Five Questions For Those Who Think Many Roads Lead to Heaven

After writing my last article about “Six Reasons All Roads DON’T Lead to Heaven,” I have gotten push back from some Christian friends who want to believe that many roads lead to heaven.

the Road to Heaven is Exclusive

One friend suggested I had stepped on a “theological landmine.”

Nothing is more important than the issue of salvation and how we receive it. All eternity rests in the balance. Furthermore, entire Christian organizations, churches and denominations have lost their footing over this issue.

This is not a small matter.

I can understand people’s angst and questioning about issues such as:

• Weren’t people before Jesus saved by simply believing in God, not Jesus? Isn’t that still possible?

• Aren’t babies and children before the “age of accountability” saved before they have the ability to understand language and understand the Gospel?

• Can’t others be saved in the same way?

• What about those who never hear of Jesus Christ? How could they be “condemned” if they have never heard?

I will offer answers to those questions in a future article. Right now however, I would like to ask questions of those who want to believe in Jesus but also believe that many roads lead to heaven–that there are “good” people who will be in heaven without faith in Christ.

Do many roads lead to heaven? 

First, here are some questions for Christians:

1) Do you believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, without error, and that it is our trustworthy source of truth? If not, what is your ultimate source of truth—is it your logic and reasoning?

Do you want “good” people to be saved so badly that you finagle it into the Bible? The Bible clearly does not make that claim. Do you put your reasoning above the Bible?

You can expect the message of the Gospel and the Scripture to be unappealing to some:

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-25 ESV)

Expect that Scripture won’t explain everything you want it to, just like you want it to, and that it will be mocked. Don’t worry if it doesn’t satisfy your unbelieving friends or yourself. “Foolishness” and “folly” and a “stumbling block” are the expected attitude of many.

2) Do you see other roads to God in the Bible, or did you get that idea from your own logic and desire for other ways?

The Bible says clearly that “good” people don’t go to heaven: forgiven people do. They are forgiven through their faith in Christ.

In addition to the passages quoted in my last post, here are a couple more verses which clearly state that salvation through faith in Jesus is the only way to heaven.

“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11-12 ESV)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(Romans 6:23 ESV)

Furthermore, Jesus warned us not to try to find salvation outside of Himself; “You search the Scriptures, because you think you will find eternal life in them. The Scriptures tell about me, but you refuse to come to me for eternal life.” (John 5:39-40 CEV)

3) If there are other roads to heaven, why would God say so clearly that Jesus is the one way?

Romans chapter 10 tells us that people must hear the Gospel to be saved and for them to hear it we must go and tell the message.

Is God lying or fooling with us?

“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”(Romans 10:13-15 ESV)

If other roads lead to God, wouldn’t it be better for us NOT to go and preach the Gospel?

Instead, the Apostles and many others have given everything including their lives to go and preach the Gospel because it is the only way.

Now, here are questions for unbelievers:

1) What evidence do you have for your faith in your path or many paths to heaven?

The centerpiece of the Christian faith is the resurrection. Oxford University professor Thomas Arnold, author of the 3 volume History of Rome stated; “I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence…than that Christ died and rose again from the dead.”[1]

Check out these articles I wrote about the resurrection:

• Four Powerful Proofs Jesus Lives

• Ten Reasons Why the Resurrection Matters

2) Are you confident enough in your theory to stake eternity on it?

God wants you to have assurance of salvation. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13 ESV)

Additional resources about related subjects on this site: 

• Check out my article on Why Your Sincerity Can be Deadly

• 4 Reasons You Can Love and Trust the Bible Today

• How Digging in the Dirt Proves the Bible is Reliable

• Four Powerful Proofs Jesus Lives

• Have You Written Your Own Bible?

• Beware of Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

• Podcast: Where do dinosaurs fit in the Bible?

• Podcast: How do we know we have the right books in the Bible?

• Podcast: Why do some Bible versions omit certain verses?

• Video vlog: Twisting Scripture

Six Reasons All Roads DON’T Lead To Heaven

Several years ago, while touring ancient biblical sites in Turkey, I met a self-proclaimed “liberal” ordained “Christian” minister. I asked what he meant by “liberal” and he suggested I ask him about a doctrinal issue.

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By MAO from Paris, FRANCE (2007 – London – Westminster), via Wikimedia Commons

So I brought up the topic of Jesus’ virgin birth. His response was that he didn’t believe it. Then he volunteered that he didn’t believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. He sounded as though he even found that idea offensive.

