ATHEIST: "Go for it."
ME: "Alright, in your personal opinion, what do you think it takes for a person to get to go to heaven when they die?"
ATHEIST: "Well - assuming their even IS a heaven [smirk], I guess I'd have to say that you need to live a good life, do good things, give to the poor, be nice ... generally do more good things than bad things."
ME: "What if I told you that there are a quite a few criminals and murderers in heaven and many really "good" people (by our worldly standards) in hell?"
ATHEIST: "I'd say that sucks. I'd say that isn't fair. I'd say that can't be right."
ME: "And for 38 years, I would have agreed wholeheartedly with you. But I wasn't looking at it from God's perspective. Basically, I was thinking that my perspective mattered most. It was actually pretty arrogant thinking in retrospect. I - the creation - was somehow smarter and wiser than the Creator? Bottom line, you can do all the right things and still go to hell. And you can do all the wrong things and still go to heaven. THAT'S reality. Turns out, it has less to do with our good works and everything to do with our faith. In fact, works without faith is literally worthless, and - just as important - faith without works is dead."
ATHEIST: "You're going to have to explain this a bit more. That makes zero sense. In fact, it sounds absolutely wrong on so many levels."
ME: "There are a few basic things to understand:
- We're guilty. No getting around it. God laid out some laws and we couldn't or wouldn't follow them. Not just the 10 Commandments, but other laws laid out in the Old Testament. It says in the New Testament that Jesus did not come to abolish the laws, but to fulfill the law. Jesus himself actually said that. And like I said earlier, he clarified God's laws in some distinct ways, like saying that envying someone else's things, even if only in our minds, was stealing. He used the word "fulfill" - that's important. I'll come back to that. But God takes sin very seriously ... the wages (what we owe) for sin (our coming short of following the law) is death (both physical and spiritual). That's pretty serious.
- No one is good by Him. We throw around the word "good" so loosely today that we've lost what it means. It used to mean "perfect", in essence. You asked before, "Why do I need a god to be good?" The answer is, you can't be good with or without God. Not on your own. You and I have probably sinned in some way at least 50 times each just this morning. Things you wouldn't say are sin or "all that bad" are extremely bad to God. And He won't stand for it. Have you been even slightly angry with anyone today? Sin. Have you been even slightly untruthful with anyone? Sin. Have you peered at a woman with even a glimmer of hunger? Sin. Only He is perfect. Only He is good. He came and lived a life as a human to show how it's done, but also to die for our sins, not His. He could only do that if He had never sinned. He was the "sacrificial lamb" that represented the last sacrifice needed. When He died, he cried out, "It is finished!" No one is good but Him.
- He offers an incredible, free gift. Why did Jesus have to die on a cross, you wondering. He died for us. The gift God offers is this: Trust in Me and you will be wiped clean, white as snow. All that you've done? Gone. You are literally born again. Not physically - because our physical bodies are completely temporary. We are born brand new spiritually. And when we believe on Him, God sees Jesus when He looks at us, because He fulfilled the law on our behalf. As a result, God sees no sin, no fault in us. Nada. We are GOOD - but only good because Jesus Christ is in us and we are in Him. This is where the term "born again Christian" comes from. I know, I used to think that was just a synonym for "freak", too. It comes down to whether we want to accept the gift or not. It really is that simple. If we reject it, so be it ... but we don't get God anymore once we die. We've made that choice. If we decide to accept it, we get all of His promises. However, it must be a decision of the heart, not just of the mouth or of the head. God knows our hearts and knows the fakers from the genuine article.
- Jesus hated - I mean HATED - religious people. He still does. He called them thieves and vipers and whitewashed tombs (meaning they looked great on the outside, but were rotting corpses on the inside). Religious people, following rules to get to heaven, are missing the point. A change of heart leads to wanting to do good things, like you might want to do nice things for your wife because you love her and trust her. However, doing good things does not really lead to a changed heart. Hanging curtains for my wife does not make me love her. I love her, so I hang curtains for her. God knows the difference and cares about the heart and the heart only.
- We have free will. We can choose to accept Him and drop our plans for His ... OR ... we can choose our own plans. In essence, the choice is God's way or your/my way. With God or without God. God doesn't really send anyone to hell. In fact, He doesn't want anyone to go there. He wants them to come to Him ... to live a life that He knows (because He's infinitely wiser than we are) is our best possible life ... the one He created for us to live out. And His plan is FAR better than one based on our ideas. So in the end WE send ourselves to to hell for eternity, or we choose to spend eternity with Him in perfect bliss - no more tears, no more pain. Joy. We can talk in more depth later as to why He gives us free will, but it really comes down to relationships. How many loving relationships start with one person forcing another person to love them? Spoiler - the answer is zero. For a real relationship, there must be a choice. God knows this because He created love. He IS love.
- All you have to do is make a choice. You don't have to understand it all yet. You don't have to be perfect. He wants you just as you are. He loves you. You'll never be perfect, so stop trying. Just come as you are, drop the pride, and pray to accept Jesus into your life with a sincere prayer. That's the first step on a long journey. A journey worthy of traveling.
- Pray this prayer: "God, I'm done with believing I've got it all under control by myself. I am a sinner, no matter how good of a guy I think I am. I need to be saved and I'm ready to give up control and pass control of my life to you. I believe you are good and you know what's best for me. I'm ready to start living the life You have planned for me. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen."
ATHEIST: "That's it? Just a simple prayer like that and I'm in heaven when I die?"
ME: "Yes."
ATHEIST: "What about the guy with his fingers crossed as he says it, not meaning a word of it? He gets off scott free?"
ME: "The prayer and the prayee both know if it's genuine. It's not for me or you to determine if someone else has or hasn't accepted Jesus. That is always between them and God."
ATHEIST: "Man, I feel like I'm being duped here. It can't be that easy."
ME: "Easy? No. Simple? Yes. Nobody's life is absolutely easy. Believing and having eternal life does not mean you'll never have troubles again. You just have something to make sense of it - to stay joyful during a storm in life. And - most importantly - you will have a new life."
ATHEIST: "I'm still not completely getting the new life thing."
ME: "Let's talk about that. But first, I'm hungry - want to order something?"
ATHEIST: "Sure. I could eat some chicken. You paying?"
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