Gtcotr/ss010310
Have you ever heard that Coca-Cola and Aspirin mixed together make an intoxicating combination?
This claim is said to stem from a letter written in the 1930’s by a doctor from Illinois. He wrote to the Journal of the American Medical Association, to warn that teenagers were dissolving aspirin in Coca-Cola to create an “intoxicating beverage” with addictive properties that were as bad as “narcotic habituation.”
For many the 1978 movie, Grease, added validity to this claim as viewers saw the bizarre results firsthand on the big screen.
Suffice it to say the belief that Coca-Cola and aspirin is addictive or that the combination produces an “intoxicating beverage” is completely false. I considered demonstrating its falsity to you this morning however it would take a longer observation time than we can afford today.
But, in the interest of myth busting, there is another commonly held belief involving Coca-Cola that is said to produce immediate results. I am talking about the report that Ingesting Pop Rocks and Coca-Cola will cause a person’s stomach to explode.
The story is, that the star of a Life Cereal commercial, Mikey, who would eat anything, swallowed pop rocks and then drank a Coca-Cola. What happened? Within seconds, his stomach exploded and it killed him. The saying was, “Mikey got a bang out of life!” It is believed by many that this is the reason why pop rocks were taken off of the market in 1983.
So effective was this erroneous report that General Foods, the maker of pop rocks, battled the exploding kid story for years. They took out full page adds in 45 major newspapers and sent out 50,000 letters to school principles around the country, as well as sending the inventor of the candy on the road to explain that the amounts of gas generated by pop rocks was insufficient to cause such explosions. (Equal to about 6 ounces of Coke)
Nonetheless, many parents and teens of that era still have concerns about mixing pop rocks with Coca-Cola in fear that their stomachs will explode. Well, let’s see!!!!!!
Bring me the pop rocks and the Coca-Cola!!!
“Children, don’t try this, or any other myth busting attempts at home!”
Do we have the fire extinguishers standing by? Ok, here we go …
Swallow – gulp – gulp … (Perhaps a big explosion sound from our media dept !!!!) … so, you see, if I’m still alive … the myth is definitely busted!
Myths are the result of urban legends, false claims and wild stories which seemingly grow and take on a life of their own as they are passed from person to person. You might be surprised when you realize just how many people are gullible enough to believe almost anything if it is seen on television, reported in print, or just repeated often enough … Especially if the person who is passing the claim around is doing so with sincerity or has any level of personal credibility.
Such is the case even with some of the more common myths concerning Christianity and the Church.
Hence we now focus our attention on our:
Christian Myth for Today:
All good people go to heaven.
This is a widely held view which is based on several considerations, some of which are:
· God is a good God
· God loves and rewards people who do good deeds
· No loving God would want good people to spend eternity in hell
· God will make a way for all good people to go to heaven
Now, all of these considerations are true representations of God. However, it is very easy and often done, that people take certain elements of truth and use them to draw or support false conclusions.
The fact that General Foods stopped marketing pop rocks around 1983 is true. And, to add to the scenario, General Foods stopped featuring little Mikey on its Life Cereal commercials. However, to draw the conclusion that little Mikey was killed by pop rocks is false. How do we know? Because little Mikey is now all grown up and works as a marketing director for a radio station in New York. He simply got too old to be little Mikey.
Why then did General Foods stop marketing pop rocks, you may ask with some assertion and an eyebrow raised? Because they sold the rights to the product to Kraft who re-marketed the same product for a few years under “Action Candy” before changing it back to its original name, pop rocks.
It is the same with our Christian myth for today. Just because one person is right in claiming to know a truth about God, does not mean that they are free to draw conclusions from that truth to support their own inclinations.
This morning we are going to take a simple look at the Bible and allow God’s Word to settle this myth. Do all good people go to heaven?
Well, turn with me to John 3
John 3
1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?"
5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Nicodemus was evidently a good person. He was a very wealthy and very well known Jew belonging to the religious order of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were known for their religious piety. They were good, moral, holy, and devout Jews. This man Nicodemus was a ruler of that order.
However, whereupon Nicodemus was no doubt a good man who did good deeds, nonetheless Jesus made it clear that goodness, education, religious affiliation, or an elevated position, do not qualify a person to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Jesus plainly dispels the myth that all good people go to heaven by telling Nicodemus that he must be born again.
Born again? Whatever did Jesus mean? Even Nicodemus, a teacher of the law, well studied and serving in the leadership of the highest order of scholars of his day did not readily understand this term. It perplexed him. He asked, how can a man be born again?
You see, before a person can be born again, born a second time, they must die first. If there is life after death, then there must of necessity be death before that life.
The scriptures say:
John 12:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
We must die to the old life in order to be born to the new.
At times we must fully let go of one thing to fully get hold of another.
Every person is born into a sinful world with a sinful nature as a member of the sinful human race. Even if an individual is a good person, they are still just good sinners, good members of the sinful human race.
Without regard as to how wonderful your dog may be, it is still just a dog … a good dog, but a dog nonetheless. In order for a dog to become a human, if that was possible and it is not, they would have to be born again. However, before they could be born again, they would first have to die.
Even though it is not possible for a dog to become a human, it is possible for a human to become a child of God. How can this be, Nicodemus asked? God made a way through Messiah. But, before you can be born again, you must first die … you must die to your old life … die to the flesh in order to be born of the Spirit. How does a person die and yet live? Paul explained:
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Not only does God promise death to the old through a relationship with Christ Jesus, but God also promises resurrection from the dead and a new life in Christ Jesus! When we are born again Jesus’ death becomes our death, and His resurrection becomes our resurrection. Our life is hidden in Christ and we live in Him as He lives in us.
Colossians 3
1 If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
That’s what we are talking about today: Dead men walking!
Is God a good God? Yes, definitely!
Does God love and reward people who do good deeds? Sure He does.
Does God want good people to go to hell? No, no way! (Hell, no!)
Will God make a way for all good people to go to heaven? He already did!
Will all good people go to heaven? I pray they do, but …
That is a choice each person has to make for themselves. Just like Nicodemus, every person must be born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. God has no grandchildren, only children.
The way to heaven is through Jesus the Messiah. Only through a personal relationship with Him can a person be free from the damnation of sin.
When God told His children under the Law of Moses to provide an acceptable sacrifice for their sins, each person had to have a relationship with their sacrifice in order for their sins to be forgiven. Just because a neighbor offered a lamb for their sins did not mean it covered you. It had to be your lamb sacrificed to pay for your sins.
Without a personal relationship with, a personal connection to, the sacrifice, your sins will not be forgiven.
Do you have a personal relationship with the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world?
Believe on Jesus. Accept Him as Messiah today.
You see: To go to heaven, you must be born again.
Without Jesus you are dead because you live.
With Jesus you live because you are dead.
Either way, every person is a dead man walking.
Die today, live forever!
