“I have conditional grace at times. And I think the church has conditional grace and I think our model is always to say ‘do we give people what they have earned or what they need?’ They’ve all earned condemnation, I’ve earned condemnation. What I need from God is grace.”

To those on the outside, Jerry Sandusky’s systematic assaults against 10 boys over a 15-year period appear clear cut – he is a monster who deserves to be locked up, and in some minds, die and be sent directly to hell. But instead of whooping over the fact that Sandusky, 68, will likely die behind bars, voices appealing to God’s grace say Christians ought to take a good look in the mirror.

Dr. Vincent Bacote, associate professor of Theology and director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College, shared with The Christian Post that Christians need to remember that all sins are offensive to God.

“Any of us, because of our sins, deserve to be separated. It (sin) can make people do things that we think are unimaginable,” Bacote explained. “We have to ask the question: ‘what is it that has kept me from doing the unimaginable?’ And some people need to ask: ‘what are those things even about me now that if the conditions were right I would do something unimaginable?'”

Everyone has a shameful past, said Pastor Chad McComas of Set Free Christian Fellowship in Medford, Ore.

“Probably if every one of us had to come (to church) with a list of all the things we’ve done in the past we might be shocked of who’s actually in the congregation,” he told CP. “Whether a sex offender is part of the past or not, we all have skeletons that we are so glad is our past and not our present.”

According to McComas, the Christian church often does a poor job of emulating God’s grace.

“I have conditional grace at times. And I think the church has conditional grace and I think our model is always to say ‘do we give people what they have earned or what they need?’ They’ve all earned condemnation, I’ve earned condemnation. What I need from God is grace. And the church has to learn how to give grace without being stupid, of course, but we have to give grace for a person [willing to] change.”

It remains unclear if Sandusky has expressed any repentance, which is for many observers the sole motivation for any extension of grace. Recent reports reveal, however, that he maintains his innocence and plans to appeal the conviction. Neither is it clear to the public what kind of relationship the former Penn State football coach may have with Christ, as he and his wife Dottie Sandusky have worshipped for years at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church – where their pastor, Ed Zeiders, recently called on congregants to “pray for all of those who are victims and all of those who are predators.” Pastor Zeiders declined to speak with The Christian Post about Sandusky’s case.

The Rev. Jerry Hancock, director of the Prison Ministry Project at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Madison, Wis., is convinced that “no one is beyond God’s grace or our concern.”

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