He is not alone—many who call themselves Christians want to think that all “good” people, no matter what they believe, go to heaven.

But what did Jesus say?

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV)

Many other passages affirm the same teaching. For example, Peter made this truth abundantly clear:

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 ESV)

Romans 10 makes it clear that to be saved, people must hear the Gospel and believe: “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Romans 10:13-15 ESV)

Despite the clear teaching of these passages, people still want to believe that all roads lead to heaven. Therefore, I would like to share with you,

6 reasons why all roads DON’T lead to heaven:

1) The Supreme Ruler of the universe says clearly that Jesus is the only way.

Scripture does not indicate any other way. It says clearly that faith in Christ is the ONLY way to heaven.

As the creator of the universe and Supreme Authority, God makes the rules, not us. His Word is the final word on this subject.

If we reject biblical teaching, we in effect try to “write” our own Scripture that says what we want. The result is a confusing array of your bible, my bible, his bible, her bible and millions of other people’s bibles. We thereby try to make ourselves gods. Big mistake.

We humans are incredibly underqualified for the job of Almighty God!

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:17-19 ESV)

2) If all roads lead to heaven, then Christianity is not meaningful.

If we reject Scripture and believe that by simply being “good” people can go to heaven, then we totally undermine Christianity. Believing other roads can lead to heaven rejects the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our sins, rejects the Bible, rejects the need to share our faith, and rejects the need for worldwide Christian missions.

The Bible tells us God sent His Son Jesus Christ; not Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius or any other.

Jesus said, “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:14)

3) If all roads lead to heaven, all true believers in Christ are fools.

Tens of thousands of martyrs have died for the belief that Jesus is the only Way. But if other roads can lead to heaven, those people were absolute fools, as were the apostles, as was Jesus Himself.

Scripture says Christ died a horrific death on the cross in our place, for our sins, to pay our penalty and allow us to enter heaven—something we could not do for ourselves. If you believe other roads lead to heaven, by implication you call Jesus a fool, a fake and even a liar.

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18 ESV)

4) Believing all roads lead to heaven disregards God’s holiness and the purity of heaven.

We’ve all made mistakes which the Bible calls sin. Sin separates us from God.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Sin, no matter how “small” is intolerable to God and incompatible with heaven. Any sin would ruin heaven, for the essence of heaven is the pure presence of God and the absence of ALL sin, evil, and the resulting suffering. That’s what makes heaven heavenly.

To introduce any impurity into heaven destroys it.

“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.” (Habakkuk 1:13).

Jesus, who is God the Son, is the only One who could die for our sins and pay the price to bring us to heaven. No matter how good we may be, we have all done wrongs or sins. Those sins cannot be in heaven—we must be forgiven via being “born again” through Christ. (see John 3:1-21)

5) Believing all roads lead to heaven mocks God’s justice.

Scripture teaches that God is completely just:

“The LORD is a mighty rock, and he never does wrong. God can always be trusted to bring justice.” (Deuteronomy 32:4 CEV)

No child or teenager fully understands his or her parent’s ways: they question, complain, cajole and rebel. Similarly we might not understand all God’s ways—no human being can. We are too far beneath Him to understand. As the old TV show pointed out, “Father Knows Best.”

To us, it might not seem fair that Jesus is the only way. Yet that is the clear teaching of Scripture. It is foolish to accuse God of being unjust and reject this clear teaching as “unfair.”

6) Believing all roads lead to heaven rejects God’s inconceivable love.

Scripture says clearly that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8b)

Do we think we are more loving than God and therefore must deny His Word and say that all roads lead to heaven?

In fact, God made the greatest sacrifice for love: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Ironically, rejecting Jesus’ sacrifice as the only way doesn’t make God more loving; it would in fact make Him less loving, because it undermines the indescribable gift of Christ’s suffering for our sins.

In fact, God’s inexpressible love causes Him to desperately desire and wait patiently for everyone to be saved—including you!:

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Question: Have you responded to Jesus love? What other thoughts do you have on this subject? Please share your thoughts below.

I wrote a follow-up article on this topic. Here it is:  Five Questions for Those Who Think Many Roads Lead to Heaven

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• 4 Reasons You Can Love and Trust the Bible Today

• How Digging in the Dirt Proves the Bible is Reliable

• Four Powerful Proofs Jesus Lives

• Have You Written Your Own Bible?

• Beware of Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

• Podcast: Where do dinosaurs fit in the Bible?

