Surprise!
Many times I have asked my students the question, "If Hitler repented and turned to God at the end of his life would God have forgiven him and saved him?" This is an offensive question for many people, but it's a theological problem Christians should consider. Less about Hitler, this question really takes the most evil person our modern minds can think of and puts his many sins up against One who Christians would usually claim is a God who can, through Jesus's atonement, redeem anyone . Reading through 1 Kings again recently, I was reminded of an Israelite "Hitler." King Ahab reigned over the ten Northern tribes of Israel in the 700's B.C. He didn't carry quite as much of a murderer's rap as Hitler did - Ahab's sin was idolatry. He worshipped idols and led the people of Israel to do the same. Similar to the way Hitler's name carries a stigma of pure evil today, Ahab's name would have carried a stigma of evil in his day. In f