The Only Way to Heaven

Dear Jim Wilson, in order to live in peace and harmony, itis essential for all religions to respect one another and seek common groundwhile reserving differences. Unfortunately, some religions claim that onlytheir beliefs are true and others are false. As a result, there are endless andunnecessary disputes and wars. As I have been taught, there is only one God inthis world, who has representatives in the diverse religions: Jesus inChristianity, Muhammad in Islam, Buddha in Buddhism… Their mission is the same:to help people improve themselves. If everyone accepted this point of view,these diverse religions would be tolerant towards one another, and the wholeworld would be really blessed. 

I always enjoy your preaching, and I often find surprisingsimilarities between Christianity and Buddhism in it. For example, similar towhat the Bible says (everyone is a sinner), Buddhism teaches that everyone wasborn selfish and nobody is perfect. Therefore, everyone must look after his ownconduct by self-examination, behave properly and improve his character, findpleasure in helping others, and so on. Both Buddha and Jesus teach theirfollowers to forgive others for wrong-doing, to be kind and passionate, and toget rid of all bitterness. I believe in what you have been preaching. However,no way can I accept Jesus as the only God and believe that only Christians cango to the heaven. As you know, Chinese people are great people, and China has apopulation of 1.4 billion, including at least 50 million Christians. If yourpreaching were true, more than one billion Chinese, no matter good or bad, wouldgo to hell. Do you think this is fair? If it were fair, I would be happy to goto the hell with the one billion non-Christian Chinese. Let’s keep our differentbeliefs since we are happy with our own choices. The world is wonderful becauseof its diversity.

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your gracious letter. You asked, “Do you thinkthis is fair?” Perhaps your question was a rhetorical one. However, I willanswer it this way. The question assumes that “fairness” is the ideal ofgoodness. If you asked the question this way, “Do you think this is just?” Iwould answer “Yes!” God is just! God is not “fair.” Fairness is where everyoneis treated the same. Justice is where everyone is treated by the samestandard, God’s holiness and His absolute standard of right and wrong.

There is another difficulty which I may have caused in mypreaching by not making the teaching of the Bible clear.

The primary reason people go to Hell is not that theydo not believe in Jesus.

The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the gloryof God” (Romans 3:23).

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no onewho understands, no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:10-11).

We are both in agreement on this truth. The Bible also says,“The wages of sin is death.” This is the reason that people go to hell—sin.Jesus is the solution, not the cause.

Your solution is, “Therefore, everyone must look after hisown conduct by self-examination, behave properly and improve his character,find pleasure in helping others, and so on.” If this is the solution, how manypeople in this world are practicing your solution? Certainly, I tried for thefirst 20 years of my life, but I failed badly.

Here are a series of questions I have asked many individualpeople over my years in ministry.

“By your own standard of right and wrong, wherever you gotyour standard, were you more ‘right’ at the age of four or the age of eight?”

“Were you more ‘right’ at the age of eight or twelve? Wereyou more ‘right’ at the age of twelve or sixteen? Were you more ‘right’ at theage of sixteen or twenty?”

With very few exceptions, the answer to each question wasthe younger age. Each person was decaying in his moral actions the older hegot.

Then I would say something like this: “You have been goingdownhill since you were four. What makes you think you will be more righteousat the age of twenty-four? You may not be going downhill as fast, but you arestill going downhill.”

When I would get a positive answer for the older age, Iwould ask for an explanation why he was more moral at twenty than at sixteen.He would tell me that he had received forgiveness and a new life through Christat the age of eighteen.

The difference in the basic moral standards in the differentreligions and societies in the world is not great. The same God made everyone,and He created in everyone the knowledge of good and evil.

However, there is a difference in the way peoples see thepurpose of the moral law. Most religions say that obeying the moral law is partof the means of going to Heaven.

The other part of salvation is by obeying the distinctivesof their particular religion—a pilgrimage to Mecca, a bath in the Ganges atBenares, etc. If salvation depended only on obeying the moral law, no one wouldgo to Heaven.

In the New Testament, obedience to the moral law is not themeans to salvation. It is the result of already being saved byforgiveness, because Jesus died on the cross to the take the punishment for mysins.

“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has beenmade known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness fromGod comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is nodifference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and arejustified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. Hedid this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left thesins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice atthe present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who havefaith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26).

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, wehave peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

“Consequently, just as the result of one trespass wascondemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness wasjustification that brings life for all men. For just as through thedisobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through theobedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was added sothat the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased allthe more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign throughrighteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans5:18-21).

“But now that you have been set free from sin and havebecome slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result iseternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternallife in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:22-23).

Salvation is a free gift for 100% of the world’s population.It is not earned, because it cannot be earned. Even if I never sinned again,that would not take care of all my previous sins.

Forgiveness is the only way. 

“He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ willsuffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgivenessof sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Luke24:46-47).

“I will rescue you from your own people and from theGentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them fromdarkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receiveforgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts26:17-18).

Respectfully,

Jim Wilson

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships