Good enough to go

I have (at least) four close friends who are unsaved. By their own admission they tell me they do not believe that Jesus Christ is the living Son of God who willingly died on the cross as a perfect sacrifice to God for our sins and then arose again three days later in order that we might be purified and thus reunited with God once again. I was having a discussion with one of them the other day and he was very reluctant to talk about it, but I was persistent and eventually we had a long discussion about his belief system.

Essentially he believes that God is love and a loving God would not send billions of people to Hell just because they are not Christians. He went on to say he had spent time in Asia and had encountered Buddhists and Hindus and they were very good people and he felt that their religion was just as relevant as Christianity. He does not believe the Bible because it is too restrictive and just for Christians. He sees no reason to go to church because God is everywhere.

It seems his belief system is based solely upon his half-hearted analysis of life and not on any religious Scripture like the Bible, Koran etc. Basically he just does not think about it very much. I asked him if he believed in good and evil and what he thought might happen to him when he died. He had not thought about it, but assumed that since he was a “good” person that he would be with God and enter heaven after he died. I asked if Hitler would be joining him. “No he was not a good person”, he replied. “Well then how good do you have to be to get into heaven?” I asked. That seemed to stump him and he sheepishly admitted he did not have a clue. I did get him to thinking about the concept that there would be a separating of the “wheat from the chaff” based on some criteria at some point after death.

I explained the plan of salvation as outlined in the Bible and that we cannot be good enough to please a holy and righteous God because of even one sin and that without Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice we would be eternally separated from God’s pure and righteous presence. We talked for a long time and finally I told him that one of us was right and one was wrong. If I am right and he is wrong, then he is in a heap of trouble when he dies.

I used to have a similar belief system to this person and was an agnostic/atheist. I was fortunate enough to read the Bible for myself cover to cover, (and then many, many times since), and have studied the Bible for years and have come to understand that the Bible is God’s communiqu to all of mankind. I believe with all my being that it is straight from God and true in every aspect. It would take more time than I have here to put forth arguments that the Bible is God’s masterpiece and not derived from men, although ordinary men were the tool that God used to record His word. If one cannot be convinced of its authenticity then all might be lost.

If you witness regularly then you might want to spend some time thinking about how someone can be convinced that the Bible is the unerring word of God Himself and His directive to “fallen” mankind as to what must be done to purify oneself and be reunited with Him and enter His holy presence once again. I told my friend that we all have a decision to make regarding Jesus Christ. Either we accept Him or reject Him. It is the notion of “free will” and choosing to accept or reject God’s easy plan for salvation.

I cannot conceive that an all-powerful God who created everything would allow His word to be written down wrong by some bumbling prophet or apostle. I believe God ensured that every word written down in the Bible is extremely accurate. If one agrees with that assumption then the way to get into heaven can be taken right out of the Bible. Here is what it states about getting into heaven:

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except
through me.