The short answer is “No” – such a person does not deserve to go to Heaven. But guess what: neither does anyone else. I don’t deserve it, you don’t deserve it, Mother Teresa didn’t deserve it. Nobody. “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). The Hebrew word translated in English as “filthy” is “ayd”, which means stained by menstrual flow. Yuck! Compared to God’s perfect righteousness, the righteous good deeds that we do are like used feminine hygiene products.
This does not mean that we should stop doing good deeds. Not at all. It is just a metaphor to illustrate the futility of any of us earning our way to Heaven. Another metaphor would be swimming from New York to London. Michael Phelps would get a lot farther than I would, but even he wouldn’t make it across.
So how do we get to Heaven? Who deserves to be there? The answer is that the only one who has ever walked on the earth who deserved to go to Heaven was Jesus Christ.
Here’s the Good News: we get to Heaven through Jesus. He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).
Therefore, since none of us deserve salvation, and it is a gift from God; it does not matter whether you lived your life like Mother Teresa, Ted Bundy, or the thief who was crucified beside Christ. God’s grace is extended to all who accept it as a gift. So should we live it up then? Indulge in every vice on earth? People were asking this question way back in the first century already. The apostle Paul gave this answer:
”What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:1-4)
I saw a poster that read “How bad can I be and still get to Heaven?” This attitude is wrong on so many levels! Firstly it reflects the notion that God operates on some kind of brownie point system; that when we get to the Pearly Gates Saint Peter will be there with some sort of scale that weighs out our good deeds to compare with the bad to determine whether we made it in or not. Secondly, we become Christians when we confess and repent of our sins and accept the fact that we can’t attain salvation on our own, and accept Christ’s sacrifice as the payment for our sins. When we do that, God sends the Holy Spirit to indwell us.
You can recognize the Holy Spirit in a person by the “Fruit of the Spirit”: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22). We develop a relationship with God. We want to please Him, because He is a loving father to us.
As we get to know God, we become more like Him. Not perfect, of course, we are still human and prone to sin, and some people work harder at our relationship with God. Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth Graham wrote “I saw a sign on a strip of highway once that I would like to have copied on my gravestone. It said ‘End of construction. Thank you for your patience.” That’s how I see my life – under construction. Not nearly complete, but making progress.
EXCELLENT Article: I once knew a man who was all the way bad. He would tell me, “I’ve I died today, I’d go straight to hell.” Even though he knew this, he did not choose to change. If he were suddenly to die without warning, he would not have time to ask for forgiveness, and he probably would end up where he knew he would. When we practice the fruits of the spirit, we learn to understand LOVE.
Some Mass murderers and people like those in Ladybabys comment often do not beleive in heaven, there fore they are only half joking about saying “I’d go straight to hell” because they clearly do not beleive in it either.
What are our opinions (feel free to use Bible verses) on if pets and other animals go to heaven… eg. if you think dogs go to heaven, why not other animals such as deer, cattle, sharks and whales, does an animal have to be owned to be worthy of heaven?
‘under construction’ That’s me alright. Please don’t judge the unfinished product. Thanks Karen.
I would not veture to answer yes or not. I truly don’t know and I think it depends on the murder’s ability to repent and accept the Lord as his personal savior.
excellent article on Salvation by grace and not by works. I certainly hope many read this. I will stumble it so there are more views.
This is an excellent article and reminded that David Berkowitz (the son of sam) has been saved. You can find him on youtube. Some people think he’s lying, but I can see the warmth, love and PEACE on his face. Besides he’s not going anywhere so no need to lie. God Bless!
I meant he (David Berkowitz) is in prison and will be for the rest of his life so why fake being born again? And for those who don’t know; he killed innocent people in the 70’s in New York and went by the name “Son of Sam.”.
You hit that nail on the head. Great article!
Interesting points of view. I am not sure where I sit on the fence post.
Thank you all for your comments!
PR – don’t spend too much time on that fence post. You won’t like the default side that you could fall on.
OhSugar – Thanks for pointing this out. My phrase “confession of faith” could be unfamiliar to some – it means that we take responsibility for our sin, we repent honestly, and accept Jesus as our personal saviour.
