would probably tell you that there are some people who don’t deserve to go to heaven, people like Adolf Hitler or Osama Bin Laden or the two men who killed the family in Cheshire, because they are clearly evil people. 

The point is that for many Americans who believe in the concept of the afterlife and heaven and Hell, there is a line somewhere that separates those who deserve heaven from those who deserve Hell.  We’re not sure exactly where it is, but we’re pretty sure we’re on the heaven side and that those really bad people are on the Hell side.

So, imagine for a minute that you were God.  Where would you draw that line?  Who would be acceptable to you and who wouldn’t?  Some might be easy calls - Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Billy Graham, for example.  Those would be easy calls.  But what about murderers?  Are they all disqualified?  What about those who kill in war?  Is that okay?  Is it okay for an American to kill in war but not an Iraqi?  What about killing in self-defense?  What about abortion – would that count as murder or not?  And does God weigh certain sins more than others?  The Catholics have a concept of venial and mortal sins, with mortal sins being sins of grave matter that are done voluntarily and with full knowledge that what you are doing is wrong.  Would God have a hierarchy of sins, with more points off for worse sins?  Maybe it would be something like this:  Murder (-100), rape & molestation (-90), cheating on your taxes (-75), drunkenness (-45), lying to your spouse (-30), stealing a pen from work (-10), listening to Clay Aiken (-5).

And think about this - how would you measure intangibles like pride, lust, etc?  Isn’t it just as possible to do good deeds out of a desire for public recognition than it is to do them out of a desire to help someone?  What if I became a pastor because of some subconscious desire to have people like me, or if you’re only here out of fear of punishment or of being seen as a bad person or because you’re looking for a potential husband or wife?  What if all our good deeds are done out of envy, a desire to win the admiration of people?  Does that disqualify the good behavior?  Where would pride fit on this list, or lust, or envy?

So where would you draw the line, if you were God?  Who would be acceptable to God, and who would not be acceptable to Him, and how would you make that determination?