First off, I am a Christian, and I will not, under any circumstances, force anything on anyone. I will happily discuss my point of view, but it is not my job to convince anyone that he/she needs a Saviour. My job is to make the Gospel attractive, so that people want what I have, which is a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Just a couple of points I've seen brought up, but no one commented on:
-Jew, Mormons, Muslims, (insert religion/belief system here), and Christians believe such different things that they couldn't all possibly be right. Just to pick one, since Muslims are commanded to kill unbelievers, and Christians are taught to love their enemies, those two instructions wouldn't really have come from the same teacher, would they? This, to me, is the answer to "all roads lead to Heaven."
-In looking around at Nature, I have to believe that God exists, and that He made the world. In seeing laws and order around us, and seeing that by our conscience we are imprinted with a code of ethics that gives us a sense of right and wrong, I have to believe that God made the rules. It just makes sense to me, His world, His rules. I couldn't possibly "disqualify anyone" or "accept anyone" into Heaven. I'm abiding by Someone Else's rules.
-If the Creator of the world made the rules, He is the Judge. If He is also God, He is the Perfect Judge. If a human judge were to look at a murderer, and say, "Because you helped all those little old ladies cross the street, and only killed one person, I'm going to let you go free", he would be an unrighteous judge. Abraham said it best, "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" This, to me, answers the question of whether or not my good deeds will outweigh my bad deeds. I'm just not willing to take that chance, because in truth, I don't think I have helped enough little old ladies cross the street.
-For the near death experiences that describe only a delightful sense of peace and light, my only caution is that the Bible warns that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So for me, personally, this "proof" doesn't hold a lot of water. If you don't believe the Bible, then my "proof" will not hold any water for you.
To those who do not believe in any God at all, I trust I've respected you and your opinions, and I deeply appreciate being given the space to share mine.
To those who do believe only in God's existence, I would remind you that the demons also believe in God's existence, and they are not going to Heaven because of that. Their belief scares them to death.
To those who are struggling to believe, I would invite you to pray similarly to the man whose son Jesus healed of demon possession: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." A flickering flame He will not snuff out.
To those who share the same Jesus I do, thank you for strengthening my own faith this day. Have a Happy Easter, everyone!