• Podcast: How do we know we have the right books in the Bible?

• Podcast: Why do some Bible versions omit certain verses?

• Video vlog: Twisting Scripture

How To Predict The Future

What would you think if I told you I can predict the future? Let me explain. Here’s my prediction for your future: Even if you just ate breakfast, you will be hungry within about 3 to 4 hours.

Don’t laugh. Prophecies almost as empty as this made a good living for Jeane Dixon (1904 –1997).

Jeane Dixon

Perhaps you remember her career as a psychic celebrity. Her predictions regularly appeared in the media. One biography about her life sold 3 million copies!

Yet she only guessed the future. Sometimes she guessed correctly, but often she was 100% wrong, such as in the following predictions quoted from the Jeane Dixon Wikipedia article:

“Many of Dixon’s predictions proved false, such as her claims that a dispute over the offshore Chinese islands of Quemoy and Matsu would trigger the start of World War III in 1958, that American labor leader Walter Reuther would run for President of the United States in the 1964 presidential election, that the second child of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his young wife Margaret would be a girl (it was a boy), and that the Russians would be the first to put men on the moon.”

How could she become famous by simply guessing the future and being wrong so much of the time?

Again from Wikipedia, “By emphasizing a few coincidentally correct predictions and ignoring those that were wrong, and supported by an uncritical following among the media, she acquired both fame and notoriety. The ability to persuade the public in this matter is known as the ‘Jeane Dixon effect.’”

Are there any genuine, verifiable future-tellers? Yes! In contrast to good guessers and frauds, we have the writings of the Bible where there are:

• Hundreds of prophecies.

• Which are specific and detailed.

• All have been completely and specifically fulfilled, (except those regarding end times which are yet to come.)

There are no predictive prophecies in the writings of Buddha, Confucius, and Lao-tse. Mohammed in the Koran, predicts that he will return to Mecca, but that is like me predicting I will be hungry in 3-4 hours.

2 Peter 1:20-21 (TLB) says: “For no prophecy recorded in Scripture was ever thought up by the prophet himself. It was the Holy Spirit within these godly men who gave them true messages from God.”

For example, there are many amazingly fulfilled prophecies about kings and kingdoms in the Bible.

In chapter 36 of Ezekiel seven specific prophecies about the city of Tyre were recorded:

• A King named Nebuchadnezzar would conquer the city of Tyre.

• FULFILLMENT: This is a historical fact—he conquered the mainland city of Tyre. However, when he overcame the city he found the residents had fled to an island ½ mile off the coast. There they founded a new city of Tyre.Other nations would participate in taking the city.

• FULFILLMENT: Alexander the Great conquered coastal cities in the area; then 241 years after Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of the original city he used their ships to conquer the island city of Tyre where the people had fled.The city would be made flat like the top of a rock.

• FULFILLMENT: Alexander took the debris from the mainland city of Tyre and built a causeway to conquer the island city of Tyre.Tyre would become a place for spreading nets.

• FULFILLMENT: We have pictures of fishermen spreading their nets on the flat remains of the original city.Its stones and timber would be laid into the sea.

• FULFILLMENT: This was done to build the causeway used to conquer the island city of Tyre the citizens had fled to.Other cities would greatly fear at the fall of Tyre.

• FULFILLMENT: Other cities were definitely frightened.The old city of Tyre would never be rebuilt.

• FULFILLMENT: In over 2,500 years, to this day, the city of Tyre has not been rebuilt.

All these prophecies were precisely and amazingly fulfilled.

With the help of 700 students, Professor Peter Stoner of Pasadena City College and Westmont College tested the probability of the fulfillment of the 7 prophecies about Tyre. He concluded that there was one chance in 75 million of all being fulfilled! That is one chance in 75 million tries. In other words, impossible without a supernatural element – God!

You can read this in more detail in his book Science Speaks, available free online by clicking HERE.

Prophecies about Jesus

God gave many Messianic prophecies in the Bible to identify Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, and the One who would save the world. All were fulfilled by Jesus but written many centuries prior to His birth.

Examples:

• His place of birth (Bethlehem)

• His manner of death (crucifixion)

• He would be preceded by a messenger (John the Baptist)

• He would be resurrected

• He would be betrayed by a friend (Judas) for 30 pieces of silver

Peter Stoner concludes that, “Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world.”

What does all this mean for you and me?

We do not use blind faith to trust the Bible. It is a demonstrated supernatural revelation of God.We must heed its message: to trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior yet? Here’s HOW.