Only Christians Go to Heaven?

Only Christians Go to Heaven?

Please read all the way through

 

“Only Christians Go to Heaven.”  I’ve pondered, at times, why God’s love and rewards are so exclusive.  We all have heard this when listening to sermons, when witnessing, and in Bible passages like:

Mark 16: 16 ESV

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Romans 1: 16-17 NLT

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes— the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

What about the tribes in the rain forest who have never seen any outsiders?   Are they condemned to the pits of Hell, because they were born in the Amazon?  What about those who were born in a country that has other God(s)?  Hell will be full of Taoist, Hindi, Buddhists, Islamists, and, well you get the idea.  The conception that a loving God would condemn the majority of his creations to the “Pits of Damnation” just because they were born at a time and place where they were never exposed to the Christian mantra just didn’t make sense at all.  I had to stifle those thoughts and focus on His messages of unconditional love. 

Luke 11: 28 NLT

Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

The questions were never really quiet and returned every now and then. What about those who believe in a forest god, a sun god, or a hippo god named Tawaret?  I struggled again to understand the word of God and those without the good fortune to be born to a Christian society.  I brought my struggle with me to church one Sunday morning.  The answer I got from my Pastor was: “That would be the missionaries’ job to covert those who didn’t know the Grace of God.”  I accepted that explanation, but not completely.  Then one day, even though I knew it, I read Genesis 11: 1-8 and stumbled on the answer to my question.

Genesis 11: KJV 

¹And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.  ² And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.  ³ And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.  ⁴ And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.  ⁵ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.  ⁶ And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.  ⁷ Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.  ⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Wham!  The answer was right there. God gave the masses different languages and sent them off into different lands.  If God scrambled the languages, might he also have scrambled His massage and give some of the truth to one group and other groups received other bits of the religion.  At the center of each piece given was the truth.  The truths are to believe, to honor, and be true and be diligent to be devoted to their god(s).  The answer to why the masses from the time of Babel to present have different beliefs as Christians and just as devoted to their god(s).  Everyone received pieces and different versions of God’s words but all received His love.  They need only devote themselves to their convictions.  God is God no matter which piece of His words were received.  They only need to believe and love.  They need be true to their beliefs, their god(s), and be good stewards of their religion.  This hypothesis studied with the passages of the Tower of Babel would add another layer to the disbursement of the people to different lands and different languages.

 

It was so simple and it was in front of me all the time.  I needed just to connect that ancient tower and those who have never been exposed to the ancient Hebrews God or, later, the Christ’s passion.  Oh no!  How could my hypothesis on Babel explain all peoples, even the remote Amazonians, have the same and equal path to heaven?  Could it be that not all His children are exposed to God’s witness and thus be condemned?  How is it that my Lord is an elitist?  How could He allow so many people from all the ages and all the locations unworthy to receive His message?  How could my loving God play such a cruel prank on those without contact with His love?  All these questions, I had to remove from my attention because such questioning or my walk with Him should falter.  I had to let go and return it to God’s hands.  It is just that type of question Satan uses to fracture your faith.  Let go of such doubts, they are only trappings from Satan.  Stay true to your path to God and host nothing that may divert you from His Kingdom.  Maintain the straight and narrow way.

 

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Amen