CHRISTIANS: If we still have to be sin free to get to heaven - what did Jesus die on the cross for?!?

Question

Hello!! :o) I hope you're OK. I believe in God and have accepted Christ. But that doesn't mean I understand all of it. In fact - much of the Bible baffles me. That said... If we still have to be sin-free [as many Christians seem to suggest] to get into heaven then what did Christ DO for us?! Thanks. Have a great day!! Craig!! :o)

Answer 1

No we dont have to be sin free! my understanding of it is that because Jesus died on the cross this actually means we can have eternal life even though we are "sinners". I dont like the word but really no one is perfect. We all make mistakes every day. We pray to God/Jesus every day and part of our prayers should be saying sorry for things we realise that we have done wrong.

Overall though we should try to live sin-free. We should follow the ten commandments, try not to judge/critisise, love people, forgive others etc. Everything the bible tells us. But there is a lot and we are human and thats why we should be so grateful to Jesus for his ultimate sacrifice for each of us - means we are able to go to heaven even despite our sins.

Hope this helps. Thats the way our church explains it (but probably a lot clearer than me!!!!.) :)

Answer 2

I keep reading, "We aren't sin free even AFTER accepting Christ and even AFTER supposedly receiving the same Holy Spirit that Christ had that enabled him to be sin free" I know plenty of Christians that watch sexually explicit and violent movies, who cus like a sailor, are cruel, arrogant, greedy, etc. and I know many non-believers (myself included) who don't do those things.

Apparently, accepting Christ does nothing remarkable, you can't tell a believer from an unbeliever except for the profession of faith. (shrug)

I think that today's Christians make the grave mistake (as I once did) of trying to take the bible literally. Heaven and hell are within, there isn't some distant place that we go for either of them. Heaven is HERE right now within those who live a life of kindness, patience, love, generosity etc. Those who live a life of lying, cheating, stealing, killing are in a state of "hell" they cannot be happy and they are not enjoying life.

Answer 3

Er, no-one is "sin-free". The Christian line is that you get into heaven through the grace of god. It's really fairly straightforward:

1 - Everyone sins: "all have fallen short of the glory of God".
2 - Jesus died to atone for our sins.
3 - We can't be perfect enough on our own to get into heaven.
4 - We instead get into heaven by accepting God's grace, by having faith that Jesus atoned for our sins ("by grace are ye saved through faith, not works").

Now, I don't believe a word of that - there's no God, Jesus died 2000 years ago, and he's still dead, there is no heaven or hell. But I do believe in "getting it right" - in understanding what Christianity really says.

Answer 4

No one is sin free. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jesus came to save us from those sins. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior you will go to heaven. If you commit a sin and then die in the next ten minutes before you have had a chance to confess that does not mean that you are going to go to hell just because you didn't confess. That is almost ridiculous.

Answer 5

Jesus is perfect, so we don't have to be ... just yet.

Jesus obtained grace for us by his saving death on the cross.

God's grace leads us to have faith in Jesus.

Faith in Jesus provides the grace of salvation, usually through baptism into God's Church.

Living a good and meritorious earthly existence obtains the additional graces we need to achieve ultimate perfection in Christ.

It is the nature of God's grace that allows us to be eventually transformed by it ... into that "new" creature that St. Paul speaks about.

A lifetime of active participation in the work, worship, sacraments, and prayer life of the Church should just about do it, for most of us.

If not, God has other options available, some more pleasant than others.

Answer 6

Simple. Up until that time, a blood sacrifice was required in order to receive forgiveness. Jesus was the FINAL sacrifice.
No one is sin free. Being forgiven through the blood of Christ is what gets us to heaven.

Answer 7

Christ's sacrifice does not get you into heaven ....think of all the people that lived before Christ ....and ...weren't part of the Hebrew people ....they didn't sacrifice a lamb for forgiveness ...salvation lies within each one of us ....i think that what "gets you into heaven" is living your life doing what's best for people around you .. and ...you must be sure that you'd live a christian life even if there would be no heaven or reward at the end ...eah ..i don't believe all this crap or that god exists but sounds damn good in theory

Answer 8

We cannot be sin free - but we can strive not to sin. We have a sin nature that does not go away with salvation. When we accept Christ, God looks at us through Him and does not hold our sin against us.

Answer 9

Jesus's life and death was a living example of A spiritual pathway,he had the power to forgive sins,before he died. he did not die for your sins, because he already had the power to do that. he experienced the death of the "sense of self" seperate from GOD, before his physical death. this is the death spoken of as in "IT IS APPOINTED ONCE FOR A MAN TO DIE". As for sin,IF CHRIST BE IN YOU AND ALL YOU DO IS IN SERVICE TO GOD NO SIN CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO YOU. BECAUSE IT IS THE FATHER WITHIN THAT DOETH THE WORK AN HE DOES NO SIN.

Answer 10

You'll get to heaven through following Christ and beleiving in God. However, there's a common belief that in order to be sin-free and enter heaven, you enter Purgatory (best described as a waiting room for heaven) where all your sins are purged from your soul, thus making you worthy to enter Heaven.