Goodness and simplicity

Why is it so hard for us to understand that we aren't "good enough?" How many sins did Adam and Eve commit when judgment and death became a reality? One is the answer to that question. How many sins did Moses commit that kept him out of the land? One is that answer to that question also. It isn't to say that they committed no other sins in their lives, but one was enough to DQ them from participation in the fullness of life.

When we ask people whether they will get in at the end, the answer most often given is that they think they have been good enough. They haven't, I haven't, no one has but Jesus. When the rich young ruler first begins talking to Jesus here is the conversation, "And a ruler asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.'" (Luke 18.18-19) Any questions?

Nothing exists apart from God that can be truly considered good. None of us is good apart from God, no matter what we think or what the rest of the world thinks. The Articles of Religion (particularly 11 and 12), the basis of Anglican theology, speak clearly about our beliefs in goodness. The only One with real knowledge of Good and Evil is God, and Jesus (God incarnate) says that no one is good but God. The sooner we stop trying to make judgments on good and evil and accept that God alone is arbiter of such things, the sooner we can receive mercy and grace which are aspects or characteristics of God, and therefore, eo ipso, good. Simple stuff.