All Roads Lead to Heaven

2Timothy 3:2-5 “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

Just the other day, a Christian friend wrote me that he was in discussion with an old High School classmate on Facebook on various topics. Their discussion gravitated to religion and his friend gave their perspective on God and faith. They wrote: “Not negating anyone’s beliefs - I just don’t understand how any one religion can dispute the validity of others. I was raised very conservatively, but have learned a lot through my life to know that all religions that claim to be the only one God recognizes or acknowledges and discount any others with differing beliefs is simply one man putting thoughts into the minds of others. Each religion was created by one man or a group of men who wanted to customize their religion to fit their needs or beliefs. I thought God was all forgiving and all accepting. Things like that don’t make sense to me. I know none of us are perfect or free from fault - but it seems that if Religion is your primary focus in life then it should be pure and accepting of all others. I believe it is more about how we live our lives every day - and that goodness and kindness are rewarded. Here is what I believe in - I believe in myself, my family, my love of humankind, and the earth, my respect for my parents, my willingness to help others in need, and my personal ethics. I know, as far as most religious people view life, I am not an exemplary person, but I have two children who are decent and good, and good friends who I would do anything for and they would return the favor if I asked. Do I need to attend a church every Sunday to feel this contentment? No. See! It's a matter of what you need in your life to feel complete. Whatever that greater power is up there - knows who I am and what I am - and that is good enough for me. :) I have just always been one to question logic and reason, and to me any cookie cutter religion doesn’t do God the justice He or She deserves.”

Is this line of thinking uncommon? No, it is actually the prevailing faith today in America ... the moral and religious relativism of secular humanism (which is a religion itself), who believes in self, materialism, and physical nature above spirituality; believing that they can live completely free of religious faith and observance. A characteristic feature of secular Humanism is the number of times that they used the word “I” (notice in the writing above). The earthly focus is on “self” in this world, and this life (It's a matter of what you need in your life to feel complete) - heaven is not the goal or focus, and God (if they believe in any higher power or force at all) is, at best, “all forgiving and all accepting”, and therefore, all roads lead to heaven. Why? Because the idea of obeying their Creator God’s standards, statutes and commands, and answering to God for your thoughts, words and actions outside of God’s will and way is unthinkable, then secondly, nobody wants themselves or those they care about to go to hell. So they take the easy route, a wide road, and fabricate mentally a different God – themselves or a false god who accepts their sin and expects nothing of them.

The minute that men and women turn from God, they turn to another god. Disregarding the Bible, social acceptance of sin, and a strong cultural influence on individualism that ignores social responsibly and accountability and creates a peer pressure in our culture to fear man more than God. This lie is affecting every man, woman & child in this nation and we are reaping the results. The secular humanist claims to be tolerant to all, but can not be tolerant of the “true” God that they are denying & rejecting, and the people that trust and believe Him - His holy & sovereign Word, Will, and Way. John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” & John14:23-24 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me”, is offensive to the secular humanist, and they must silence the truth that convicts the heart of their sin against a just and holy Creator God. The Secular Humanist may say, “Well I believe if you live right, you’ll go to heaven.” But even this person who wrote my friend admits the truth, “I know none of us are perfect or free from fault”. She is actually paraphrasing scripture – Romans 3:22b-23 “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If you could be saved by living right, then Christ’s atoning death for our sins was a blunder by God. It was no blunder! But because of our love of the sinful desires of our flesh, cherishing acceptance from our peers in a truly God-rejecting world, and believing the lies of Satan Genesis 3: 4 & 5 "You will not surely die ... you will be like God", many turn the back on the only hope for the world. Knowing the eternal loss, we pretend that either sin is not sin, or that our god forgives all sin and accepts all.

Why do Christians (God’s children) need to get out and tell those around them the “good news” of Jesus Christ and what God has done in their life? Because that is exactly what the Lord wants us to do, and exactly what this lost and dying world in sin needs and seeks. The Peace of Christ that leads to peace with God that brings true peace within you. Who doesn’t want that?! John 7:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

In Christ, Brian