A question...

[r_so]

for anyone, but especially to Christians. Do you have to be Christian to get into heaven? Let's say a person has lived their entire life doing good deeds and has helped many. He has no religion, however, they believe that there is a God, heaven, and hell. According to any Christian would that person go to hell, heaven or purgatory?

Thanks to anyone that takes the time to answer my question.

Rachel

[conciencia]

When he did not believe his eyes at the site of the resurrected Christ, Jesus did not condem him, in fact he even asked to be approach and physically be touched, granted, his shape or form was somewhat different, nonetheless his teaching and mannerism was the same. So the "word" talks about a period of time whereas those none believers will have an opportunity when teaching takes place.

Those acknowledge the word and twist it and follow doctrine or mankind foolishness are considered Anti-Christ of slanderes, Believe me Satan and his followers surely await death, not a chance, since they have been exposed.

So do good, love your neighbor, you have more chances of being judge favorally then the Saducces and Fariseos, since only The Creator knows our heart.

[El_Jibaro]

Originally posted by r_so
for anyone, but especially to Christians. Do you have to be Christian to get into heaven? Let's say a person has lived their entire life doing good deeds and has helped many. He has no religion, however, they believe that there is a God, heaven, and hell. According to any Christian would that person go to hell, heaven or purgatory?

Thanks to anyone that takes the time to answer my question.

Rachel

[i]Rachel:

The word PURGATORY is nowhere in the entire BIBLE.

However, Heaven and Hell are.

In no way does the WORD of GOD say that a person who calls himself/herself a "Christian" goes to Heaven by default. In FACT the WORD of GOD states categorically that ALL OF US HUMAN BEINGS DESERVE TO BE KEPT OUT OF HEAVEN:

Romans 3:23

For ALL have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.

"ALL" includes you and me, from Adam and Eve until the world ends: all human beings SIN, that is ALL OF US BREAK GOD'S LAWS as soon as we are aware of what we are doing. That means that ALL OF DESERVE HELL. That is why we need a SAVIOR to SAVE us from what we deserve. The action of GETTING SAVED FROM WHAT WE DESERVE is called SALVATION.

This is the essence of the GOOD NEWS: SALVATION.

That is why JESUS was given this name, which means "YAHWEH SAVES".

Even the Virgin Mary was in the same boat as the rest of us as far as deserving Eternal Death, as her own words show when she discovered that she was going to be the Mother of the MESSIAH:

Luke 1:46,47

And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior...

Not that Mary was not a complete virgin in all the sense of the word, but she was as sinful as the rest of us and she acknowledged she needed a SAVIOR.

How many SINS take to make one deserving of Eternal Punishment?

ONE.

James 2:10[b]

10And the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God's laws.

The clearest example that all human beings with moral discernment have broken GOD'S COMMANDMENTS is simply the 10th Commandment:

Exodus 20:17

"Do not covet your neighbor's house. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else your neighbor owns."

This particular Commandment forbids any type of ENVY. Now, find me one human being who has full use of his/her mental faculties who has never committed ENVY. You will not find one.

So we are all in the same boat to Hell. But, some people dare to be conceited enough to pompously proclaim that they have never sinned. Obviously the first STEP towards being SAVED is to voluntarily recognize that one has SINNED and therefore is a SINNER.

Once one recognizes his/her DOOMED situation, then one can receive GOD'S FREE GIFT: SALVATION.

Romans 6:23[b]

For the wages of sin is death, but the FREE GIFT of God is Eternal Life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now, how does a person recieve this GIFT?

In many religious circles they teach that "one has to EARN Heaven, or Immortality, or Nirvana, etc." Well, this kind of teaching contradicts the GOOD NEWS, since the GOOD NEWS categorically states that for as many millions of years one tried to EARN GOD's GLORY, one could never do so.

So, going back to the central question posed before: how does a person recieve this GIFT?

By HAVING FAITH IN JESUS!

Romans 3:21,22

21But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight--not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. 22We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be Saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.

What is FAITH IN JESUS?

Romans 10:9,10

9For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be Saved. 10For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

Clearly, having FAITH IN JESUS has two parts: BELIEVING with our HEART (not merely mental acquiesence...), and CONFESSING with our MOUTHS ("Closet Christians" need not apply...).

This is what SALVATION is all about.

No MERITS, no EARNINGS, just receiving a FREE GIFT, by FAITH!

In FACT, this contradicts the teachings of many organizations which tell their followers that one has to "DO SO MANY GOOD WORKS, X-Y-and-Z..."

Ephesians 2:8,9

8God Saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a Gift from God. 9Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

OK, this brings us to a STARK FACT: those who knowingly REJECT JESUS will be Eternally Doomed.

Yes, ACCEPTIN JESUS is obviously the ENTRANCE EXAM to Heaven.

However, of those who NEVER HEARD about JESUS, they will probably hear about HIM when they get to Heaven. For you see, all the human beings that lived from the first human: Adam, until JESUS came to earth, they are in a similar predicament to the Native American in the Amazon Forest who died 40 years ago before a missionary came to him to tell him the GOOD NEWS. Those human beings will be judged by the limited amount of TRUTH they had and what he/she did with it, and their willingness to ACCEPT the SAVIOR if they had the chance to; and when they enter Heaven, it will not be based on the "Merits" they had but on the FACT that JESUS paid the PRICE for their entrance too, since HIS SACRIFICE covers every human being from the dawn of humanity until the end of time.

