How Can I Get To Heaven?
How Can I Get To Heaven?
Q: Can I get to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments?
A: The Ten Commandments are God’s laws for living. But no one has ever been able to keep all of them all the time, except Jesus. The rest of us will never reach heaven by our efforts, because the Bible says, “No one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what His law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it” (Rom. 3:20 NLT ).
Q: Can I get there by obeying the Golden Rule?
A: While God wants us to do good deeds to show that we love Him and our neighbor, the Bible says those deeds won’t save us from hell either: “He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of His mercy” (Ti. 3:5).
Q: Well what about going to church, giving, praying, fasting and stuff like that?
A: While all these things are good, they’ll never save us. The Bible says, “Our righteous deeds ... are but filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6).
Q: Will having Christian parents get me to heaven?
A: Having Christian parents is great, but you can’t get to heaven on their faith. You have to believe. The Bible says, “To all who believed Him (Jesus) and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth ... this rebirth comes from God” (Jn. 1:12-13).
Because we can’t save ourselves by being good, doing good or having good parents, God sent His Son to die as a substitute for us. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again, He became the only way for us to get to heaven. He said, “Those who listen to My message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life” (Jn. 5:24). Jesus is the only way to get to heaven.
By Larry Ondrejack