 | David Mann
is on staff as one of the Pastors at Central Christian Church in Wichita and has served as both Pastor of Christian Education and Pastor of Communications. David has taught adult classes at Central for more than 20 years and is known for his teaching emphasis on the Character of God, The Nature of Man, and the work of Jesus on the Cross. David can be contacted by phone at (316) 688-4400, by e-mail at mannd@centralcc.org, or you can write him at: Central Christian, 2900 North Rock Road, Wichita, KS 67226. |
Religion
2001-11-01 14:12:00
Requirements to enter heaven... same for all?
Question: Since there are so many different religions and rules pertaining to them, are the requirements for getting into heaven different depending on what faith one follows?
Answer: Great question, and a logical one as well. This is a question that most thinking people ask at some time in their lives, let’s take a look at the two parts of your question starting with the possibility of having different requirements for people of different religious persuasions and then moving on to the requirements for entering Heaven.Before we begin, let’s observe that there is a popular notion making the rounds these days that truth is variable or changeable depending on your point of view. As appealing as that concept may be to some, in the final analysis this notion breaks down because it has its roots more in the political correctness movement than it does in the realm of logic. Regarding your question, I’ll start with the presupposition that there can be only one objectively true, ultimately true, truly true reality of what comes after this life.Our curiosity would love to know with certainty exactly what one, true reality will face us upon death. Some believe that after we die we just evaporate into nothingness or that we start over in a new life or that we just blend in to the cosmic consciousness but when all is said and done, something will really, truly happen to all of us after we die.People’s opinions can be variable, social moods are variable, and religious traditions can vary but if there is actually a real, objectively true place called heaven (and there is), then let’s admit that whoever created heaven must set the entrance requirements. The idea of heaven as a place where the one, true God of all creation rules over conscious inhabitants for eternity with absolute and perfect holiness, righteousness, love, justice, mercy, and grace is found only in the Bible so let’s begin by asking if the God of the Bible has anything to say about the possibility of entering His heaven via different roads or requirements, or by different methods of salvation.Here are a few verses from the Bible that shed light on our question.Isa. 45:18 For this is what the LORD says— he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited— he says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other. Isa. 45:21b And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Isa. 45:22 “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” It would seem that the God of the Bible is pretty clear about telling us that no one will enter His heaven except by His way of salvation. No other God, no other savior, no other way. This being said, let’s now look at the second part of your second question, “What are the requirements to enter Heaven?”In the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, God clearly states the entry requirements for His eternal heaven. Let’s observe what Revelation chapter 21 verse 27 has to say with regard to entering heaven.Rev. 21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. So the requirements for entry are really pretty simple. Perfection. That’s all, just being perfect, sinless, having no faults, no impurity, never having done anything wrong, never having lied (even once), never having deceived or stolen from someone, never having a lustful thought, never coveting what someone else has, never having spoken the Lord’s name in foul language, and always having kept the Sabbath as a holy day. Entering heaven is as simple as being perfect in God’s eyes.The problem is, we’re not perfect. None of us. Nada. Nobody. Not you. Not me. Unfortunately, the Bible says our record was tarnished with sin at birth and has gotten progressively worse as our lives have continued on. Just look at what God has to say about us.Rom. 3:10-12 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Isa. 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. On his own, Abraham wasn’t good enough, Moses wasn’t good enough, Isaiah wasn’t good enough, John the Baptist wasn’t good enough, Paul the Apostle wasn’t good enough. Just like us, they all needed a savior. Someone to cover their failings and somehow give them the spotless, sinless perfection that is needed to be accepted by God into his heavenly presence.Many people cling to the notion that it is something they do that will earn them a place in heaven, some work they perform will be their ticket, or that there will be a scale at the entrance to heaven and if what they think of as their good works done in this life outweigh the bad works, then God will smile and say something like “Boy oh boy, come on in, you’ve earned it!”Earning your way into heaven may seem reasonable to our human minds but God clearly says no one will enter heaven because they’ve earned it. The blot of sin on our record can never be removed by our own works. In fact, He says in the book of Isaiah that even our best efforts at being righteous are like filthy rags in His eyes. Here are a couple of other places where God communicates that our good works cannot save us:Ephesians 2:9 says salvation is “not by works, so that no one can boast.”Gal. 2:16b “because by observing the law no one will be justified.”Rom. 3:20 “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law;”Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,”So if the Bible says none of us are good enough on our own to get into God’s heaven and that there’s no way we can earn our way into heaven by our good works, then we end up asking the same question that was asked by a Philippian jailer as recorded in the book of Acts: “”Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The answer: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” Acts 16:30-31Jesus himself said the same thing to the crowd when they asked him “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:28-29At first, it sounds too simple. To say that we can become acceptable to God and enter heaven just by believing on Jesus to save us. It seems like we should have to earn our way, until we remember God said that’s simply not possible. If any of us is going to enter heaven, it’s got to be because God has mercy on us and grants us what He calls grace.Much of the New Testament is spent describing this wonderful concept of God’s grace, how it is received, and how it works itself out in our lives and our salvation. Here are a few verses to get you started:Eph. 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. Gal. 2:16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.Rom. 3:22-24 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Much of my adult life has been spent exploring this wonder of God’s grace, examining how His plan of salvation works, and marveling at the incredible gift He gives to all who believe on the savior He provided, Jesus the Messiah. Your question was a great one and I hope I’ve shed a some light on it but with a topic as vast as the grace of God and His salvation, even eternity in Heaven won’t be long enough to explore it fully. Let me leave you with God’s own words on your questions:John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
