There are many different religions in the world. Each has their own version of how one can get to
heaven, paradise, the ever after, the Kingdom of God, or whatever you want to call it. What separates
Christianity from all other religions is what Jesus did in comparison to what the spiritual leaders of
other religions did. Jesus was the only one that died for the sins of mankind. None of the other
spiritual leaders did. Mohammed didn't, Buddha didn't, and Confucius didn't. Even though other
religions teach about sin, Jesus was the only one that paid the price for mankind's sin.
There have been many interpretations of the Word of God and if you wanted to, you could make any
Holy Book sound any way you want it to by selecting certain scriptures to back up your position.
This is NOT a good way to study the Bible or any other Holy Book. Instead, the best way is to
approach it with an open mind willing to be taught and to consider if what is being said makes any
sense or not. If we take what is written at face value, it is not hard to understand. It's when we start
to analyze what could have been meant by a certain scripture that we run into trouble, or if we don't
want to believe the obvious and start looking for alternative explanations. For example. The first
sentence of the Bible says "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". This is a simple
statement which is easy to understand if we take it at face value and believe that this is exactly what
God meant when he wrote this. However, as you can see, most of the world does not believe this.
Because they have discarded the obvious, they search for an alternative and we are left with the Big
Bang Theory and Evolution as replacements which are much harder to believe than a simple
fact....God made it. As a result we get continuous arguments pro and con which can go on forever
because neither can actually be proven so regardless of which view you hold, you will have to believe
it by faith. I find it much easier to accept what was written as the Word of God and leave it at that.
Who am I to question the intelligence of God? I am not smarter than God.
Regarding what Jesus said about heaven and eternal life could be taken the same way. Either he was
the biggest liar that ever lived or else he was who he said he was, the Son of God. Let's have a look
at what he said and you can decide for yourself which one you think he was.
In the Bible, in John 14:6 Jesus said " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me."
This is a bold statement. Jesus is saying that the ONLY WAY to get to God is through him. He said
that NO ONE can get to God any other way. He said this because he was going to pay for man's sins
by dying on the cross and by shedding his blood, he paid the price required for mankind's sins.
Romans 3:10 says "There is no one righteous, not even one." Therefore, the reason Jesus had to
pay the price for our sins is because we could never do so. No one can make themselves righteous.
No one can pay for their sins. No one can live a sinless life. No one can earn their way to heaven.
It's impossible. God knows this and that is why he sent his only son, Jesus, to do it for us so that all
those that accept what Jesus did for them could be forgiven and enter heaven covered by the blood
of Jesus. That is why Jesus could say "...no one comes to God but through me." He was the only
one that made that possible. That is why there is NO OTHER WAY to get to Heaven except through
Jesus.
In John 3:3 Jesus said "`I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born
again." John 3:7 "...you must be born again." John 3:17 " For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the word, but to save the world through him."
Again, this is a bold statement. Jesus said that we MUST be born again if we want to enter heaven.
It's not a maybe. It's a Must. You can read my study on being Born Again to get the full version, but
basically, we need to ask Jesus to forgive our sins and to be our Lord and Saviour. That's how you
get "born again". We were already born once, physically. Now we need to be born spiritually. This
is why we need to be born "again". In verse 17, Jesus says that God sent him into the world to save
the world through him. Not through anyone else, but through HIM. That is why Jesus is the only way
to get to heaven. He is the only one that paid the price and made that possible.
In John 3:16 Jesus said "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that who ever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life".
Again, the Bible confirms that the only way to have eternal life is to "believe in Jesus". He did not say,
believe in whatever you want to. He did not say, believe in Buddha, or Mohammed. It says "whoever
believes in HIM (Jesus)". Jesus is the ONLY one we are told to believe in because he was the ONLY
ONE that made that provision for mankind.
There are many more scriptures in the Bible that say the same thing, and you can look them up if you
want to. I remember before I became a Christian, I really struggled with this. But I eventually came to
the conclusion that the only choices I had was that I could either believe that the Bible was the
absolute true Word of God, or else that it was not. If it was not, then I didn't have to bother trying to
understand any of it and could believe whatever I wanted to. But if it was true, then there was only
ONE WAY to get to heaven, and that was through Jesus. That was my only choice because the Bible
can't be partly true and partly untrue. It has to be one or the other. If it was not completely true then it
could not be the Word of God, it would just be another storybook. This is what each of us has to
decide for ourselves...... Was Jesus who he said he was, or was he not? Did he tell us the "truth" or
did he not. If he did, then he said that he is the only way to get to Heaven. If you don't believe he did
tell the truth, then you can believe whatever you think is the truth and hope that when you stand
before God you are right.
