"I used to larn He made the world and me, and I know
He'll punish the wicked, but I've never tried to serve Him, and--and I
don't think as how I care about it."
"P'raps you don't know about Jesus Christ?" asked Roy, solemnly.
"Well, yes, I used to larn about Him when I was a kid at the
Sunday-school. I know He came into the world to save people, but I never
rightly understood why, nor what difference it makes."
"I'll be able to tell you that. If He hadn't died, I suppose I shouldn't
have cared about serving God because it would have been no use--nothing
would have been any use, for we should all have had to go to hell when
we died, to punish us for our sins. We could never have got to heaven at
all."
"If we had been very good I reckon we could," put in Rob, knitting his
brows with this aspect of the subject.
"But you see the Bible says we can't be good, not one of us--the devil
won't let us."
"But there are good people in the world."
"You interrupt so," said Roy, a little impatiently. "I was going to
tell you. Jesus died to let God be able to forgive us and take us to
heaven. It's rather difficult to explain, but God punished Him _instead_
of us, do you see? So now we can all go to heaven, and the reason we try
to be good is to please Jesus because He has loved us, and the reason we
are able to be good is because Jesus helps us to be, and He can fight
the devil better than we can.
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