Punishment Misconceptions:
-God’s going to get you for drinking alcohol.
-The reason why you’re sick is because you fornicated last week.
-God’s going to strike you down for lying in church.

Punishment is a misconception that mainly derived from the church. If an unfortunate event occurs, a religious person may say God is punishing us for a certain sin. This misconception makes us sin conscious and at the same time, it dismisses the sacrifice of Jesus. Why would someone want to have a relationship with a person who can punish them anytime they miss the mark?

God doesn’t use unfortunate events to punish us. If He’s going to punish us for sins, what’s the point of Jesus’ sacrifice? There are consequences for sin, but it’s not a punishment from God. If a person has challenges with gluttony, it’s not God punishing them with diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. The consequences for their eating habits brought them to this point.

In the Old Testament, God did punish the Israelites for their sin because there had to be just retribution and the Savior had not yet come. However, with the death and resurrection of Jesus, punishment became unnecessary. Jesus died on the Cross and paid the penalty for all of our sin – past, present, and future (Hebrews 10:14, 18).

Psalm 103:10 He does not punish us as we deserve or repay us according to our sins and wrongs.