Do All Roads Lead to Heaven?
Many have said that all roads lead to the same place. In our multi-cultural, multi-theological society, many think that the only way to get along is to accept everyone’s truth as truth. For instance, it is often asked of me how it’s possible that I can possibly know that my truth is better than someone else’s truth. As a result, of this, many believe that if you don’t accept another person’s beliefs as a valid truth then you are not accepting the person and that you are intolerant of them as a person. I believe on the other hand that there is only one truth, and that accepting a person and accepting their beliefs are entirely different issues. I believe it is possible to love someone and tell them that their beliefs are dead wrong.
First off, I agree that all roads lead to the same place. Scripture states that there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.1 Therefore, according to scripture, all roads paved and walked by men lead to spiritual death, apart from God. That is another way of saying Hell. Hell is the place where all people who reject God’s authority in their lives get to go.2 Hell is a place that will be filled with all those people who preferred to run their own lives their own way. Hell will be filled with all the people that did what was right in their own mind, followed their own truth, instead of becoming a follower of Christ.
It only makes sense. If God is the God of a Kingdom, then the only ones in that Kingdom, would be His subjects. Those who do not want to serve God would naturally not want to be there, in a place of eternal worship and fellowship with God. Those who want to know God, and want to serve Him will not give up in searching for Him, until they find Him, and upon hearing of God and His love will be drawn into a life of serving Him. Jesus said that His sheep know his voice, and that when they hear Him, they follow Him. Those that do not believe in Christ, who do not believe that He is the Messiah of God, at one with God, are those that are not His sheep.3
Ever since Man sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, he has been condemned to live a life apart from God. God’s justice requires judgment for sin, and He cannot be a part of a person’s life when it has been contaminated with sin. Therefore, since we cannot erase our past, we are all condemned. No road, no matter how hard we try, can erase the past. Does a lifetime in prison really erase the murder the man committed? Of course it doesn’t, and I can guarantee you that family members of people who have been murdered don’t get their family member back just because the person spent a lifetime in prison. Likewise, a lifetime of good deeds cannot make-up for our rebellion against our Creator; it doesn’t change the fact that we have sinned against him.
Fortunately, for us, God was not content with that arrangement, and began a plan to reconcile a rebellious creation back into a relationship with Himself. this is quite a contrast to what we would have done in His place. you’ve seen what our reaction to a rebellious creation would be in our movies. I’ve seen the same plot a million times: We create artificial intelligence and it backfires. All of a sudden, the Machines want to rule the world, they seem to think that they are just as good or better than the humans that created them. And of course in Conclusion, we show their by the end of the movie that a creation is never better than its creator, by beating them in a war.
If God wanted to throw around His muscle to prove it was a bad idea to try to go against Him, it would be no contest. He spoke the world and the universe into existence. If He forgot about something, it wouldn’t exist anymore. And yet we bought it when Satan tempted us with the fruit, and said, “If you eat it, you will be like God, that’s why He told you not to eat it, He doesn’t want any Competition. He’s just a slave driver, who doesn’t want you to have any fun.”
This obviously isn’t true, if God wanted slaves, He would have created slaves without free will. Instead, God wants a creation that loves, serves and obeys Him, not because they have to but because they want to. So, instead of destroying His creation and starting over again, He decided to make a way back to a relationship with Him, at great personal cost to Himself. He designed a way for His justice to be met without giving up on us. He would place the weight and punishment for our rebellion upon Himself. This way, He could maintain His righteousness, show us His character as a God who seeks the best for us (not holding out the best from us), and bestow mercy upon all who would accept His leadership. This miracle work of Grace is completely undeserved, but God loved us that much.
He Himself paid the price and accepted the consequences for our sin. In His place, we would have done differently. In our shattered pride, we would have lashed out at the rebellious creation, and shown them who the Boss really was. If any of as had been Jesus hanging on that cross, having been put there by beings that we created, we would have said, “Forget this, let them fry, it’s what they deserve. Putting their Creator and King on a cross, I’ll show them. “ Instead, in an agony none of us could comprehend, as a sinless body took on the sin of the entire world, He cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t understand what they’re doing.”
