Many churches have given “the world” in general, the impression that as long as you say “God forgive me” and try to be good before you die you get to go to heaven. . . Before I deal with this problem let me tell you what made me write about this. . .
This past Monday in a matter of 45 minutes I had witnessed to 4 people 3 at once! It went like this. I walked into the gym finding myself in the middle of a battle ground. The moment the automatic doors swung open I heard an employee of the gym yell out “ask him the question you asked us”. Since I was the only one standing there It was clear whatever the question was the employee thought I could answer it. There were three people going at it about something and I was suddenly involved. There was a police officer (the one with the question) and two employees behind the check-in desk. As curious as I am I asked the guy “what is your question?” He jokingly said “you got $20 I can borrow?” It was obvious that wasn’t the question so I started walking away. The man behind the desk said “come on man he can answer it for you”. So finally the guy said “OK man, I want to know who wrote the bible?”
Thinking the question was a simple one I just replied “many people wrote the bible”. And voices rang out from behind the desk “See I told you man lots of people wrote the bible!” the young lady said “Yeah”.
Many things were said here so I will write the next part in a dialogue format.
Policeman: “no, what I am saying is every book has an author I want to know who started the bible… what came first, who wrote the first book?”
Me: “Well the book of Job is the oldest book in the bible so that would be the First written book”
Policeman: So Job wrote the bible?
(Again I am trying to keep my answers simple so I said…)
Me: “No, it went like this. There are 66 books, individual books written by 40+ authors and prophets. The churches in the first century got together looking at these books decided which of these books were inspired of God. They had 4 points of criteria and used that system to decide what would be in the cannon this is what we today called the holy bible.
Employees: It says right here (looking at the computer) Adam was the first man and Genesis is the first book of the bible.
Policeman: So Adam wrote the bible
Employees male: Yeah he had too since he was the first man
Me: Hold on guys that’s not exactly what we are talking about here… (Before I could finish)
Policeman: See none of you know were the bible came from! You can’t even agree on that
(employees getting fired up)
{conversation started jumping around I am leaving some questions/statements out (like what race was Jesus etc) here as they were not important to the point of this blog}
Policeman: So what about these other “Holy books” Don’t the jews have a bible.
(as you realize by now this is more then ”who wrote the bible” so I said)
ME: Why are you asking this question? Do you have a problem with something the bible says? or are you asking how do I know which religion is right? (this I picked up from some of the other questions)
Policeman: I just want to know who wrote the bible it’s a simple question somebody wrote it, I just want to know how wrote it.
Me: “Is that really your question . . . are you really just curious, because if you are we can sit down, I know where to find this information for you quickly. I would be more then happy to sit down with you and go over anything you want, show you who wrote each book and how they decided on the books… we can take as long as you want… If that is really your question? But I wonder if you are really wanting to know the truth about life. (I paused for a moment) see God is clearly seen through the things he made. The bible doesn’t try to prove God exist we just know he exist. God did two things when he made us, He built in an awareness of God (Himself) and gave us all a conscience so that we know right from wrong, giving us a standard to be judged by. This is where the 10 commandments come in. The amazing thing is even if you lived in an African village and never heard of the 10 commandments you know instinctively if you go into another mans hunt and take his walking stick that is wrong. It’s called stealing. God will judge the world based on your knowledge of right and wrong. So my question for you is.. “have you ever told a lie?”
Policeman/Employees: (very quiet reflection and conviction on their faces. no one said anything)
Me: Jesus said every liar will have his place in the lake of fire… Every liar will go to hell…. and that is only one of the 10 commandments! We are in trouble with God man! “love your parents, Love God with all your heart, Don’t use his name in vain, Don’t covet (desire something that belongs to your neighbor) don’t lust after your neighbor…
(still no comment)…
Me: And It has nothing to do with how many good things you have done. You are a police officer… if you pull somebody over for breaking the law like speeding and say “I am going to give you a ticket”. Lets say they tell you “But officer I drove down main street today and I stopped at every single stop sign there was I obeyed that law there. That was more then this one time I broke It.” what would you say… if you are a good cop as I think you are, you are going to give them a ticket anyway… why? Because even though they obeyed some of the law then didn’t obey all of the law. Breaking one law is the same as breaking them all said Paul.
Lets say that same person goes to court and the judge says you have to pay this 50,000 dollar fine or spend life in jail “and in this case eternity in hell”. The man says I can’t afford that judge please I am sorry. The judge says “so you think I should let criminals go free with no punishment? What could you say… A good judge doesn’t want to hear I am sorry! Everyone is sorry when they get caught. A good judge will punish people who break the law! And God is the most righteous and holy judge there is. Every single crime every committed will be thoroughly punished. His judgment is so thorough that every secret sin you have ever committed will be seen. Can’t you see the situation you are in. (paused)…. Now imagine a man walks into your trial and says Judge I love this man, I sold my house and give up everything to pay the fine for him. How would you feel about that?
