| The Greatest Story Ever Told About The Greatest Man That Ever Lived |
There are many different religions in the world. Each has their own version of how one can get
to heaven, paradise, the ever after, the Kingdom of God, or whatever you want to call it. What
separates Christianity from all other religions is what Jesus did in comparison to what the
spiritual leaders of other religions did. Jesus was the only one that died for the sins of mankind.
None of the other spiritual leaders did. Mohammed didn't, Buddha didn't, and Confucius didn't.
Even though other religions teach about sin, Jesus was the only one that paid the price for
mankind's sin.
There have been many interpretations of the Word of God and if you wanted to, you could make
any Holy Book sound any way you want it to by selecting certain scriptures to back up your
position. This is NOT a good way to study the Bible or any other Holy Book. Instead, the best
way is to approach it with an open mind willing to be taught and to consider if what is being said
makes any sense or not. If we take what is written at face value, it is not hard to understand.
It's when we start to analyze what could have been meant by a certain scripture that we run into
trouble, or if we don't want to believe the obvious and start looking for alternative explanations.
For example. The first sentence of the Bible says "In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth". This is a simple statement which is easy to understand if we take it at face value
and believe that this is exactly what God meant when he wrote this. However, as you can see,
most of the world does not believe this. Because they have discarded the obvious, they search
for an alternative and we are left with the Big Bang Theory and Evolution as replacements which
are much harder to believe than a simple fact....God made it. As a result we get continuous
arguments pro and con which can go on forever because neither can actually be proven so
regardless of which view you hold, you will have to believe it by faith. I find it much easier to
accept what was written as the Word of God and leave it at that. Who am I to question the
intelligence of God? I am not smarter than God.
Regarding what Jesus said about heaven and eternal life could be taken the same way. Either
he was the biggest liar that ever lived or else he was who he said he was, the Son of God. Let's
have a look at what he said and you can decide for yourself which one you think he was.
In the Bible, in John 14:6 Jesus said " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me."
This is a bold statement. Jesus is saying that the ONLY WAY to get to God is through him. He
said that NO ONE can get to God any other way. He said this because he was going to pay for
man's sins by dying on the cross and by shedding his blood, he paid the price required for
mankind's sins. Romans 3:10 says "There is no one righteous, not even one." Therefore, the
reason Jesus had to pay the price for our sins is because we could never do so. No one can
make themselves righteous. No one can pay for their sins. No one can live a sinless life. No
one can earn their way to heaven. It's impossible. God knows this and that is why he sent his
only son, Jesus, to do it for us so that all those that accept what Jesus did for them could be
forgiven and enter heaven covered by the blood of Jesus. That is why Jesus could say "...no
one comes to God but through me." He was the only one that made that possible. That is why
there is NO OTHER WAY to get to Heaven except through Jesus.
In John 3:3 Jesus said "`I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born
again." John 3:7 "...you must be born again." John 3:17 " For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the word, but to save the world through him."
Again, this is a bold statement. Jesus said that we MUST be born again if we want to enter
heaven. It's not a maybe. It's a Must. You can read my study on being Born Again to get the
full version, but basically, we need to ask Jesus to forgive our sins and to be our Lord and
Saviour. That's how you get "born again". We were already born once, physically. Now we
need to be born spiritually. This is why we need to be born "again". In verse 17, Jesus says
that God sent him into the world to save the world through him. Not through anyone else, but
through HIM. That is why Jesus is the only way to get to heaven. He is the only one that paid
the price and made that possible.
In John 3:16 Jesus said "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that who
ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life".
Again, the Bible confirms that the only way to have eternal life is to "believe in Jesus". He did
not say, believe in whatever you want to. He did not say, believe in Buddha, or Mohammed. It
says "whoever believes in HIM (Jesus)". Jesus is the ONLY one we are told to believe in
because he was the ONLY ONE that made that provision for mankind.
There are many more scriptures in the Bible that say the same thing, and you can look them up if
you want to. I remember before I became a Christian, I really struggled with this. But I
eventually came to the conclusion that the only choices I had was that I could either believe that
the Bible was the absolute true Word of God, or else that it was not. If it was not, then I didn't
have to bother trying to understand any of it and could believe whatever I wanted to. But if it
was true, then there was only ONE WAY to get to heaven, and that was through Jesus. That was
my only choice because the Bible can't be partly true and partly untrue. It has to be one or the
other. If it was not completely true then it could not be the Word of God, it would just be another
storybook. This is what each of us has to decide for ourselves...... Was Jesus who he said he
was, or was he not? Did he tell us the "truth" or did he not. If he did, then he said that he is the
only way to get to Heaven. If you don't believe he did tell the truth, then you can believe
whatever you think is the truth and hope that when you stand before God you are right.
