{"id":39519,"date":"2017-12-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/calvin-and-hobbes-ask-how-good-is-good-enough\/"},"modified":"2017-12-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T00:00:00","slug":"calvin-and-hobbes-ask-how-good-is-good-enough","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/calvin-and-hobbes-ask-how-good-is-good-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Calvin and Hobbes ask &#8216;How Good is Good Enough?&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fleming Rutledge writes: Sin is a category without meaning except in reference to God. A Calvin and Hobbes comic strip illustrates this in an endearing way. Calvin, a little boy, is hurtling down a snowy slope on a sled with his friend Hobbes, a tiger, conducting a discussion about sin (the wildly improbable nature of this scene is part of its charm). Here is the dialogue:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>Calvin:<\/em> I&#39;m getting nervous about Christmas.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>Hobbes:<\/em> You&#39;re worried you haven&#39;t been good?<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>Calvin:<\/em> That&#39;s just the question. It&#39;s all relative. What&#39;s Santa&#39;s definition? How good do you have to be to qualify as good? I haven&#39;t killed anybody. That&#39;s good, right? I haven&#39;t committed any felonies. I didn&#39;t start any wars. &hellip; Wouldn&#39;t you say that&#39;s pretty good? Wouldn&#39;t you say I should get lots of presents?<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>Hobbes:<\/em> But maybe good is more than the absence of bad.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>Calvin:<\/em> See, that&#39;s what worries me.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3458,3477,3559,3600,3726,4204,4254,4317,4318,4491,4626,4794,4807,4902,5298],"tax_ctp_topics":[387],"class_list":["post-39519","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-authenticity","tax_ctp_tags-behavior","tax_ctp_tags-character","tax_ctp_tags-christmas","tax_ctp_tags-culture","tax_ctp_tags-identity-in-christ","tax_ctp_tags-insecurity","tax_ctp_tags-justification","tax_ctp_tags-justification-by-faith","tax_ctp_tags-morality","tax_ctp_tags-performance","tax_ctp_tags-relativism","tax_ctp_tags-reputation","tax_ctp_tags-security-in-christ","tax_ctp_tags-works-righteousness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Calvin and Hobbes ask &#039;How Good is Good Enough?&#039; - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/calvin-and-hobbes-ask-how-good-is-good-enough\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Calvin and Hobbes ask &#039;How Good is Good Enough?&#039; - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fleming Rutledge writes: Sin is a category without meaning except in reference to God. 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