{"id":8510,"date":"2024-04-29T17:14:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T21:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/?p=8510"},"modified":"2024-04-29T17:20:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T21:20:49","slug":"is-jesus-the-only-way-to-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/04\/is-jesus-the-only-way-to-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven? Many Christians believe so, based on these words to his disciples:<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. My Father\u2019s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me\u2026 I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.\u201d John 14:1-3, 6-7<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s keep the scripture in context, and look at Jesus\u2019 example of Heaven being like a house with many rooms as he says he\u2019s going to prepare a place for us. Some translations chose \u201cmansions,\u201d while others use \u201cliving spaces.\u201d A house with many rooms, where there will be no more pain and no more war and no more sorrow. A \u201cliving space,\u201d not a dying space.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jesus says he will come back, and take us there. And for those who have passed on before the return of Jesus? They will be in that living space waiting for us.<\/p>\n

I believe our souls were in<\/strong> the heart of God, we live as<\/strong> the heart of God, and when we leave this Earthly world, we will return to<\/strong> the heart of God. Loved by the One who created and loves all the heavens and the Earth.<\/p>\n

And then Jesus says, \u201cI am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.\u201d \u201cExcept BY me,\u201d reads some translations. I am the way to the father\u2019s house, to the father\u2019s mansions, to life eternal.<\/p>\n

Some Christians use the words of Jesus to claim that the way to heaven is a narrow hallway.<\/p>\n

Some interpret the Book of Revelation<\/em> to mean that only 144,000 people will get into heaven. Calvinists believe they are among the \u201celect,\u201d whom God has predetermined for heaven.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 144,000 rooms,\u201d they believe, \u201cand all of them are reserved.\u201d<\/h3>\n* ** *Ironic that the baby born in a manger because there was no room in the house, would prepare a house for humanity, with a limited number of rooms.<\/p>\n \u201cOur Jesus is the key to the door and he\u2019s only letting us in,\u201d say Catholics, Mormons<\/a>, Greek Orthodox, Lutherans, Baptists, Pentecostals, \u201cBible-believing,\u201d independent churches, and all the other Christians who believe that Jesus was talking about them, and them<\/strong> alone, when he said that no one comes to the father, except through him.<\/p>\n German soldiers in WW II wore belt buckles proclaiming, \u201cGott Mit Uns<\/em>\u201d (God with Us) as they murdered millions of helpless people. Are Nazis in heaven because they said they were Christian?<\/p>\n Is Mahatma Gandhi in hell? A man dedicated to peace and nonviolence?<\/strong><\/h3>\n***** ** Many Christians will say, \u201cnope, Gandhi isn\u2019t in heaven. There isn\u2019t a room for him in God\u2019s home, because Gandhi was a devout Hindu and not a Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n ** In March 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in Washington, D.C. after negotiations conducted by President Jimmy Carter, a Baptist Sunday school teacher who believed he could negotiate peace between people who had been in conflict for a very, very long time.<\/p>\n ** The treaty was signed by Israel\u2019s Menachem Begin and Egypt\u2019s Anwar Sadat, who was later assassinated by extremists in the Egyptian military. Despite decades of regional conflict, the treaty endures as a reminder that peace is possible in a region at war.<\/p>\n ** As a life-long Christian, when Jimmy Carter passes, he will see the wife he loved in the room Jesus prepared for them.<\/p>\n ** Sadat, a devout Muslim who was willing to give his live to secure peace for his people, and Begin, because he was Jewish, have no place in God\u2019s house.<\/p>\n ** Is the Christian German soldier who machine gunned unarmed, American prisoners of war in heaven and Sadat, Begin, and Gandhi aren\u2019t? I have great difficulty believing that.<\/p>\n ** Jesus doesn\u2019t say they aren\u2019t in heaven. Christians do.<\/h3>\n ** What does Jesus tell his followers to do? What is the most important thing?<\/p>\n ** \u201cBe a Christian?\u201d \u201cGo to confession?\u201d \u201cMurder anyone who isn\u2019t the same sort of Christian you are?\u201d \u201cEradicate from the face of the Earth everyone who doesn\u2019t follow me?\u201d<\/p>\n ** What does Jesus say is the greatest commandment?<\/p>\n ** \u201c\u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.\u2019 This is the first and greatest commandment, Jesus said. \u201cAnd the second is like it: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n ** Sadat a Muslim and Gandhi a Hindu loved God and loved their neighbors, just as Jesus commanded.<\/p>\n ** Jesus has prepared many rooms for those who do what he says to do.<\/p>\n ** I believe in God\u2019s mercy \u2013 a mercy that saves me in spite of myself \u2013 a mercy that can save anyone, because we can\u2019t see with human eyes God\u2019s mercy for those born in other countries, raised in different religions or who live lives that are different than mine.<\/p>\n ** *****I believe the Living God wants all people to know and love the Living Spirit as revealed most fully in the person of Jesus of Nazareth found in the Holy Scriptures. During his execution Jesus forgave his murderers in a sacrificial love for all of humanity, even those who don\u2019t believe in him.<\/p>\n Tony Campolo<\/a> is a Baptist preacher and a sociology professor.<\/h3>\n******* ** I heard Tony tell this story, about taking a flight from the west coast to the east \u2013 a story he shared often.<\/p>\n ** When he\u2019s interested in talking with people, he\u2019ll tell his seatmate that he\u2019s a sociology professor, which often sparks conversations about people and society.<\/p>\n ** When he\u2019d rather sleep, Tony tells people he\u2019s a Baptist preacher, and they generally leave him alone because they\u2019re afraid he\u2019ll preach at them.<\/p>\n ** Hoping to get some sleep, Tony introduced himself as a Baptist preacher.<\/p>\n ** \u201cDo you know what I believe?\u201d the man asked Tony. \u201cI believe that going to heaven is like going to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n ** \u201cThere are many ways to get to Philadelphia,\u201d he continued. \u201cSome go by airplane. Some go by train. Some go by bus. Some drive by automobile. It doesn\u2019t make any difference how we go there. We all end up at the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n ** \u201cThat\u2019s nice,\u201d Tony said and went to sleep.<\/p>\n ** Tony woke up to the plane descending to Philadelphia in the middle of a storm. The wind was blowing, rain beating on the plane, turbulence buffeted the plane and everyone looked nervous.<\/p>\n ** \u201cAs we were circling in the fog, I turned to the theological expert on my right,\u201d Tony said. \u201c\u2019I\u2019m certainly glad the pilot doesn\u2019t agree with your theology.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n ** \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d the man asked.<\/p>\n ** \u201cRight now, air traffic control is giving instructions to the pilot as to what speed, altitude, heading, and direction he should fly the plane.<\/p>\n ** \u201cI\u2019m glad the pilot\u2019s not saying, \u2018Do you know what I believe? I believe there are many ways into the airport. There are many approaches we can take.\u2019 I\u2019m glad he\u2019s saying, \u2018There\u2019s only one way we can land this plane, and I\u2019m going to stay with it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n ** I\u2019m glad I have Jesus and I\u2019m going to stay with him.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ** *******Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven? Many Christians believe so, based on these words to his disciples: \u201cDo not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. My Father\u2019s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3527,"featured_media":8513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,35],"tags":[2384,953,1013,2378,2381],"class_list":["post-8510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-vocational-ministry","tag-afterlife","tag-israel","tag-jimmy-carter","tag-mahatma-gandhi","tag-menachem-begin"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Jesus the Only Way to Heaven?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven? 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