One of the reasons that Christianity appeals to me is that it is a message of humility in an age of arrogance and self-righteous judgmentalism. What I mean by that, is that every other religion’s strategy for the hereafter is based on our good-enough-ness.
. Ask people if they think that they’re going to heaven and most would answer "yes."
. Ask "why" and most would reply something like, "I’m a pretty good person. I haven’t killed anyone. I try to be kind. I’m more honest than most people," etc.
. Ask people if they believe that some people deserve to go to hell and I’m sure that you’d get an answer like, "Ya, Hitler, terrorists, child rapists - people like that."
What these people are really saying, is that they think they’re better than those who they believe deserve to go to hell. And that is where we run into the problem. If there is going to be some kind of standard, determining who is good enough and who isn’t good enough, just whose standard should we use? Yours? Mine? Hitler’s?
I did prison visits for 10 years, and not once did I ever meet a criminal who thought he was a bad person. Not the drug dealers, not the murderers, not the rapists - no one saw himself as evil. In fact, each prisoner would point to someone who in his mind was worse. So who do we go to, to establish a salvation based upon some degree of goodness?
Here is where the beauty and the humility of Christianity comes in. Jesus pointed out with perfect clarity, something that we all know if we’re honest with ourselves. When held up to the light of God’s absolute Holiness, none of us are good enough to be in His presence. The Bible says as much, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." When it comes to being good enough, I’m just as lost as any terrorist or murderer.
Logic demands that there must be some other qualifying factor for entrance to Heaven. The Bible says that the qualifying factor is faith in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. Only an attitude of honesty and humility will lead anyone to repent of their sins and throw themselves on the mercy of God through faith in Jesus Christ