The PROBLEM is not with those who accidentally totally ignore the FACTS about JESUS.

The PROBLEM is with those who hear about the FACTS and then don't want to ACCEPT the GIFT.

It is like being in the Titanic and refusing to board a Life-Boat, with the pretense of swimming all the way from the sinking spot to New York City. In FACT JESUS Himself said:

John 3:16-21

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

18"There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. 19Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. 21But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants."

Once a person REJECTS Salvation, that person has no chance in JUDGEMENT DAY, no matter how many "good deeds" he/she did.

In FACT, the first "good deed" required by JESUS is to BELIEVE in HIM:

John 6:24-29

24When the crowd saw that Jesus wasn't there, nor his disciples, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25When they arrived and found him, they asked, "Teacher, how did you get here?"

26Jesus replied, "The truth is, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you saw the miraculous sign. 27But you shouldn't be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the Eternal Life that I, the Son of Man, can give you. For God the Father has sent me for that very purpose."

28They replied, "What does God want us to do?"

29Jesus told them, "This is what God wants you to do: BELIEVE IN THE ONE HE HAS SENT."

So, Rachel, the FIRST THING you have to do is BELIEVE WHOLEHEARTEDLY IN JESUS.

Now, I don't know why you asked the question, but lets suppose you are worried that your Dad is not a Believer (totally hypothetical, and no way am I stating that I know any member of your family) , and that if he dies he will not go to Heaven. Well, their is a PROMISE in the Bible for family members of those who believe wholeheartedly in JESUS:

Acts 16:31[b]

"Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with your entire household."

If you believe wholeheartedly in JESUS, sooner or later many family members you have will become believers too.

Aren't those GOOD NEWS ?

[r_so]

Jibaro

Well firstly, the word Purgatory is not significant but the existance of it is. Even if the word does not exist in the bible doesn't mean that Purgatory itself does not exist...the word BIBLE isn't in the Bible but we have no problem with that. However depending on the version of the Bible one is using and the denomination of Christianity one believes in, the existance of Purgatory can be controversial. I have a gut feeling you will challenge me on the existance of Purgatory but it will be pointless if we are using different versions of the Bible (mine is the NAV) as reference because the deuterocanonicals, which support the believe in "Purgatory", are not in the NIV or the modern King James Version(I say modern since they were in the original King James translation but were removed in 1827 by the British and Foreign Bible society).

Anticipating a rebuttle stating "well if the deuterocanonicals were removed then they musn't be true inspired words of God". However lets get some history here. The final decisions on what will be included in the Bible (New and Old Testament) was done at the Councils of Hippo and Carthage in the years 393 and 398 respectively. When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German he translated the entire Catholic Bible including the deuterocanonicals. But as most people know, his Protestant revolution protested the Catholic belief in praying for the dead (i.e Purgatory) fiercefully and in turn he removed from his translated Bible the books that the Church used to justify its belief. These books were the deuterocanonicals, Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation and were first placed as an appendix to the KJV but then the appendix was dropped in 1827 and deuterocanonicals where removed where as the rest were inserted into the New Testament. But what I find funny is this...how can one justify beleiving that the Councils of Hippo and Carthage's inclusion of the New Testament was inspired by God but the Old testament was not. If one rejects the Old then it should place doubt in the New Testament. SO, I feel that the rejection of the Old Testament books was done to help Luther justify his rejection of the Purgatory belief. So please don't state that since it is not in the NIV or KJV it is not inspired words of God because I find that argument flawed because I find the exlusion of books in those versions not justified. (But what is included in those versions is Awsome though, don't get me wrong)

As a side note, I think you misinterpereted me when I said "do you have to be Christian to get into heaven". I was saying do you have to believe in Christ to enter heaven. I was not saying will one enter Heaven if you are just branding yourself Christian while not actually believing.

But I'm glad at the end you stated "the FIRST THING you have to do is BELIEVE WHOLEHEARTEDLY IN JESUS" because it's so true.


Rachel

[MinFaluMuhammad]

What does it mean to 'believe in Jesus Christ' and what does the belief warrant acceptance in the hereafter? I consider myself a practicing Muslim and I believe in all of what the messengers and prophets of Allah taught, including Jesus, or Al Masih, Isa ibn Maryam, the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary. Being that in the ministry I adhere to teachings the principle of Jesus, as well as Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), does that mean that I will not enter the Paradise according to your doctrine.

your brother and servant,

Min. Hector Falu-Muhammad

[PRtaina]

To make it a little more clear for you r_so as to what Jibaro was saying incase you didn't understand him (which I do agree with him) is that no you do not go to heaven for being good and doing good deeds all your life. The way you get to heaven is accepting Jesus Christ as your One and only Lord and personal Savior.

Remember you can believe in Jesus but it doesn't mean you follow Him. You can believe in Him and still be lost. So just believing Him doesn't quite cut it...one must accept Him in their life and live a life that is pleasing to Him.

[guychase]

PRtaina: we're going to have to agree to disagree here. Compassion for other sentient beings is the ticket to heaven. God loves all people, not just a select few.