The Effects of Soda and Sin on Teeth and Eternity

When I treated myself to a fast food lunch yesterday, I happened on an interesting thought: Soda is good for my teeth. The logic went something like this: Soda is composed of acid, sugar, and artificial flavors, so it's obviously very, very bad for your teeth, so when I drink soda (which isn't often), I'm reminded to brush my teeth afterward, and brushing is, of course, good for your teeth. So drinking soda reminds me to brush my teeth, so drinking soda is good for my teeth.

Attaching a gospel analogy to this, I surmised that sin brings us closer to God in that it reminds us to repent, and repenting brings us closer to God. I figured that just as the net result of brushing your teeth after a drink of soda is (probably) good for your teeth, repenting after a fall (possibly) brings us closer to God than we'd have been if we had neither repented nor sinned. So sin brings us closer to God in the same way that soda is good for our teeth.

Naturally, I was very wrong, and here's why: You don't need to sin in order to draw closer to God any more than you need to drink soda in order to brush your teeth. You can pray and brush anyway. Sure, soda and sin may remind you to brush and pray, but the reminder isn't strictly necessary. Taking two steps forward for each step back is technically making progress, but taking two steps forward without taking any steps back helps us make even better progress. Besides, though I may play devil's advocate for the sake of argument, I'd hate to actually advocate anything the devil tells us to do. Drinking sugar-infused acid is not a good dental hygiene strategy, and sinning is not a good way to draw closer to God. Though sin and soda may have a net-positive effect on us if we repent and brush our teeth afterward, it's far better not to sin or drink soda at all.

Am I still going to drink soda again, even knowing what I know about its effect on teeth? Probably. After all, I'm only human. I also know that I'm probably going to sin again, for the same reason. But I'm not going to harbor any backwards notions that sin and soda are somehow good for me. They're not. And I'm not going to wait until I sin or drink soda again before I brush my teeth or say my prayers. We should all brush our teeth and say our prayers regularly, multiple times daily, whether we sin or drink soda or not. It's in praying and brushing our teeth that our eternal welfare and dental hygiene improve, and we don't need to (and shouldn't!) wait until after we've sinned or drunk soda to do it.