I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine, regarding heaven and how we get there. During the course of our talk, a couple of things were brought up like: the idea all religions are the same. I was amazed by this comment – are they really?? My friend went on to say that as long as you are a good person and did good deeds - that is all there is to it. I then said that if this statement was true then all religions say that you have to do something. That something would be doing and being a generally good person; however is that in line with our human nature? No, we are not good! Have you looked around the world lately and seen the destruction? When left alone, there are all kinds of vices we will find ourselves succumbing to. For a small example: power, money, greed, and deceit.
This sparked an interest to know a little more about what is going on in the general American population and what they think and believe. According to the Barna Group, 90% of Americans pray, but 87% don’t believe in the 10 commandments, 92% own a bible but only 11% actually read it, and lastly 62% claim to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I don’t know about you but these numbers are a bit staggered. If 62% claim to know Jesus and 87% don’t believe in all 10 commandments – can we really say they truly have a personal relationship with Jesus? What does the word relationship mean? To have a bond, affiliation with or a connection between people – it means more than one. So how can they claim to know Jesus but don’t believe His word – the Bible. The Bible is our connection and main source in defining who and what God is and is about. It is through reading His word that the Holy Spirit can speak to us - thus defining the relationship part. Another survey went on to state that 54% of the American population believes that if a person is good enough, does enough and obeys the law that they will earn their place in heaven.
However the bible says in Romans 3: 10-19 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.”
There are NO righteous people, which means that none of us are blameless, holy and pure. The rest of these verses are a reflection of the sinful human condition. Have you ever lied? Have you ever hurt someone with harsh words? Do you become angry with those that oppose you? Are you bitter towards anyone? If you answered yes to any of these questions: than this verse applies to you just as much as it does me and we stand guilty before a holy and just God. More importantly, we will be held accountable to Him for what we have done here on earth. So what can we do to fix our unrighteousness on our own? If we have never been righteous and we are sinful beings how then can we become blameless by our own works?
In light of the Christmas season, which has just passed where we celebrated Christ’s birth – in Matthew 1: 20- 21 …. “ Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for he will save His people from their sins.” This verse clearly shows us that we needed an intermediate to go on our behalf and save us for our sins - we needed a holy and blameless sacrifice.
Ephesians 2:8-10 states: “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” I think 54% of our society has the way to get to heaven backwards – they are trying to do good works to get into heaven but God gave us Jesus for atonement of our sins and for Him to be the ONLY way to heaven. As a result, of accepting Him good works were created for those who have acknowledged Jesus as Lord and Savior and are shown as a by product to honor and glorify Him. Not to save us!!!!!
In closing, the beginning statement of this post my friend suggested that all religions are equal. However, I disagree. Being a Christian is about having a personal relationship with God and believing that God sent His Son for atonement of our sins and that we accept him as such – realizing that we on our own will never be good enough or do enough good deeds to make up the difference. By accepting Christ as your personal savior, you are acknowledging that He has paid all your debt for sin and that you are not sufficiently able to cover that cost on your own. Whereby, not making all religions equal!
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