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Dear Father Paul

Dear Father Paul: My dad had lots of sayings that have helped me in life. A couple of his favorites were, "what you don't know can't hurt you," and, "ignorance is bliss." In other words, if one does not know, one has no responsibility. Does God excuse lack of knowledge? Billy, Peachtree City.

Dear Billy: Try telling the police officer who stops you for going 60 in a school zone, "I'm sorry officer, I didn't see the sign." The Apostle Paul wrote of God in I Timothy 2:4, "(God) who wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." Basically, God wants every human on planet Earth to come to know him as Father through the lordship of Jesus Christ. At certain times in the past God did provide some excuse for ignorance. In Acts 14:16 (Amplified Bible) it says, "In generations past he permitted all nations to walk in their own ways." Reading further in Acts 17: 30 & 31 we find, "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man (Jesus) he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

I am not God so it is NOT my place, or anyone else's except God's to decide who goes to heaven and who does not.  But I know this, heaven is a place where there is NO sin, and God will not allow sin to enter heaven and contaminate it as sin has contaminated the earth. Therefore, in order to enter heaven we must be spotless of sin, and the ONLY way to do that is through the sacrificial shed blood of Jesus. Today, the Bible is universally accessible and can be understood by anyone. Therefore, man is without excuse.

Dear Father Paul: My wife says that I am a great "procrastinator." I must admit that, to an extent, she is right. Is procrastination a sin? No Name, Fayetteville.

Dear No Name: Procrastination is defined as deferring action or delaying action until an opportunity is lost. It is different from just being "slow" to move or take action, and yes, procrastination can be a sin.

The Bible is replete with examples of people who failed to act when they should have. One of the best is the parable that Jesus told in Luke 14: 15 - 24, often called the Parable of the Great Banquet. In the story a certain man began planning a great banquet and invited numerous guests. When everything was ready, he told his servant to go and tell the invited guests to come, everything is now ready. The Bible says, "but they all alike began to make excuses, the first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'" And on and on, excuse after excuse.

When the servant returned and reported this to his master, the master became angry and told him to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind so that his house would be full. Then he adds, "I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet."

The house and the banquet are representative of God's invitation for us to come to him (his banquet at his house)  in heaven. But if we follow the example of those who procrastinated and delayed, we will loose this wonderful opportunity, not just to go to a banquet in an earthly sense, but to live eternally with God in heaven, and others will take our place. We can see from this story that, in God's kingdom, procrastination can have very serious consequences.

As it says in Hebrews 3, "Today (right now) if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts..." And in II Corinthians 6, "I tell you, now (today, right now) is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation."

Successful people, both in the Bible and now, are people of immediacy. They do not defer. A wise man said that, "tomorrow is the busiest day af people's lives." That is because too many of us put off until tomorrow what we should do today. Again, it can be a small thing that we put off, and if we loose the opportunity by our procrastination, it is no big deal. But procrastination about where our eternal home will be is a BIG deal! Eternity is a long time.Don't procrastinate about the things of God. We are not guaranteed tomorrow.

Father Paul Massey will answer your question. Write him at paulmassey@earthlink.net or Box 510, Fayetteville, Georgia 30214.