A question from my daughter. "How come you can get into heaven at the last second?"?

Question

My daughter just now understands the concept of "Some Christians believe that it doesn't matter how good you are. The ONLY criteria for going to heaven is 'accepting Jesus.'"

She sees this as fantastically unfair. "Nothing on earth works like this! School doesn't work like this! You don't get to slack for 12 years and graduate with honors!!"

She says "Mom, ask if someone reasonable can explain this to me!" (She's quite bright. You needent use small words)

Thanks!

Answer 1

what a brilliant question from your daughter! and she is right, it does seem unfair. only god truly knows what is in someones heart. if someone truly repents of their sins and asks forgiveness, then god will forgive them. no questions asked. there is no sin too big that god won't forgive.

but the thing to remember here, is that god TRULY knows what is in your heart and soul. so if you say you are sorry and don't mean it, then god can tell if you are lieing. and if you are on earth sinning all the time, for example selling drugs and robbing banks..... without any remorse... do you really think that you will truly ask for forgiveness and mean it.

it is a hard thing to grasp and understand and even accept. and one of the reasons why i am catholic. i know that it may seem unfair when you hear it, but trust me, when it comes to god it will be fair. he will be able to look into your heart and know who has asked forgiveness and who hasn't.

and you may wonder why should god forgive someone who has lived all their life in their wrong and then waited to be good? that is a good question also. but god is our father, and he loves us. he understands that all of us will sin. but he will forgive us all our sins, if we ask and are truly sorry for them.

perhaps, now would be a good time to share the story of the prodigal son.... it is a very good example of forgiveness and love.

and please tell your daughter that i am sorry for the way the children at school have been treating your children. let her know that not all chrisitians are like that.

Answer 2

No one gets into heaven at the last minute. The names of the saints are already written in heaven....God has them sealed...we are predestined from the beginning. God does not wait until the last minute and pick out this one and that one...he knows and fore knew. There is more to accepting Jesus..it is living the life,directed by the spirit of God..there are false witness that think they are going to heaven these are the last minute ones.....God knows us and he says I knew you before you were formed in your mothers womb...God has no surprises. Jeremiah 1:4-8. God is not slack in his word or promises. For those that have the mind of Christ...seeking the kingdom and serving God...we have a relationship with God. Jeremiah 29:11 God know the plans he has for us. If you do not read the word how would you know what is required? If you do not pray to God about your views and for others (which is a sin by the way) how would you get a answer. God loves us more than any man or woman would ever know. Jesus Died so we may have life and life here and now abundantly. Sure we will go to heaven but let go and let Gods spirit teach you, seek him first. His kingdom does come on earth through earthen vessals ;that is us.....then you with know the width and the breath of your calling. It is what God does for us; not what we do for him....he does a perfect work in us,so much so that we are not ashamed of the gospel of God. Sure we will have obstacles in our way...sin does exist until Jesus returns but we get back up and walk in his grace and mercy. How bad do you want it that is the question? God said he wish that none should parrish but that all will have eternal life....Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. The holyspirit inside you is the evidence of the things you hope for ;it starts as a thought then it is seen through a manifestation.

Answer 3

Because we get to heaven through God's great mercy and grace when we accept Him to save us. Everyone can go to heaven if they want to. It is not about our good works. And you never know when is your last second.

When Jesus was hanging on the gross, He saved the person. The man did not have time to do good deeds before he died. That man missed out a relationship with God here n earth but he is int the Paradise now.

Answer 4

Getting into heaven has nothing to do with any alleged goodness of mine. It has everything to do with God's mercy, God's grace, and my realizing that I can't do it without him. If someone turns from sin and turns from all attempts to justify themselves to God in true repentance then they can be saved. The timing of it is not all that important, and what's more, anyone planning on going with some kind of death bead conversion is probably not concerned enough to actually be serious. That doesn't mean that there aren't any real last minute conversions, there are, but like I said; since it is God's going the timing is not that important.

