Why do people feel that earn their way to heaven?

Question

There is something simular about most religions.There are rules,regulations,rituals and sacrfices.People think they force their creators hand into heaven.I made myself rightous. In Christianity,it is a free gift.How can you top what Jesus' sacrfice?God himself came down and died for his children.How can a creation do better then the creator?It was impossiable for us to work our way in.But ir was possiable to him.

Answer 1

The reason people feel they have to earn their way into heaven is because they want to tell God they were able to be good enough on their own to earn their way or maybe pay Him back enough for their wrong doing to get into heaven. It is a source of pride on the part of man to say to God that they were able to justify themself before their Creator.

This thinking is the analogous of taking a penny that belonged to God in the first place and telling God that they are able to give Him the penny in order to get into heaven. The price for righteousness is perfection and it was impossible for any man other than the God-man Jesus to live a life worthy of heaven. Salvation is a gift and Christians obey God as a means to worship and give thanks to God for His free gift.

47"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Answer 2

Long time ago (5th century), there was a group of people that denied the fact that all humans had the stain of original sin on their souls, and that God's grace was a myth. They believed that the only way to get to heaven was to earn it by good works. This was the heresy of Pelagianism. The Church at the time, condemned this heresy for the falsehood for which it was.

Seems like it is fashionable to accuse someone of subscribing to this age-old heresy without all the facts. The person who posted earlier about grace being a free gift was right on the money. God gives us the free will to accept His gift or grace, or to denie it... our choice. However, true grace causes an interior conversion. We show God that we are obedient to His will, and freely allow His grace to work through us, by doing "good works"... not out of obligation, or as payment to gain heaven, but out of a sense of love and gratitude.

Answer 3

We dont haveta work our ways in, we would be workin on that all our lives and still not get there. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice so all we haveta do is believe in God and repent our sins and admit that we have done wrong and then we are let into heaven. Nobody is perfect enough to get into heaven without God's help and i dont care how many of you people who think you are perfect because you're not. You are far from it just like the rest of us

Answer 4

today, the belief of a god or heaven remains basically a concept, so i won't be in a position to tell you no rely if or no longer you have earned a place in heaven. you need to have executed a competent deed, yet I doubt that it may rapidly provide you a place in heaven.

Answer 5

It is a gift and like any gift how you use it and what you do with it shows the direct respect you have for it and the giver(religion is suppose to be there to help us respect the gift properly). You don't earn your way to heaven that is a gift. BUT you can destroy the gift if you don;t respect it and you misuse it. Everyone has salvation in God's love, it is not ours to gain, but ours to lose.

as James said faith without works is dead (meaningless) show me works and you will see the faith (that is a paraphrase).

Answer 6

Why would an omni-everything god determine your eternal future based on whether or not you went to the right building on Sunday morning?

Salvation by works at least takes the vagaries of birth out of the equation. Face it, most people die believing the same religion they were taught to believe when they were born. Why punish the good with the bad (or reward the good with the bad for the winning religion)?

Still, the whole fairy tale ultimately collapses. There are just too many logical hoops that believers of any stripe have to jump through in order to believe in an eternal god and his eternal reward. Stepping back one can see that it's just Santa Claus writ large for older children.

Answer 7

Because people out there today try and mis lead other people into thinking that they can earn their way into Heaven. It is just not possible. Only through Faith, being Born Again, and Dedication to His way can you have a chance to see the Eternal Garden in Heaven and to be with God...

Answer 8

Most people conceive of God in anthropomorphic terms and therefore imagine their relationship with God as being similar to their relationship with their fellow humans. Thus, they try to negotiate favor with God by performing some action that they believe God desires or needs.

In terms of your insight, it is profound on its own terms, and obviously of great importance to you, but many Christians would not understand salvation or redemption as simply about getting into heaven, either through their own works or through a kind of free pass provided by Christ. Many Christians believe that one actively participates in the salvific works of Christ by deliberate acts of the will, by which the redemptive promises of Christ become a whole way of life. This way of life in Christ, itself Christ's gift, enables one to share in the divine life, both here on earth, and in a world which is yet to come.

Answer 9

Eternal life is the promise
its a gift

Answer 10

You don't have to earn your way to heaven living life here on earth gives you the right to go to heaven !

Love & Blessings
Milly