BEING A GOOD PERSON IS NOT THE SOLUTION
Do you go to heaven by being a good person? Most people believe that if you are a good person, you will go to heaven after your die. However, these people probably have not thought this belief through. But since your spiritual eternity is at stake, you should critically examine your belief to see if it makes sense. But people don’t scrutinize this belief because they are busy with life and don’t have time to seriously think about heaven. Pastor Andy Stanley has written a brilliant yet short book on this subject, How Good is Good Enough? (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2003).
What is the good people go to heaven belief system view? The good people go to heaven (“good people go”) belief system view essentially holds, “There is a good God who lives in a good place reserved for good people. This God goes by many names. He is behind all major world religions. Therefore, all major, and possibly minor, religions provide a legitimate path to God and, therefore, heaven. The criterion for making it to this good place is to be good. Each religion has its own definition for good. But what they all have in common is that men and women must do certain things, and not do certain things, in order to assure themselves a spot in this good place with a good God.” Stanley, How Good is Good Enough?, 10. This view does not make sense because you don’t know how good is good enough to get into heaven. We all recognize that nobody is perfect and we all do bad deeds on occasion. But what is the standard? How are you doing? Do you have enough time in your life to do enough good deeds so they outweigh your bad deeds? It would be helpful if God gave us some clear guidance on the good people go view. Stanley, How Good is Good Enough?, 13.
One problem with the good people go view is that God neglects to tell you what is good and how good is good enough.
We all have a moral compass built in sense of right and wrong.
God is not good if God neglects to tell us exactly what is good and how good is good enough? Stanley, How Good is Good Enough? 27. You may respond that God has given each of us a built-in sense of right and wrong, like it is wrong to murder, steal, and harm others. But this moral compass does not give you direction in terms of how perfect you need to be to go to heaven. Once you move beyond not murdering, stealing, and harming others, there is a diversity of opinion among different religions and cultures about what is right and wrong. Also, societal and cultural morals may change over time. Stanley, How Good is Good Enough? 28-36.
Some people believe that God will “grade on a curve” like a teacher that does not want everyone to fail a test when most people don’t do well on a test. Even if we assume God is extraordinarily merciful and that only 10 percent of your deeds need to be good to get into heaven, you may find yourself only one good deed away from getting into heaven. To make things worse, you had no idea that you only needed one more good deed because God never bothered to make the good people go system clear. But what if God’s holiness and perfection outweigh his mercy and requires 90 percent of your deeds to be good to go to heaven? What if you run out of enough time to the do the good deeds necessary to make up for your bad deeds? You could be condemned to hell and not even know it. Only God knows how much time you have, and he is not telling you. Stanley, How Good is Good Enough? 45-48.
Trying to keep the 10 Commandments will not get you to heaven.
Moses with the 10 Commandments. Free Bible Images.
Some people mistakenly believe if they keep the 10 Commandments, they will go to heaven. But there is no connection between the 10 Commandments and heaven. The 10 Commandments and other Old Testament laws were given primarily to provide the nation of Israel with social, civil, and legal rules for Israel to live by. God did not promise heaven for those who kept the law perfectly. That is why God set up an elaborate system of sacrifices that Israel had to offer after it failed to keep the law. Stanley, How Good is Good Enough? 40-43.
But no one today can seriously believe that they have kept all of the 10 Commandments. About the only commandments that most people have not violated are commandments 6) not murdering and 7) having sex with another person’s spouse. But if they are honest, most people will admit they have violated the following commandments: 1 &2) have and worship other gods of materialism, hobbies, celebrities, sports teams, politics, etc.; 3) taken God’s name in vain or done some evil in the name of God; 4) failed to set aside one day a week to rest and worship God; 5) disobeyed and dishonored their parents; 8) stolen something in their life; 9) lied; and 10) coveted their neighbors house, wife, lifestyle, possessions, etc. (See Exodus 20:1-17). Later in the Old Testament, God spoke to the prophet Isaiah and told him that our good deeds are like filthy rags to God (Isaiah 64:6). Therefore, if you are relying on keeping the 10 Commandments to get you into heaven, it does not look good for you.
The New Testament states no one is good enough to go to heaven.
The New Testament discusses heaven and hell, but it also does not provide a standard of goodness to get into heaven. To the contrary, Jesus did not teach that good people go to heaven. Jesus raised the required standard of goodness. The Pharisees were the religious Jewish leaders that tried to obey the Old Testament law like professional do-gooders that stayed so pure before God, they would be able to hear from God and direct the people. Jesus told the people that even the best of them were not good enough to get into heaven on their own merit. “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20 ESV). Jesus also taught that anyone who looked at a
woman lustfully committed adultery in his heart (Matthew 5:27-28) and that anyone who was angry at his brother would be subject to judgement as if he murdered his brother (Matthew 5:21-22). In essence, Jesus taught that no one was good enough to go to heaven. Stanley, How Good is Good Enough? 49-53.
The apostle Paul agreed with Jesus and stated, “None is righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10 ESV). “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his [God’s] sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20 ESV). “[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV). “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23 ESV). Therefore, the New Testament also states that no one will get to heaven by being a good person.
Jesus said bad people will go to heaven if they repent of their bad deeds and have genuine transforming faith.
Jesus provides an alternative view on how you can go to heaven. When Jesus was being crucified on the cross, one of the two criminals next to him recognized that Jesus was innocent and that both criminals were getting justly punished for their crimes. The criminal asked the other criminal if he feared God, and then he asked Jesus to have mercy on him in spite of his criminal life. He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:40-43 ESV). The criminal had no opportunity to do good deeds before his death. Jesus said bad people will go to heaven if they repent of their bad deeds and have transforming faith in Jesus. In fact, Jesus previously said,
Jesus and two criminals were crucified on crosses. Free Bible Images.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV). Jesus did not claim to be a way to God, he claimed to be the only way to God. Jesus’ sacrificial death made it possible for forgiven and transformed faithful people to go to heaven. All they have to do is to repent, believe, and accept “the free gift of God [which] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 ESV). Stanley, How Good is Good Enough? 55-63.
Christianity is the fairest possible belief system view. Christianity is the fairest possible belief system view in a world that is irreversibly unfair. Some people reject Christianity because they think that it is exclusive and unfair. But to dismiss Christianity because it is unfair is to assume that something must be fair to be true. This assumption is incorrect. Fairness does not determine truth. The good people go view appears to be fair at first glance because the better you are, the more likely you will go to heaven. However, in reality, it is unfair. The religions other than Christianity each claim to have the correct list of things you must do to get to heaven. You have to determine which list, if any, is true. But you still don’t know how much of the time you need to perform the lists of things. But you also don’t really know if you want God to be fair, because God would give you exactly what you deserve and nothing more, and you don’t know what standard of goodness God is using. Christianity is different in that it does not appeal to fairness. It is based on the premise that God laid aside fairness and opted for mercy, forgiveness, and grace, when God became human to die for your sins. Fairness would demand that you die for your own sins. Stanley, How Good is Good Enough? 63-86. However, God sees your sin as a spiritual debt you could never pay which will cause you to perish. So God offers to pay your spiritual debt if you will allow him to. As the most famous verse in the Bible states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). Believing in Jesus means placing your trust in the fact that God came to earth in the human form of Jesus and that his sacrificial death made it possible for you have eternal life in heaven. Therefore, Christianity is the fairest possible belief system view because everyone is welcome, everyone gets into heaven the same way, and everyone can accept Jesus’ sacrificial death to gain eternal life in heaven. Stanley, How Good is Good Enough? 89-91.