No Question

If there are many ways to heaven, then what are God’s criteria? There must be a common denominator, right? So, with gentleness and respect, try that question when someone pushes the “many roads” philosophy.  

It’s intriguing to watch how many different places people draw lines between those who do and don’t make the cut. Some would admit only people who haven’t violated their list of big sins, in other words, “basically good people.” Others believe everyone gets a second chance. “Second chance” at what? As for rejection, many think only those just a bit less righteous than them shouldn’t make it. Of course, people will also limit the disqualification to extremely nasty ones like Hitler, Charles Manson, and Osama bin Laden, those who make the “evil hall of shame.”

Once people try choosing who does and doesn’t go to heaven, they usually find it’s not so easy to play God. So, many avoid the question by denying there is a heaven or hell. Jesus dealt with a Jewish religious group like that: the Sadducees, an elite Jewish sect that maintained the Temple in Jerusalem in the first century.

The Sadducees were naturalists, believing only the truth of what their five senses told them: no resurrection, no heaven. However, what one thinks about these things makes all the difference in how one lives while here. If you genuinely believe in eternity and heaven, secured by your relationship with Christ, your behavior is affected in practical ways. It should be markedly different from those who don’t.

For the Sadducees, Jesus was not only a threat to their leadership, He was also an affront to their false sense of security about avoiding eternal judgment. He talked about “the kingdom of God,” “the kingdom of heaven,” those who would “inherit eternal life,” and going “to prepare a place” for His disciples. So, the Sadducees thought they could put an end to their discomfort by trapping Him.

They asked Him questions they assumed He couldn’t answer. For example, they posed a hypothetical about heaven: A woman’s husband dies, and she goes on to marry each of his six brothers, one after the other as they pass away. Based on this, the Sadducees ask Jesus, In the resurrection therefore, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had married her.” (Luke 20:33). Jesus is not confused by the one-woman, multiple-husbands conundrum. Instead, He further affirms the reality of heaven with this answer:

Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” —Luke 20:34-35

Here is an undeniable theological truth: You can’t fool God. It is also true that God does not stutter. He has clearly communicated the truth about the reality of and access to heaven. Jesus puts to rest things like the “many roads” and the “love wins” (everybody goes to heaven) fallacies. You can’t make Him say something He isn’t saying or choose just what appeals to you.

Heaven is real. There is only one way to get there. God could not be more explicit. If you know Christ, an eternity in heaven with Him is yours, no question.       

 “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” —1 John 5:11-12