ROBERT ASKS:<\/p>\n
When Christians claim they know they\u2019re going to heaven should they be regarded as conceited, boastful, and arrogant? Is it unfair of God to say you can\u2019t get into heaven unless you believe, even though you\u2019ve been a good person?<\/p>\n
THE GUY ANSWERS:<\/p>\n
Fellow religion reporters of a certain age will remember those throngs of \u201cJesus freaks\u201d holding index fingers aloft to proclaim that their faith is the \u201cOne Way.\u201d That attitude is no Christian eccentricity. All religions offer exclusive truth-claims although Christians \u2014 also Muslims \u2014 may be more outspoken than some, and admittedly they\u2019re occasionally obnoxious about it. Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics are especially targets of complaints about being too exclusive.<\/p>\n
One of the countless anti-Christians working the Internet levels the typical accusation: \u201cChristianity breeds arrogance\u201d because it \u201csets up a two-tiered divisin of humanity in which \u2018God\u2019s people\u2019 feel superior.\u201d Christians would respond that their belief is pretty much the opposite because it requires an honest admission by each person of being helplessly sinful and in need of the Savior. Atheists are likewise accused of being arrogant as they defy majority opinion and preach God\u2019s non-existence as the only truth. A few superficial glimpses of this complex and important theme:<\/p>\n
Why do Christians think belief is essential to salvation and ultimate bliss in heaven? This comes straight from Jesus\u2019 words in the New Testament, for instance: \u201cEvery one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day\u201d (John 6:40). \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me\u201d (John 14:6). Or Peter\u2019s affirmation of Jesus to the Sanhedrin: \u201cThere is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved\u201d (Acts 4:12).<\/p>\n
Yet, there\u2019s widespread sentiment that you achieve heaven simply by being \u201ca good person,\u201d which was recently asserted by TV talker Bill O\u2019Reilly, who\u2019s culturally Catholic. But Catholicism\u2019s catechism disagrees, seeing faith as primary and essential: \u201cBelieving in Jesus Christ and the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation.\u201d Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft summarizes that good deeds \u201cdon\u2019t save us. Jesus saves us. We don\u2019t do good works to be saved; we do good works because we\u2019ve been<\/em> saved.\u201d A Protestant scholar, Ben Witherington of Asbury Theological Seminary, responded to \u201cReligion Q and A\u201d this way: \u201cIt seems clear enough to me from the New Testament that both belief and behavior are involved when we are talking about who will have a nice afterlife, not just one or the other. A \u2018good\u2019 person who does not have faith or trust in God is, frankly, not a very \u2018good\u2019 person, since human beings are created in God\u2019s image and made for relationship with God. On the other hand, as James says, faith without good works \u2014 or put another way, faith without its fruit \u2014 is worthless.\u201d<\/p>\n Is God unfair in requiring faith? Presumably Christians will\u00a0say God can require what he wishes. After all, He\u2019s God. The far bigger problem is whether, as some hardliners think, non-believers are eternally condemned even though they never even heard about Jesus Christ or had the chance to follow him\u00a0during earthly life. There\u2019s been lively discussion about this since Justin Martyr (circa A.D. 100-165).<\/p>\n Catholicism teaches that baptism is essential for salvation but, as O\u2019Reilly correctly informed televiewers, it holds out hope for what\u2019s called \u201cbaptism of desire.\u201d Again quoting the catechism: \u201cEvery man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of the Church but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved\u201d through means known only to God.<\/p>\n More surprising, perhaps, is the related view of noted author-speaker Josh McDowell, whose conservative Evangelical credentials are impeccable. In A Ready Defense,<\/em> he draws the following case from the Bible: Yes, as the verses cited above say, \u201cno one can come to God except through Jesus Christ.\u201d However, God does not wish \u201cthat any should perish\u201d (2 Peter 3:9) and we\u2019re told he \u201cwill judge the world in righteousness\u201d (Acts 17:31). So McDowell concludes that \u201cGod will judge all mankind fairly,\u201d which\u00a0means \u201cno one will be condemned for not ever hearing of Jesus Christ,\u201d though we don\u2019t know all the particulars.<\/p>\n The Internet and your local bookstore can provide endless material from skeptics attacking all of the above Christian assertions.<\/p>\n