So, there is nothing that I could have done to earn my way to Heaven, there is no right or wrong path to travel your way to Heaven, apart from Jesus Christ. It is His death that brought us life, and only by having His death is our sinful past able to be erased. God still cannot live with sinful people, so He erases our sin, when we accept what Christ did.
It is a gift from God, meaning that there is no way that we could have earned the right to be forgiven, but it costs us the price of giving up the life of sin and rebellion towards God that originated with Adam and Eve, and once again come underneath the loving leadership of the God who created us. In essence, it is what is called the free gift that costs you everything.
There is no room for multiple God’s. There is only one, and He doesn’t let us get away with trying to make gods in our image, such as gods of love that promote wild orgies, or strict gods like the moon god who required baby sacrifices to appease his wrath, or an all encompassing god who says anything goes, because we’re all on the same journey. None of the other religions in the world can even compete with the character of the one and only true God, who loved us in spite of ourselves.
So, believing this, here is no room for me to believe that any religion could be right. Afterall, as I like to point out: everyone has their own view of God, but what they should be trying to figure out is God’s view of them. The evidence of His own character in the person of Jesus Christ, can settle all arguments on what God is like. What God thinks of us, that is a much bigger matter than our preconceived notions of what He’s like.
Anyway, in order for me to believe what I believe, I have to believe that whatever anybody else believes, if it doesn’t line up with what I believe is wrong. Otherwise, how could I honestly say that I believe what I believe. I believe that I am the only Kevin Kendrick Nelson in the world with my height, build and personality. If God made each person unique, why would He allow Himself to just be a mixing pot of gods. Buddah one day, Jesus the next, and whatever else we decide we want to mold God into. There’s a quote I’ve heard that I really like, “God created man in His image, and man has spent his lifetime trying to return the favor.
So, if there’s only one God, then how can we know what He’s like? There are so many religions out there, how do you know which is right, and which is wrong? The answer is in the Bible. God knew that we needed something to guide us to Him, so through a number of faithful men throughout history, God revealed himself to, and their stories and walks with God as well as their trials and sins are a testimony to us of God’s love, mercy and character. The Bible is authenticated in its historical accuracy, as well as in the prophecies that it contains, that came to be in the person of Jesus Christ.
Also, out of al the religions in the world, True Christianity is the only one that correctly illustrates the issue of how bad our sin is, and that there is no way we can earn our way to Heaven because of our sin. It is the only religion in the world where God came down to man’s level to give them eternal life instead of man trying to work his way up to God’s level. This is a religion that no man would make up if he could, or could make up if he would. It’s too far fetched, God dying for mankind because his sin was too big for him to enter into heaven on his own. The reason it’s too far fetched, is that the basic human reflex is to think of oneself as a good person, and yet the Bible teaches that our ways, even the ones that look like all the right and good choices lead to death, unless they are in a direct response to Jesus Christ and His leadership. This means that to God, something like tithing to the church for any reason other than to serve and love God is a sin, and is better left not done. God doesn’t want your money, or your job, His aim is much bigger, He wants your heart.
So, in conclusion, I want to say that I can love someone without accepting what they believe as the truth. I love them so much in fact that I hope and pray that everyone I know will come to know the awesome God I serve. He alone is a big enough God worth serving. I love them enough in fact, to tell them that their wrong. Much like loving someone who is an alcoholic, I would love them by letting them know that their decisions are hurting them. So, that in the end, they may come to know God, accept His love, accept His death as the covering of their sins, and of course accepting His loving and safe leadership in their lives.
The true sin would be to tell people that all roads lead to the same place, and watch them, uncaringly, walk their way to Hell, the eternal separation from God, where man’s selfish desires will make that place a torment for all. Where man’s desire for self rule with no one to answer to will finally be achieved, and it will be a world of completed selfishness, which will be fuel for the fire the Bible so often refers to.
Heaven in contrast will be a place where everyone serves God with a whole heart, and this will bring about the unity that only God’s leadership could bring about. In serving God, we will continue to serve each other, a selfless society, for when we see Him, we will be like him, and forget the things of this world, having an uncorrupted flesh, with no sin in it, no evil lusts and passions.
FootNotes
2) I have another article, which goes a little deeper into the issue of Hell, why God created it, and why He would send people there: What About Hell?