If I am a good person, but not a Christian, why can't I go to heaven too?

Question

Why would a loving God force me to kneel in front of him and accept him as this or that? Sounds more like Saddam Hussein to me...

WHY would I be punished for not believing? AGAIN it sounds like a dictatorship to me. Also, there are about 4.5 Billion non-Christians around the world. God is going to torture all of us? Sounds like Saddam to me...

Answer 1

All religions have exclusivity in their reward structures, similar to frequent flier programs.

First you will need to join the club in order to be eligible to receive the rewards. For religions, this step is particularly onerous, where you will have to make statements of belief, repent sin,etc. Then, you will need to accumulate frequent flier reward points with which you then redeem for admittance to the next level.

If you do not belong to the club, your frequent flier miles cannot be registered for admittance to the next level.

Answer 2

How could a Just God not judge you on every sin? Examining each sin isn't like a balancing a scale, each one is separate and not related to any "good" deed.

Along the same line, the Bible says that all good things come from GOD. So if you did a good deed for God, aren't you just giving Him back what was His already? Yes. Meaning that you've really done nothing FOR Him.

Guilty without a substitution - Jesus

Answer 3

In order to understand why just being "good" is insufficient, you would need to understand the concept of a perfectly holy and righteous being. Such a being would hate ALL sin and would be bound by the being's perfectly just nature to render judgment for the unjust. Just as we expect justice in this world, albeit imperfect at times, so does this being, God. Fortunately, a perfect being like God will render perfect justice, too.

While it is hard to hear, there are none righteous in the perfect God's eyes, even the "innocent children" or "good" people.

So how is a perfect God's demand for justice for sin reconciled with our own imperfections? Here we find that God came up with a perfect solution. He became flesh, lived a perfect life, and acted as our representatives in God the Father's court of justice. There He was judged and crucified, carrying all the past and future world's sins with his crucifixtion. God the Son, Christ, became our sin bearer and we need only acknowledge that sacrifice to be made "justified" in God's eyes and in God's demand for justice for sin.

Think of it this way. Your son does something like breaking a neighbor's window. Yet your son is too young to be made to pay for his crime. Society demands that the parent then act in the son's role and pay for these crimes. Likewise, God the Father allows God the Son to be humankind's representative. Christ paid the price for us all, it is there in the justice bank of God. We need only claim our "share" of that account's balance and present ourselves to God.

I have simplified much of the doctrines behind these concepts. I suggest you do some careful study of the attributes of God to digest these hard sayings. Start with some basic introductions to theology, especially the attributes of a perfect being (God) and go from there.

Ask Mr. Religion
http://www.askmrreligion.com

Answer 4

There are a lot of good people out there. But being good doesn't get you into heaven. Just as being good doesn't pay the bills. We all get to heaven by realizing that we are sinners and accepting Christ as our savior. A Loving God created you and everything you see, but man had free will and chose to leave God. He wants you back, He loves you and all you have to do is admit you are a sinner and accept the free gift of eternal life. It says in the Bible that when Jesus comes back to this earth for Armageddon, every knee will bow, even those who don't believe in Him.

God gives us freedom. Freedom to choose to serve him or not. This life is all about us. The next life is about Him. If you look at the countries that are non-Christian, you will see that they have little or no freedoms. God has truly blessed this great country United States. I think that it is great that I don't have to cover by whole body in black with just my eyes showing.

Answer 5

said it before and i'll say it again.....

anyone who beleives they know exactly what it takes to be on god's good side is extremely arrogant. i would think that god would probably get more pissed at people putting words in his mouth than those with the humility to admit they can't understand him.

i can see some of these arguments if applied only to athiests (rejection of any concept of god might be an issue with him.) though i can't see how you can be sure.... and i certainly can't see how kyou can have the gall to openly claim you know god well enough to be sure a different interpretation of him is absolutely wrong to the degree warranting eternal damnation..... it flies in the face of everything religion tries to say we should do. it is like saying "these are the rules, and they apply unless someone disagrees with the parts that have no direct bearing on how someone acts."

Answer 6

How can you expect to get into Heaven without a relationship with or respect for the One who holds the keys. Do you expect to go through life ignoring God and then just show up and say, " okay, I was good, can You make an exception for me?" It doesn't work that way and it is not up to us to decide for God how it should work.

Answer 7

Would you rather live a good life, but not accept Jesus, and get into heaven? Or would you rather commit all the sin you can imagine, but say you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and get into heaven? That's why people like the accepting Jesus part. Being good is boring.

Answer 8

By grace you are saved through faith, Not of works lest any man should boast.
This little piece of scripture says it all.We don't get to heaven by being good and doing good things.This helps but we still have to accept Jesus for who he is.We get to Heaven through faith. Faith in god and Faith in Jesus. When we have Faith we also learn to live a good life and the More we seek Jesus the more we get to know God for who he is and respect the ways of the Lord.
G ods
R iches
A t
C hrist's
E xpense

Answer 9

Ron, to go to Valhalla our friend Richard up there would have to die honorably in battle. It's the rule. But that's ok, there are many other realms he can hang out in if he so chooses.

Of course he could always join the military and hope for the "best" if he really truly wants to go to Valhalla...

~Morg~

Answer 10

Because St-Paul said so!

go figure? I thought the Golden Rule was the message of the NT but people keep telling me I'm wrong.