What Is True Jeopardy, Alex?

I was watching the recent Tournament of Champions on Jeopardy! during dinner. One man had been trouncing the other contestants pretty well, and by the point he got to Final Jeopardy, he led the second-place contestant by about $6000. All he had to do was wager one dollar more than the maximum possible bid of his contender to win.

The final category was unveiled: Words In The Bible. Naturally, I got a little excited at seeing this, and jokingly said to my family, "I wager all of my money!" They laughed at my bravado, as I usually make outlandish bids whenever there is a Double Jeopardy question up on the screen.

When they came back from commercial, Alex Trebek read the final question:

"In Genesis 2:24 these 2 words are what a man shall do to his parents & then to his wife; add a letter to 1 to get the other."

Immediately, I shouted the answer. "Leave and cleave! I win the game! Booyah!" My family teased me because they knew I had it right (for a change), and we waited to see who would win the show.

The first man answered, "What are honor & ... ?" That was wrong; fortunately, he wagered nothing.

The second man answered, "What is love and lover?" Again, a wrong answer. Unfortunately for him, he wagered everything he had but $50.

The third man, the leader of the pack, answered incorrectly, too. Luckily, he had wagered only $250, making him still the winner. But it was his reply that intrigued me the most:

"What is be good?"

This is what many people think is the theme of the Christian faith. You become a Christian to add Heaven points to your tally in a goal of getting rewards after you die. God wants you to be good, and hopefully the good will outweigh the bad. And even the smartest of people on Jeopardy! believe this idea, too.

But no one can be good enough to get to Heaven. You see, God is a perfect God, and Heaven is a perfect place. If you're not perfect, you would add imperfection to Heaven, which would corrupt it. All it takes is one mistake, one error, one sin to cause this corruption. But we keep on thinking that we can do good enough to tip the scales to earn our way into Heaven. And that is the definition of true jeopardy.