I've been teaching the Bible and Art Club for three weeks now! We studied Daniel 1 the first week. You can check out my post about our first meeting here. During the second meeting we talked about who God is, what sin is, who Jesus is, and our response to knowing these things. During the lesson a student asked if you can sin in heaven. I hesitated and said I didn't think so, but that I'd get back to him.
Over the week I thought about my student's question. I know that Satan had pride issues and wanted to be like God, lead a rebellion, and was kicked out of heaven. SO, I know Satan did, but does that mean believers will be able to when they get to heaven? My brain started searching through my heaven archives. I decided to call in for reinforcements by calling up two pastors I know. They pointed me to several passages. The ones I chose were Colossians 1:19-23, Revelations 21: 1-8, and Revelations 22:1-5.
From the Colossians passage, we talked about three words that were new to the students.
Me: What do you think alienated means?
Student: You turn into an alien.
Me: How many of you have younger brothers or sisters? (Nearly all of them raise their hands.) Have you ever had a friend over and you keep your sibling outside of your room and close the door so they can't come in? You are alienating them. You are separating them from you.
Students: Ohhhhhhhh!
Me: That is what sin does. It alienates or separates of from God.
Me: Does anyone know what reconciled means?
Students: No.
Me: Remember how you kicked your brother or sister outside of your room? When your mom comes in and tells you that you have to let your sibling in and play with them or else you'll be grounded for life, that is being reconciled. You are brought back together.
Students: Chuckles of understanding.
Me: What does blameless mean? I know you know how to pull words apart, because I taught many of you how to do it in 4th grade. Look at the word. What do you know for sure. Talk to your neighbor about the word blameless.
My partner: Um.... Less means without. Blame is like when you blame something on someone.
Me to everyone: In this case, blameless is without sin. You are wiped clean.
We then got into a whole discussion on how Jesus forgives us and wipes us clean. We talked about how if I died on a cross I wouldn't be able to wipe their sin away. The same student who asked if you could sin in heaven said, "But if you do enough good things, can't you get into heaven? Like if you do more good things than bad things?" I then told them about the thief on the cross next to Jesus who believed in Jesus just before he died. The thief had done a whole life's worth of bad things, but he believed that Jesus is Lord right before he died and Jesus said, "Today you will be with me in paradise."
I think the Revelation passages point a little clearer to there being no sin in heaven, but I wanted to share our discussion in Colossians with you all.
Over the week I thought about my student's question. I know that Satan had pride issues and wanted to be like God, lead a rebellion, and was kicked out of heaven. SO, I know Satan did, but does that mean believers will be able to when they get to heaven? My brain started searching through my heaven archives. I decided to call in for reinforcements by calling up two pastors I know. They pointed me to several passages. The ones I chose were Colossians 1:19-23, Revelations 21: 1-8, and Revelations 22:1-5.
From the Colossians passage, we talked about three words that were new to the students.
Me: What do you think alienated means?
Student: You turn into an alien.
Me: How many of you have younger brothers or sisters? (Nearly all of them raise their hands.) Have you ever had a friend over and you keep your sibling outside of your room and close the door so they can't come in? You are alienating them. You are separating them from you.
Students: Ohhhhhhhh!
Me: That is what sin does. It alienates or separates of from God.
Me: Does anyone know what reconciled means?
Students: No.
Me: Remember how you kicked your brother or sister outside of your room? When your mom comes in and tells you that you have to let your sibling in and play with them or else you'll be grounded for life, that is being reconciled. You are brought back together.
Students: Chuckles of understanding.
Me: What does blameless mean? I know you know how to pull words apart, because I taught many of you how to do it in 4th grade. Look at the word. What do you know for sure. Talk to your neighbor about the word blameless.
My partner: Um.... Less means without. Blame is like when you blame something on someone.
Me to everyone: In this case, blameless is without sin. You are wiped clean.
We then got into a whole discussion on how Jesus forgives us and wipes us clean. We talked about how if I died on a cross I wouldn't be able to wipe their sin away. The same student who asked if you could sin in heaven said, "But if you do enough good things, can't you get into heaven? Like if you do more good things than bad things?" I then told them about the thief on the cross next to Jesus who believed in Jesus just before he died. The thief had done a whole life's worth of bad things, but he believed that Jesus is Lord right before he died and Jesus said, "Today you will be with me in paradise."
I think the Revelation passages point a little clearer to there being no sin in heaven, but I wanted to share our discussion in Colossians with you all.
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