How Do I Get To Heaven?
Posted: Wednesday, June 25, 2008
by Abigail Richards
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
I have a close friend whose husband is not a Christian meaning he does not believe that Jesus died for his sins. In the religious world, she is referred to as unequally yoked. It is very hard for her and she struggles with the issue every day.
She called recently upset because of an argument she had with her neighbor. She had mentioned being upset about him going to hell. The neighbor immediately went off saying that he was a good person and she found it hard to believe that God would send good people to hell. My friend held strong to her belief that the Bible is very clear.
This is an age-old debate. How do you get to heaven? Do you hold strict to the above Bible verse? Do you believe that God is full of grace and will not send the undeserving to hell?
We hear the word tolerance and religion used so much in society these days. Some people refer to going to church as being religious or being Christian. Some people are switching churches so fast they don’t even know what the church they are going to even believes. Yet they have an opinion on what is right.
I think they spend so much time defending their beliefs that they fail to find out what are their beliefs.
A new study was released from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. What is interesting is that the majority of Americans believe there are many ways to eternal life. Some refer to this as tolerance.
It seems to be a new trend in America. We need to get along with one another and the way to do that is to take on others beliefs. It comes back to the core fact that most Americans really don’t know what they believe in. They were raised in a church, they have this friend who is caught up in a mess of sin or they compare themselves to others. Either way, they begin to leave the judging to themselves.
According to the study, by many measures, Americans are strongly religious: 92 percent believe in God, 74 percent believe in life after death and 63 percent say their respective scriptures are the word of God. How can you believe the scriptures are the word of God, but not believe what is said in the scripture?
But deeper investigation found that more than one in four Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants and Orthodox Christians expressed some doubts about God's existence, as did six in ten Jews. How can individuals identify themselves with a particular church or as a Christian and not believe God even exists?
Another finding almost defies explanation: 21 percent of self-identified atheists said they believe in God or a universal spirit, with 8 percent "absolutely certain" of it.
Is it me or does no one know the definition or terminology anymore? I continue that people are confused and want so badly to believe in anything or anyone?
Sixty-eight percent of Americans said there is more than one way to interpret the teachings of their own religion.
I think Americans just don’t know the fundamental teachings of their own religion. It is funny to me that we can memorize stats at a baseball game, retell a conversation we had twenty years ago with the boy who told us what life was about, know everything there is to know about our profession or field, but we don’t take the time to study what we believe.
How many Americans know what they personally believe and why they believe that? Those who attend church, do they know why they go to church, what their denomination believes or even what their own church or leader believes.
I hate to be one of those negative people, but I think American is in trouble. I think we listen to individuals talk a great talk and jump on the nearest bandwagon without ever looking for truth to live by during our daily lives.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)HI Abigail. Very well said. It is very sad because truth is truth. Not believing the Bible and God's word does not make it untrue. The fact is the God said there is no one good, no not one. Why would God send his son to die and pay the price for sin if people are basically good? Thanks for sharing this information. We need to be praying for the blinders to be lifted and the scales to fall of the eyes of the deceived just as they did our eyes.
Wonderful Abigail. Teresa said it better then I could. I liked very much how you started your article with "John 14:6" and then Teresa following up with "The fact is the God said there is no one good, no not one. Why would God send his son to die and pay the price for sin if people are basically good?" Again, good job, and, may the Lord bless you.
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