Do you need to believe in Jesus to go to heaven?
Not according to my Bible and not according to the Pope either. Think about it. If only ‘Jesus believers’ were to go to heaven … what about all of the ancient prophets and the people called righteous and just? For instance Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Job, Zachariah and Elizabeth are all mentioned as righteous and good people. But Jesus hadn’t been born yet when they where alive. So even if they would have wanted to believe in Jesus they couldn’t have.
Jesus himself indicated that, when he was alive, there were plenty righteous people around, I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Sure it is true that Jesus said if anyone disowns Him before others they will be disowned before the angels of God. This was Jesus talking to and about his own posse. A little bit I guess like how some kids will disown their parents in front of their friends. That’s not cool and Jesus says that there will be consequences for that.
His commandment is life everlasting.
But Jesus also said, And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
Jesus spoke his Father’s Word, just like the ancient prophets.
Do we need to believe in Jesus to go to heaven? This is what Jesus said about it:
Do you believe that you’ll live forever?
It is rather simple, we either believe that we may live forever or we don’t.
Terry is gone to heaven
A few months ago I spoke with a family member, Bob, after his dad Terry just passed away. I asked Bob how he and his family were dealing with the passing away of their patriarch. Neither Bob nor Terry were or are religious in any way that I am aware of. In actual fact I distinctly remember Terry to be very anti any religion of any kind. Just the same, I was not even mildly surprised when Bob replied, ‘oh the kids are fine, they know that Terry is gone to heaven.’
This is indeed my experience with most people, religious or not, everyone seems to think, or likes to believe, that everyone goes to heaven. It’s a lovely thought till you pause for a moment and realise that heaven would then look, pretty much like what we have here now. And what we have here now isn’t what most of us imagine heaven to be like.
I wonder if I’m the only one that feels something is not adding up when non-religious people state with conviction that we all go to heaven. I thought that heaven was a biblical concept but hey, I could be wrong and there may well be lotsa different heavens I’ve never heard about and have no knowledge of.
Guidelines for entry
Regardless of what I think, most people I know seem to believe that they’ll live forever but very few actually consider that there may be guidelines and parameters involved.
It’s a given that we all go to heaven, right? Not according to scripture. This is what my Bible tells me,
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Many churches teach people that they are ‘saved’ as long as they profess to have faith and believe in Jesus. I know lotsa people who believe in Jesus and what did Jesus himself say about finding the way to life? He said, ‘few there be that find it.’
Jesus would not have said that ‘only a few of us will find life’ if just faith and belief in Him would do the job; because there are stacks of us who have oodles of faith and believe in Him as the Son of GOD. So there has to be more to it. For starters we may just have to do the blatantly obvious, and be a decent person.
Because we may have different opinions on how to go about that, Jesus gives quite specific instructions on how to treat each other. How about treating others the way we would like to be treated ourselves?
Jesus said,
And as ye would that men should do to you,
do ye also to them likewise.
As a Jewish prophet, Jesus refers here to his Father’s law and the teachings of the prophets.
For I have not spoken of myself;
but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment,
what I should say, and what I should speak.
And I know that his commandment is life everlasting:
whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
If you know of any other prerequisites you can share these in the comments.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG – We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scripture. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all. To be one of the first people to receive a free kindle at my next book launch you can click here.
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