OPINION: ALFORD: Boy goes to church when supply of fishing bait runs low

Dec. 17—You may remember the tale about the little boy who was late getting to church one Sunday morning.

"Is anything wrong?" his Sunday school teacher asked him.

"Well, I was going to go fishing, but my dad told me I needed to go to church instead," the little boy said.

The teacher was very impressed and asked the little boy if his father had explained why it was more important for him to go to church than to go fishing.

"Yes," the little boy said, "He told me he didn't have enough bait for both of us."

You know, the Bible is so full of many references to fishing. But perhaps the most ominous is in Matthew 13:47-50 in which Jesus was teaching his followers about coming judgment:

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels but cast away the bad. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Of course, we understand that it isn't fish being gathered but people. Those who have surrendered their hearts and lives to Christ will go to heaven. Those who have rejected Christ will go to hell.

That passage sends a shiver down the spine.

I simply can't imagine why anyone would choose hell over heaven. And it is a choice.

The Bible makes clear that we have the option to choose Christ and live eternally in heaven, described as a place where there will be no more tears, or to reject Christ and live eternally in hell, described as a place where the fire is not quenched and the worm dieth not.

Have you heard people ask the question, "How can a loving God allow anyone to go to hell?"

The fact is, God gave his only Son as the way for everyone to avoid hell. Perhaps you remember the scripture from John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

That little boy was in the right place to learn that important truth. His father, with his nearly empty can of bait, was not.