When I was twelve, I was ignorant of the plan of salvation. As most, I thought God had a scale on which he compared all the bad I did with all the good I did.

Not only did it seem logical but it was something reinforced on every side, including many religions movies. Perhaps the one I found most memorable was “Cabin in the Sky.”

I won’t go through the synopsis but it strongly reinforced the above error.

At the time, I didn’t feel I did all that much that was wrong. What really scared me was that I didn’t do all that much good. So I just knew I was headed for hell. I guess what was worse was not knowing.

Not only was I afraid of hell fire, but I had no idea what I needed to do to go to heaven. Hence, I lived in constant fear of death, this because I was afraid of hell. After all, I heard some bad things about it.

Then I started going to Western Ave. So. Baptist Church. Week after week, I started learning the truth.

First, I learned I was incapable of doing enough good to get to heaven. Second, I learned that Jesus paid all the penalty for everything I ever did that was wrong. Even more, he paid for everything I ever thought of, past, present, and future.

All this time that I lived in fear was in ignorance. All I needed to do was admit the wrong I did, turn away from it and accept Jesus as my savior.

It is then that I realized the disaster of my ignorance. From that day forward, I realized that I will not ever go to hell. Instead and more importantly, I will go to heaven and will spend eternity with the one who loved me so much that he willingly gave his life for me.

If you are ignorant of this, it is a tragedy for you. The longer you remain ignorant of it, the longer you’ll live in fear, admit it or not.

The sooner you’re saved, the sooner you’ll begin to truly appreciate life. Then, you will be one who will agree about the tragedy of Ignorance.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but will have everlasting life.

You might notice that that everlasting doesn’t mean life until the next bad thing you do. Also, “whosoever” has no exceptions. Even Hitler would have been saved if he had claimed this promise. I don’t suspect that I will run into him there. He likely didn’t believe in Jesus, let alone the plan of salvation, aka The Good News.