The reason I believe very strongly about this is because I don't know of any other way to
interpret it, and because I believe the Bible is the absolute true Word of God. It's actually very
easy to understand if you take it as it is written.
to heaven, paradise, the ever after, the Kingdom of God, or whatever you want to call it. What
separates Christianity from all other religions is what Jesus did in comparison to what the
spiritual leaders of other religions did. Jesus was the only one that died for the sins of mankind.
None of the other spiritual leaders did. Mohammed didn't, Buddha didn't, and Confucius didn't.
Even though other religions teach about sin, Jesus was the only one that paid the price for
mankind's sin.
There have been many interpretations of the Word of God and if you wanted to, you could make
any Holy Book sound any way you want it to by selecting certain scriptures to back up your
position. This is NOT a good way to study the Bible or any other Holy Book. Instead, the best
way is to approach it with an open mind willing to be taught and to consider if what is being said
makes any sense or not. If we take what is written at face value, it is not hard to understand.
It's when we start to analyze what could have been meant by a certain scripture that we run into
trouble, or if we don't want to believe the obvious and start looking for alternative explanations.
For example. The first sentence of the Bible says "In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth". This is a simple statement which is easy to understand if we take it at face value
and believe that this is exactly what God meant when he wrote this. However, as you can see,
most of the world does not believe this. Because they have discarded the obvious, they search
for an alternative and we are left with the Big Bang Theory and Evolution as replacements which
are much harder to believe than a simple fact....God made it. As a result we get continuous
arguments pro and con which can go on forever because neither can actually be proven so
regardless of which view you hold, you will have to believe it by faith. I find it much easier to
accept what was written as the Word of God and leave it at that. Who am I to question the
intelligence of God? I am not smarter than God.
Regarding what Jesus said about heaven and eternal life could be taken the same way. Either
he was the biggest liar that ever lived or else he was who he said he was, the Son of God. Let's
have a look at what he said and you can decide for yourself which one you think he was.
In the Bible, in John 14:6 Jesus said " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me."
This is a bold statement. Jesus is saying that the ONLY WAY to get to God is through him. He
said that NO ONE can get to God any other way. He said this because he was going to pay for
man's sins by dying on the cross and by shedding his blood, he paid the price required for
mankind's sins. Romans 3:10 says "There is no one righteous, not even one." Therefore, the
reason Jesus had to pay the price for our sins is because we could never do so. No one can
make themselves righteous. No one can pay for their sins. No one can live a sinless life. No
one can earn their way to heaven. It's impossible. God knows this and that is why he sent his
only son, Jesus, to do it for us so that all those that accept what Jesus did for them could be
forgiven and enter heaven covered by the blood of Jesus. That is why Jesus could say "...no
one comes to God but through me." He was the only one that made that possible. That is why
there is NO OTHER WAY to get to Heaven except through Jesus.
In John 3:3 Jesus said "`I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born
again." John 3:7 "...you must be born again." John 3:17 " For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the word, but to save the world through him."
Again, this is a bold statement. Jesus said that we MUST be born again if we want to enter
heaven. It's not a maybe. It's a Must. You can read my study on being Born Again to get the
full version, but basically, we need to ask Jesus to forgive our sins and to be our Lord and
Saviour. That's how you get "born again". We were already born once, physically. Now we
need to be born spiritually. This is why we need to be born "again". In verse 17, Jesus says
that God sent him into the world to save the world through him. Not through anyone else, but
through HIM. That is why Jesus is the only way to get to heaven. He is the only one that paid
the price and made that possible.
In John 3:16 Jesus said "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that who
ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life".
Again, the Bible confirms that the only way to have eternal life is to "believe in Jesus". He did
not say, believe in whatever you want to. He did not say, believe in Buddha, or Mohammed. It
says "whoever believes in HIM (Jesus)". Jesus is the ONLY one we are told to believe in
because he was the ONLY ONE that made that provision for mankind.
There are many more scriptures in the Bible that say the same thing, and you can look them up if
you want to. I remember before I became a Christian, I really struggled with this. But I
eventually came to the conclusion that the only choices I had was that I could either believe that
the Bible was the absolute true Word of God, or else that it was not. If it was not, then I didn't
have to bother trying to understand any of it and could believe whatever I wanted to. But if it
was true, then there was only ONE WAY to get to heaven, and that was through Jesus. That was
my only choice because the Bible can't be partly true and partly untrue. It has to be one or the
other. If it was not completely true then it could not be the Word of God, it would just be another
storybook. This is what each of us has to decide for ourselves...... Was Jesus who he said he
was, or was he not? Did he tell us the "truth" or did he not. If he did, then he said that he is the
only way to get to Heaven. If you don't believe he did tell the truth, then you can believe
whatever you think is the truth and hope that when you stand before God you are right.
The reason I believe very strongly about this is because I don't know of any other way to
interpret it, and because I believe the Bible is the absolute true Word of God. It's actually very
easy to understand if you take it as it is written.
Is Jesus the Only Way to God