Of course not.
Although it certainly does help to be put on the right path, Christianity is not the only path to heaven. As pointed out before, where would that leave unborn babies or people who have never even heard of Christ? That said, it's not as though I know who and who does not go to heaven. I can't just say, "Oh, well, that kid was mean to me so he can forget heaven." No. Only God is the judge of who is and who is not worthy of heaven. And lucky for us, He's the perfect judge.
HOWEVER- It's not as if you can be a completely horrible person, and a Christian, and still expect to live in eternal splendor. First of all, obviously you're not being Christian if you're being horrible. And second of all, it's not who you are that determines your ticket to heaven, but what you do. The actions that we make every day determine whether we deserve heaven. Avoiding sin, aiding the poor, and just being good people in general is what God wants us to do. Love. And if you truly love everyone, then you will get to heaven.
Very sound. I think people of all religions can agree that there are surely millions of people who haven't been given a proper opportunity to even consider their religion. Some may have never heard of it and others may have been influenced to believe that it is wrong. Stereotypes, warfare, bad experiences, etc.
ReplyDeleteBut surely, if Christ really did die for the salvation of those who accept him as Savior, it would be jolly unfair to suggest that his crucifixion was pointless...
It wasn't. Christ didn't just die for Christians, he died for everyone. He died so that ALL sins could be forgiven. :)
ReplyDeleteUh, i don't think that you meant that since Jesus' death all sins of every person have been forgiven, so I'll rethink that.
ReplyDeleteah...so that all sins *could* be forgiven. Not *would* be forgiven. I see. That's a bit more fair than a sort of auto-wipe on the hard drives of our souls. ;)
But why would even a man, if not God-within-a-man, have to die for this to be the case? Surely God was All-Forgiving before...though this is digressing from the post, which again, was very sound thinking.
The best answer I can come up with for the reason that Jesus had to die was: because God said so. Several times in the Bible, the death of a savior is foretold.
ReplyDeleteAlso- If we had to bear the full weight of our sins, we would be sent into hell. But Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven. He became the so called "sacrificial lamb" for the whole world. Only Jesus can make the perfect sacrifice to cleanse us of our sins.
Jesus was born so that he could die so that others may live. Several times, he referred to his own death. Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).
So basically, Jesus had to die to bear our sins, enabling us to get into heaven. His death symbolizes God's great love for us. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life" (John 3:16).