The reason I believe very strongly about this is because I don't know of any other way to interpret it,
and because I believe the Bible is the absolute true Word of God. It's actually very easy to understand
if you take it as it is written.
heaven, paradise, the ever after, the Kingdom of God, or whatever you want to call it. What separates
Christianity from all other religions is what Jesus did in comparison to what the spiritual leaders of
other religions did. Jesus was the only one that died for the sins of mankind. None of the other
spiritual leaders did. Mohammed didn't, Buddha didn't, and Confucius didn't. Even though other
religions teach about sin, Jesus was the only one that paid the price for mankind's sin.
There have been many interpretations of the Word of God and if you wanted to, you could make any
Holy Book sound any way you want it to by selecting certain scriptures to back up your position.
This is NOT a good way to study the Bible or any other Holy Book. Instead, the best way is to
approach it with an open mind willing to be taught and to consider if what is being said makes any
sense or not. If we take what is written at face value, it is not hard to understand. It's when we start
to analyze what could have been meant by a certain scripture that we run into trouble, or if we don't
want to believe the obvious and start looking for alternative explanations. For example. The first
sentence of the Bible says "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". This is a simple
statement which is easy to understand if we take it at face value and believe that this is exactly what
God meant when he wrote this. However, as you can see, most of the world does not believe this.
Because they have discarded the obvious, they search for an alternative and we are left with the Big
Bang Theory and Evolution as replacements which are much harder to believe than a simple
fact....God made it. As a result we get continuous arguments pro and con which can go on forever
because neither can actually be proven so regardless of which view you hold, you will have to believe
it by faith. I find it much easier to accept what was written as the Word of God and leave it at that.
Who am I to question the intelligence of God? I am not smarter than God.
Regarding what Jesus said about heaven and eternal life could be taken the same way. Either he was
the biggest liar that ever lived or else he was who he said he was, the Son of God. Let's have a look
at what he said and you can decide for yourself which one you think he was.
In the Bible, in John 14:6 Jesus said " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me."
This is a bold statement. Jesus is saying that the ONLY WAY to get to God is through him. He said
that NO ONE can get to God any other way. He said this because he was going to pay for man's sins
by dying on the cross and by shedding his blood, he paid the price required for mankind's sins.
Romans 3:10 says "There is no one righteous, not even one." Therefore, the reason Jesus had to
pay the price for our sins is because we could never do so. No one can make themselves righteous.
No one can pay for their sins. No one can live a sinless life. No one can earn their way to heaven.
It's impossible. God knows this and that is why he sent his only son, Jesus, to do it for us so that all
those that accept what Jesus did for them could be forgiven and enter heaven covered by the blood
of Jesus. That is why Jesus could say "...no one comes to God but through me." He was the only
one that made that possible. That is why there is NO OTHER WAY to get to Heaven except through
Jesus.
In John 3:3 Jesus said "`I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born
again." John 3:7 "...you must be born again." John 3:17 " For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the word, but to save the world through him."
Again, this is a bold statement. Jesus said that we MUST be born again if we want to enter heaven.
It's not a maybe. It's a Must. You can read my study on being Born Again to get the full version, but
basically, we need to ask Jesus to forgive our sins and to be our Lord and Saviour. That's how you
get "born again". We were already born once, physically. Now we need to be born spiritually. This
is why we need to be born "again". In verse 17, Jesus says that God sent him into the world to save
the world through him. Not through anyone else, but through HIM. That is why Jesus is the only way
to get to heaven. He is the only one that paid the price and made that possible.
In John 3:16 Jesus said "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that who ever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life".
Again, the Bible confirms that the only way to have eternal life is to "believe in Jesus". He did not say,
believe in whatever you want to. He did not say, believe in Buddha, or Mohammed. It says "whoever
believes in HIM (Jesus)". Jesus is the ONLY one we are told to believe in because he was the ONLY
ONE that made that provision for mankind.
There are many more scriptures in the Bible that say the same thing, and you can look them up if you
want to. I remember before I became a Christian, I really struggled with this. But I eventually came to
the conclusion that the only choices I had was that I could either believe that the Bible was the
absolute true Word of God, or else that it was not. If it was not, then I didn't have to bother trying to
understand any of it and could believe whatever I wanted to. But if it was true, then there was only
ONE WAY to get to heaven, and that was through Jesus. That was my only choice because the Bible
can't be partly true and partly untrue. It has to be one or the other. If it was not completely true then it
could not be the Word of God, it would just be another storybook. This is what each of us has to
decide for ourselves...... Was Jesus who he said he was, or was he not? Did he tell us the "truth" or
did he not. If he did, then he said that he is the only way to get to Heaven. If you don't believe he did
tell the truth, then you can believe whatever you think is the truth and hope that when you stand
before God you are right.
The reason I believe very strongly about this is because I don't know of any other way to interpret it,
and because I believe the Bible is the absolute true Word of God. It's actually very easy to understand
if you take it as it is written.
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