Answer 5

There is no "death bed repentance". One can not live their whole life in sin and and never seeking God or His forgiveness or the forgiveness from those you have sinned against and expect to be forgiven at death

Repentance alone is not what makes one a Christian. Acts 2:38 teaches that repentance and baptism are necessary for remission of sins. Mark 16:16 makes faith and baptism necessary. In Rom. 10:9 a verbal confession is essential. Thus, all of these things are required and since baptism is the last act of obedience for conversion, one is saved at its point, not before.

Answer 6

Great question! First you need to understand that it is not a test. It has nothing to do with our own merits. The bible says that our righteousness is like a dirty rag to God. Nothing we do in this life can get us into heaven. Being saved is a gift that God holds out to us. He holds the brightly wrapped box till we reach out to take it. It may take our whole lives for us reach out and accept it, but once it is in our hands we have it.
Some people will get the gift at an early age. They will love God and work for Him their whole lives. Some will wait till they are adults and only work half their lives some will not take it till their last day on earth. In heaven, we will have rewards for the work we have done here so those who accept early, will have more rewards than those who waited or those who did not do much with what they were given. So, heaven is free, rewards are what you work for. Hope this helps.

Answer 7

"Nothing on earth works like this! School doesn't work like this! You don't get to slack for 12 years and graduate with honors!!"

Bad comparison.

The question asked applies to simply getting into Heaven. Not getting in with honors or high praises, just getting in.

And it isn't at the last minute, either. One has to truly believe unto Christ, which means that they have had to gain knowledge of Him and considered this knowledge beforehand. In other words, there is preparation to be had in the process. So, as with school, one can learn and do badly up until the time they might take a test for their GED. If they do well on that from actually having learned and taken to heart what they learned, then they will pass.

Answer 8

Well, this idea of salvation by faith alone, without the influence of good works, is of course a modern tradition of men that no Christian on earth ever heard of until a few hundred years ago. For the 1,500 years preceding the appearance of this tradition, all Christians lived according to the biblical truth that salvation is a free gift of God that cannot be earned, but must be accepted; AND that faith AND good works are the two necessary means of accepting salvation. Protestants like to point to those passages in Scripture that emphasize the need for faith, in an effort to support this manmade tradition. Those passages are of course important, since they reveal half the truth. But ignoring the passages that clearly reveal the necessity of good works (like the final paragraph of Matt 25) cannot be justified. The whole truth must include everything the Bible has to say on the subject, not just what you would like it to say.

Some would claim that faith is what gets us into heaven, while good works determine the rewards we will receive there. Matthew doesn't seem to agree. He tells us that those who fail to do Christian works of charity will go to hell. Pretty straightforward. The Bible tells us that faith without works is "dead". And dead faith doesn't get anyone into heaven.

Answer 9

Jesus said that in my Fathers house are many mansions.

Also that many would say Lord, have we not done many works in thy name, and then he says "I never knew you"

The end of Matt 25 is really good too, If one has been "saved" and then does not help the poor, visit the sick, the prisoners, he is going to say "If you did it not to these you did not do it to me either". These shall go away into everlasting punishment.

Of course Father loves us so much but he is also not a liar. We have to take all of the scriptures as a whole and not just pick out the ones that make it easy. These preachers who say that you don't have to actually do anything but accept are in for a rude awakening. They are saying it because it is easy and nice and gets them more members.

We are saved by faith and works together. Of course as someone said our righteousness is as filthy rags. He is still expecting us to help the poor, needy, etc.

We are saved by grace after all we can do.

Answer 10

LOL Age does NOT dictate how much intelligence a person has....

Our God is a merciful God, and knows quite well that there are many of mankind that will die before they hear or understand the Word of God....for those people, God has made it possible for them to "know" Him and receive forgiveness.

However, those whom have heard the Word of God and had refused it, or had kept one foot in God's salvation and the other foot in the devils playground, thinking that they will jump onto the side that is the Truth at the end, well, they are misguided and God has already said what their judgement will be right within God's Book of Truth, the Bible.

This is how I understand it as taught by our Father God to me when I was yet a little girl...and He hasn't changed it.

Peace be with you :)

*** I also believe that at the moment before death a person will find knowledge that God IS God and thus begins their torment as they "understand"