January 29, 2020 – Click here to listen
NFL Football star quarterback for the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers is not on good terms with his family.
Why?
His family consists of devout Christians and he has publicly rejected their belief system out of hand. On a recent podcast interview with his girlfriend former race car driver Danica Patrick he said, “I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell,” What type of loving, sensitive, omnipresent, omnipotent being wants to condemn His beautiful creation to a fiery Hell at the end of all this?”
He must have been thinking about football or cheerleaders instead of paying attention to the Bible teaching he received while growing up. Surely, He has seen John 3:16 at football games:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Rodgers asks what kind of God He is – well, He is the kind of God who loves him so much that He sent His own Son to this tiny planet in order to offer His life as a sacrifice that the entire world might live with Him forever. This God did while we were all yet sinners.
The Bible states in 2 Peter 3:9 . . . He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. In reality, it is not that Rodgers and other people have not heard about God or these verses and others. Rather, the problem is that they have rejected what they have heard and ignored what is seen in His creation. God created perfection but we were born with a free will and God allowed us to choose righteousness or sin. Adam and Eve chose sin. People do not go to hell because of Adam or Eve’s sin; they go to hell because of their own sin, which they freely choose.
Franklin Graham recently wrote: “The Bible states that we are all sinners – myself included. It further states that every human being is guilty of sin and in need of forgiveness and cleansing. The penalty of sin is spiritual death – separation from God for eternity.”
That’s why Jesus Christ came. He became sin for us. He didn’t come to condemn the world, He came to save the world by giving His life on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sins. And if we’re willing to accept Him by faith and turn away from our sins, He will forgive us and give us new life – eternal life – in Him.
Rodgers explained that when he was younger, his parents made him go to church but eventually he fell out of traditional Christianity. “Some people just need structure, and they need tradition and stuff,” he said of practicing Christians. “I don’t have a problem with it. It doesn’t resonate with me.” Rodgers went on to say, “Religion can be a crutch, it can be something that people have to have to make themselves feel better. Because it’s set up binary, it’s us and them, saved and unsaved, Heaven and Hell, it’s enlightened and heathen, it’s holy and righteous . . . that makes a lot of people feel better about themselves.”
I and millions of others don’t view our love of God as a crutch. It’s insulting to say it, because it’s not true. God loves us and cares for us, and those who love Him, Christians, feel the same as God does. I don’t feel it is “us against them;” just the opposite, I want everyone on this planet to experience the love of God who only wants the very best for us.
I have prayed for Aaron Rodgers and his family. He declared his anti-God views soon after winning the Super Bowl. Unfortunately for Rodgers, that win will be short-lived and eternity is forever. Hopefully he will come to Christ before the day he dies and faces Him. Only God knows if he will be eternally separated from Him or not. I pray he comes to Jesus and doesn’t have to stand before almighty God all alone.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.