For instance: "They are such a good person. I know they say they don't believe in God the way I do, but how could God keep them out of heaven? I just know they will be there standing beside me when I get to heaven."
No, they won't. If they don't believe on Jesus for their salvation and profess Him crucified, buried, and resurrected then they will not be in heaven. God won't be keeping them out, they will have kept themselves out. The Bible, God's inerrant Word, states very clearly that the ONLY way to heaven is through Jesus Christ.
John 14:6 states it clearly:
"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Seems pretty clear to me. What about this one:
Matthew 7:21-23
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"
Being that I have family that proclaims to be atheist, this makes me very sad. But it is their choice. There are many Scripture that talk about this and explain it very clearly so how can we think otherwise?
There is only one way to heaven. One way to God. It is not a religion, a church, a pastor, or on our own. It is through the blood of Jesus Christ. And Him only.
That is just one of the many things I have been reading lately and it breaks my heart. When we try to interpret the Bible to mean what we want, we do no one any good. We might as well not even read it. Yes, I believe the Bible is to be taken literally. The earth was created in seven literal days bc it says so. The Bible is the most historically and archaeologically proven book, ever. Why would I not believe it? You may not believe it and that is your choice. But I refuse to water down it's life giving message to anyone just because it might offend them.
Honestly, sometimes it offends me because I don't want to admit that I need a Savior. I don't want to admit that I can not do it all or that I am not the end all-be all to everyone and everything. I am a vain, selfish person that wants what I want when I want it.
Where has that gotten me? In pain, in need, and friendless.
I choose to believe God and His Word. I will not alter it to fit man's needs or desires. (I will try anyway, I am but a sinful creature you know ;-) ) Yes, I know that not everyone believes as I do. That is their choice. But I firmly believe that if you are going to call yourself a Christian then you better behave like one and follow the teachings of the Bible. Don't pick and choose based on what you want and don't want.
Okay, I am done. I just couldn't hold it in any longer. More may follow, I don't know. I'm just fed up with people who say they believe one thing and then act, say, do another. And lest you think I am leaving myself out, I am not. I am chief among sinners and the worst of hypocrites. I struggle with this daily and strive to walk the talk. Daily. It doesn't always work and I have to apologize and try again.
If you don't agree with what I've written, no problem. That is your choice. But this is my blog. Please be respectful if you feel the need to leave a comment. Ugly or hurtful comments will be removed without apologies.
3 comments:
I understand completely where you're coming from! Sigh. I've been watching my father destroy his life, so to speak, abandoning his faith over the last 10 years, and it breaks my heart. He keeps saying "Oh, I'll get it all straightened out before I die", but procrastinating that repentance ...(shaking my head).
Amen, amen, and amen. :-)
:) I had searched for the phrase Bible shmible (if it even exists, my English is so-so) and I ended up reading your post. Nice :) At that time I was 4 months in Christ. I was worshiping a deity, which is very powerful but... its description fits the description of Satan almost perfectly... When I saw that, what they didn't tell me... I turned to Jesus. Pretty much no one speaks about those things... we are all good, let's pray together, every god is good if you are good... sad... There are so many churches... which one should I join? And the most reasonable answer was: the one, which explains the Bible the most. So, churches, which say: yes, Bible has errors, yes, Bible says so, but never mind... were not right with the Word, with Jesus. And I searched and searched and whatever teaching was in agreement with the Bible, I kept it and whatever it wasn't, I have rejected it. And I was blessed tremendously... Bible is life :) so, so, so great book... I was reading one forum and there one follower of a "prophet" (false one of course, because the Bible is enough) wrote, that the seven letters of Jesus Christ to seven churches represent also the history of church. It had some sense but... since they were the good guys, they had to twist the scripture and something was not right. Then I found another guy, who did much better job... but still, it was not so perfect, something was not right. To make story short: I have made this video about it. https://youtu.be/DNRJBUCZPIs I hope it will be a blessing to you and to yours at least so much, as it was to me.
Thank you for your post. It is nice for me to hear, that here and there still some believes the Bible, who don't say, Bible? Bible shimble as Christians of today say. Well, Bible is Christ... and we live in the times of a falling away from Christ, from the faith, where there are many false Christs and many lying signs and wonders (of science, prophets...)... but many refuse to see, hiw great the Bible is... They cannot explain it right, no matter what kind of miracles they do...
God bless you (you and your family),
Milan
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