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Are You Afraid of Dying? (Continued) I am a Good Person, Would I go to
Heaven? People
assume that by being good
or by observing a set of rules they can enter heaven. This is not going
to
work. For instance, if I am new to town and I knock on a stranger’s
house and
tell him, “I am a good person and I am moving into your home”.
Obviously, he
won’t let me in. Why? It is because I don’t have a relationship with
the
person. While here on earth, people want nothing to do with God. They
want to
live the way they want to, create their own rules and really don’t care
much
about God or let alone take efforts to know His will for their lives.
And when
they die they want to go into heaven. It’s not going to work. God wants
to have
a personal relationship with you. He wants to commune with you. And one
of the
ways He speaks is through His word, the Bible. Again if living good
lives can
take a person to heaven then why did Jesus have to die the kind of
death He
died? He could have simply preached a message on ‘How to live a good
life’. Why
Would a Loving God Send
People to Suffer in an Eternity of Fire? God
does not send anyone into
hell. People, by rejecting the love and forgiveness of God, send
themselves
into hell. God has always given man the freedom to make choices –right
from
Adam onwards. Choices have consequences. I
am an Atheist, I Don’t Believe
in this God Stuff.
My
question to you is this: do
you want to explore the thought that there could be a God. In other
words, do
you want to give God a chance? Or you don’t believe in the concept of
God
because you don’t want it to be true. If you say there is no evidence.
Well,
just look around. All creation cries out that there has to be a God.
You can
pluck a leaf from your garden and go around the whole world to find an
exact
replica of that leaf. The odds of finding one are very slim. Why? It’s
because
of the grand, unique design. If there is a grand design then there has
to be a
Grand Designer – and that would be God. For many people, their picture
of a God
is someone sitting in the clouds with a whip in His hands, waiting to
punish
His children for their mistakes. This is far from the truth. If this
were true,
why would God send His only Son to die on the cross? You
might say, “I can’t believe
in someone or something I cannot see”. Well, simply because I cannot
see
electricity, I can’t dismiss that it does not exist. Although I cannot
see it,
I can see the effects of electricity. That is how God is. And more than
that,
it takes faith to believe in an unseen God. In a certain sense, we all
live by
faith every day. We drive our vehicles, hoping every component will
work fine.
We take the public transport, hoping that the driver is not drunk and
will take
us to our destination safely. However, when it comes to believing in an
unseen
God, we tend to doubt. Do
All Roads Lead to Rome?
Most
people assume that all
religions are the same and that religions are fundamentally same and
superficially different. But the contrary is true. Religions are
fundamentally
different and superficially the same. On a superficial level, all
religions
have similar teachings such as be kind to others, do good works, give
alms to
the poor and so on. But when you look at the foundational beliefs of
one
religion, it is very different from another. For instance, some
religions
believe in the concept of reincarnation, whereas the Bible says, “Man
is
destined to die once, and after that to face judgment”. Here we have
two
contradictory statements, but two contradictory statements cannot be
true. For
instance, if a lady were to tell that she is pregnant and next moment
changes
her mind and says she is not. She either is or she is not. She can’t be
both.
So when a person dies he is either going to stand before God and give
an
account for his life or he is going to be reincarnated. Both can't
happen.
Therefore all religions cannot be true, only one can be true. Closing
Thoughts
Let
me connect all the dots. Why did Jesus have to suffer the way He did,
when He could have easily pointed His finger at other religions and
said follow them. If the other religions had the solution to the sin
problem, Jesus would not have needed to go to the cross and could have
certainly avoided all the pain. It is evident when we read through the
New Testament that Jesus never sought the limelight. Let’s look at a
few verses. Matthew 8:3-4 (NIV) says, “Jesus reached out his hand and
touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he
was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you
don’t tell anyone”. John 6:15 (NIV) says, “Jesus, knowing that they
intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a
mountain by himself”. So if any of the other religions had the
solution, Jesus would have been the first person to promote that
religion as He never wanted to become famous. In John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus
said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me”. Essentially He is saying that He is the only
way to Heaven. In fact Jesus spoke more about hell than He did about
heaven, because He knew about the dangers of hell. If being a good
person or following the Ten Commandments were sufficient then His death
and resurrection wasn’t necessary. I
can choose to or choose not to believe in gravity. Irrespective of my
belief, if I were to drop something it will fall down. My belief or
unbelief in gravity is not going to change the reality. A person can
choose not to believe in afterlife. But when he dies, either he is
going to be right or he is going to be wrong. Well, if he finds out
that he is right, then there is nothing to be lost, but if he is wrong
then there is everything to be lost as it is going to be an eternity in
hell. The Bible says in Mark 8:36 (NIV), “What good is it for someone
to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Dear reader, I don’t
know what your beliefs are, but when you close your eyes for the very
last time and step into eternity and realize that you were wrong, it’s
too late. One can be absolutely believe something to be true and yet
can be wrong. In ancient times, people believed absolutely that the
world was flat but were wrong. In Matthew 12:30 (NIV) Jesus said,
“Whoever is not with me is against me”. Whose side are you on? Honestly,
all of us carry baggage, don’t we? We have done certain things and said
certain things that we regret. We wish we can have an eraser that can
erase away the past and give us a fresh beginning. And that is what
confessing and renouncing our sins to God does. It is one of the most
liberating feelings to know that our past is forgiven. 1 John 1:9 (NIV)
says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. Not only does God
forgive sins, but He also forgets sins that are confessed to Him.
Hebrews 8:12 (NIV) says, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will
remember their sins no more”. Jesus
loves you so much that He wants to have an intimate relationship with
you and
spend eternity with you in heaven. Jesus on the cross cried out, “It is
finished”. Essentially He is saying that your ticket to heaven has been
purchased and that the victory over sin and death has been won, all you
will
have to do is accept His offer. If you want to have this relationship,
pray
this simple prayer and ask Jesus to come into your life. Say, “Abba
Father, I
admit that I am a sinner. I repent of my sins. I ask you to forgive me,
and
wash me with the blood of Jesus. I proclaim that Jesus is the Son of
God and that
He died for me in Calvary and rose again. I accept His substitutionary
death.
Now, I make you my Lord and Savior.” It’s as simple as this. Now you
don’t have
to worry about death. |
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