That is what Jesus Christ did for you and this is what makes Christianity different from every other religion
all the others say “if you are a good person you can go to heaven” Jesus reconignized that no one is good enough so he paid the price for us.
———-
Just at that moment his cell phone rang, and the desk phone rang… I figured God was saying I had said enough so I walked on to the locker room. ..By the look on the cops face I know it had a massive impact on him. As much as I have thought about that conversation he must really be dealing with the words that challenged his heart.
Never waste time arguing with the intellect when the person has a heart problem. If they really have a question and desire a “truth” answer them by giving them a “head” answer. But if it’s really a heart problem forget the head and go after the conscience.
2 Tim 2:23-26
23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. 24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
NKJV
Later I came back up to the desk, the cop was gone and there was another employee (another young lady) there behind the desk.
The young man: asked “So is there really only one way to God”.
Me: logically there can only be one way to God. It is impossible for all the religions to be right. They contradict each other. Christians say Jesus was God in the flesh here to save us from sin. Jews and muslins say he was just a good man, but not God. One says “he is” one says “he can’t be”. It is impossible for them to all be right. Either we go to heaven, hell, we live then die and that’s it, or we go to other planets and become God’s like the Mormons teach. But under no circumstance came we all be right.
The young man: So how do you go to heaven
Me: It’s like I said before. You can’t do anything to go to heaven. No one is good enough (I am repeating things for the new girl to hear), I mean have you ever told a lie? (looking directly at the new girl behind the desk). She nodded yes. God said ever crime must be punished.
New Girl: So what if your dying and you ask God to forgive you, because that is what my mom did…
(she seemed upset that I would even suggest her mom may not have made it. Then she looks at her watch)
NEW girl: I really have to go to work.
Girl from the beginning: Go ahead I will tell you what he said…
I really wanted her to stay so I could explain but that’s how It happens sometimes. Plant the seed and let someone else come along and answer the unanswered.
The problem is its not enough to just say “I am sorry”.
God is a good judge and because He is good he can not allow liars and thief’s etc into heaven. Someone has to pay the penalty for our sins. Everyone is sorry they were caught.
Her logic went something like this. 1. My mother is dead. 2. I love my mom so God wouldn’t put my mom in hell. 3. she did asked of forgiveness just before she died. 4. Therefore anyone that ask for forgiveness will go to heaven.
The problem here is just as I said above. More is required. A good judge will not let criminals go free. Even if they say they are sorry when they are standing before the judge. The penalty must be paid. In this case Jesus lived a sinless life and didn’t need forgiveness. But he suffered as a sinner on the cross for all of us. Then came back from the dead to prove he was God in the flesh. He said if you repent (what) and put your trust/Faith in him, his suffering would cover your penalty. He paid it for you like someone would pay your fine to get you out of jail. You couldn’t afford to pay it but Jesus could. I don’t know if her mother recieved Jesus but I do know it’s too late to change anything.
Many churches teach the gospel something like this, “come to Jesus he will give you joy, love, peace and lasting happiness… If you are broke God will give you money, marriage in trouble, God can fix it”. So people come to God for “what he can do” not what he “ALREADY DID!”. Or worst they think they can wait until the last minute and slide in with a last minute plea. This is your chance to set the record straight. Surely God will give wonderful gifts to his children. But help them become his children before you promise a inheritance they don’t deserve.
So to answer the question above… “why do some “Christians go to hell, … because they were never saved Christians to begin with. They have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof.
Read more on how to witness effectively here. and get true conversions.
Tags: bible, evangelism, faith, religion, repentance, salvation, which religion is right, who wrote the bible, witness, witnessing
I went on to say “I use the Coriolis effect to teach people about the age of the earth”. “the older girl says “really what does that have to do with the age of the earth?”. By now all three have turned their chairs around and are facing my table with ears wide open. I said “the earth is spinning at over 1000 mph. But it is slowing down, if the earth is slowing down that means it use to be going faster. The problem is if the earth spins to much faster then today the centrifugal force would be so great we would all be thrown off the face of the earth, like a kid being thrown off a merry-go-round(maybe that’s what happened to the dinosaurs lol). You have heard of leap year but we also have a leap second. Every year and a half we add a second to the clock. This is to make up for the earth slowing down. Then I said come on over let me show you something…” they all abandoned their table and huddled around my laptop as I begin to present creation science to them. Our conversation lasted over an hour as they asked many questions and begin say things like “Wow no one ever told me that” and the teenage boy said “it’s a conspiracy”. I told them that it’s not a conspiracy just teachers repeated what they were taught. It’s a horrible cycle.