Question #6

Do you think people can "earn" their way into heaven? Why or why not?

We just studied Religious Pluralism in Contemporary Christian Belief.

One of the issues we were presented with in this study was that many people choose Pluralism over Christianity because they cannot come to terms with the concept of someone such as Gandhi going to Hell when he did so many good deeds.

Our answer to this conundrum was that, as sinful humans, even our most righteous deeds are like filthy rags when presented to a holy and perfect God. In the Bible, Isaiah felt unclean in front of the Holy. Peter fled from God, stating that he was "a sinful man." In the Bible, we are told that it is not a question of good or bad but of the direction of our lives. Are we turned toward God or away? God tells us that he does not want good deeds, he wants our hearts, however soiled, and he wants them wholly. He wants us to repent.

If God were to make his final decision of us based on how much good or bad we did on earth, there would surely be some cases in which a person was only 51% good, while still 49% bad. Or what of those who were just 1% away, one good deed away, from being good enough? God doesn't want a tally or a rank, he wants a relationship.

In John 14v6 (NIV), Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

If Jesus existed and if his resurrection is true (and according to evidence and solid research, it is) then, to be safe, we should heed what a once-dead-now-risen manGod has to say, and he has answered this question by saying that nothing but a relationship with him will save us. Through him, not through our kind actions, will we be gifted an eternal afterlife of joy and peace.