B.Nelson – good question! The Bible doesn’t say anything specifically to answer this question, but my opinion is that only humans have eternal souls – since God breathed life into us, and that life was physical and spiritual. However, it does say that in heaven the lion will lay down with the lamb with no fear, so there will be animals there. I think that in heaven we will have whatever we want, so if we want God to give us back our pets I’m sure that he could arrange that.
Of course if one of us goes to heaven we all will. If there is an after life it’s not for a chosen few. If there is a God we are all his children. If our children misbehave we wouldn’t put them in a pit and burn them forever. I believe if there is a God he, she or it would have to be better than we are. We evolved from somewhere. We don’t know where. The bible was written by men and they were no more intelligent than we are today. In fact they were more backward. They knew nothing in those times but superstition, and we know little more today. I don’t intend to offend anyone but this is what I think.
its a good hing Christ wrote the rules because if i did, then it would not be grace, it would be revenge. Good article, and if a murdere makes it to heaven, then its gods will. Keep up the good work.
@ Ruby Hawk, the mistake you do is to equate God to humans. He is God not human. He has set before us the way to live and we have a choice to acccept or reject it.
What you chose to believe is personal and shouldn’t offend anyone. However any belief needs to be backed by something to be valid. So what is your belief based on? To say that the Bible was written by backward men is okay, but the Bible says that God chooses the foolish things of this world to offend the wise. That is why He is God and we are humans.
I am more inclined to believe the Bible becaue my spirit testify to its truth. Perhaps you could start by reading a few chapters of the Bible and see what your spirit says. Who knows you may just be surprised.
Blessings
We should live our life as if each day is our last, we need to appreciate what was done to ensure our entry into God’s kingdom.
You write so beautifully.
Amazing articel, I totally agree with you. Remember the parable in the Bible, about stonning someone only if you hadn’t sinned ever.
I wanted to say that i have a friend that had a horrible past and he killed people. He seeked God and forgiveness after he killed an innocent boy among the others who ‘deserved it’ he has been living with the guilt and cant find the power to forgive himself. He has asked God’s forgiveness and apologized to the people he has hurt, but no matter how much of the bible he’s read, how much he has knelt praying he can’t find it in his heart to forgive himself. How can he help himself? I realize that someone might answer me in a few years or something but i feel that God has called me to help him and i really hope that he realizes God’s love and Christ’s salvation to know that he is saved. He doesn’t know where he’ll go after death but with the things he’s done he assumes he’s going to hell, but it isn’t true! Jesus paid for the remission of all our sins, i just want him to put all his faith and trust in jesus and stop relying on himself and his ‘unworthiness’ we are all unworthy of forgiveness but salvation lies in jesus. Please pray for he deserves heavan after all the ‘hell’ he’s gone through on earth.
Veronika,
Thank you for the concern you have for this man’s salvation. The bad news is that yes, your friend deserves to go to hell. The other bad news is that so does every single one of us. There is no one without sin, and God cannot allow any sin into heaven.
The good news is that Jesus paid the penalty for all of our sins. This is a free gift that is offered to everyone, if we will just accept it.There is no one who has done such bad things that God will not forgive him if he confesses and repents.
Satan would like your friend to believe that he is unworthy. He wants all of us to doubt our salvation. God never says no to a genuine request for salvation. So if your friend has accepted the gift of salvation, and he has asked for forgiveness, then he is forgiven, whether he feels it or not.
Perhaps you could share Luke 7:36-50, and ask your friend: Who will love God more, someone who has been forgiven of a small sin, or someone who has been forgiven of a large sin?
Yes is The Short Answer,BUT,provided the person genuinely repented! I Mean Truly Repented though..a short
Confession on your death bed will not be enough..One has to
really be Genuine..No matter how many sins we have,SIN IS SIN! It only God who knows whether one has truly Repented and whether that person found this deep sorrow and true repentant..most who confess at their death bed do not genuinely repent! but some do..and no matter how great the sin,what matters is whether one truly repents!
So, considering a 56 year old woman swam across the Atlantic almost six months before this silly woman wrote this, does that mean that we CAN earn our way into Heaven?
Stupid Christians. Stupid, stupid Christians. When will you give up these absurd beliefs that truly have no place is the modern world?