When he was about four, Cade asked me if there will be pirates in heaven. He really loved pirates and wanted to be sure that his mateys would be walking next to him on the streets o’ gold.
Since pirates are fundamentally people who greedily steal from others, I told him no. This made Cade cry.
But then, I decided that pirates are no worse than many other scallywags who will be in heaven–scallywags like me. I am very greedy. I have stolen (mostly from other peoples’ plates when they are not looking). I’m very pirate-like. And I will be in heaven.
So I changed my answer. I told him that any repentant pirate who is trusting Jesus for salvation will be in heaven. Well, this dried my boy’s tears in a jiffy. And I guess I have to smile with him. If only the sinless were welcome in heaven, Cade and I would be walking the plank.