I saw this question on Yahoo Answers today and wanted to respond.   The question was, “Does anyone else believe that if God is as big of a jerk as some Christians claim, they don’t WANT heaven? You can find this question at http://answers.yahoo.com

The person who wrote the question stated, “Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Christian, I believe in heaven and hell, and I would thouroughly enjoy heaven. But honestly, if I died and got there, simply to find out that great men like Ghandi and Einstien were not admitted simply because they were not Christian, while terrible men like Fred Phelps were simply because they did believe in the Christian God, I think I would excuse myself, and rather live somewhere else for eternity.”

My response:

You might want to carefully consider your words here.  “I would excuse myself and rather live somewhere else for eternity”.  Those are pretty arrogant words.  By those words you assume that God is not good, faithful, righteous, or just.  You lift up your own morality as better than God’s.  It sounds remotely similar to Lucifer who thought he could be equal with God and he said over and over “I will” (Isaiah 14)  He was kicked out of heaven by the way.

When you say, “MY heaven”, which heaven are you referring to? I don’t remember receiving a memo that says that you are God and you are able to create your own heaven.  Your heaven doesn’t exist.  You are not God.  Your judgments are not infallible as God’s are.
Revelation 16:7
And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”

As far as who makes it to heaven, that is for God to determine, not you.  The penalty for our sin was paid for by the blood of Jesus.  Those who put their trust in Jesus have been covered by that payment.  Those who refuse to believe in Him will be judged by their sin.  And Romans 3 says there are none who do good.  There are none who seek for God.

Galatians 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly.” That means that if we could find our justification from God by following the law, then Jesus would not have needed to die for us. But we can’t find justification by following the law, because no matter how hard we try to follow every bit of the law, we will eventually fall short.

Even with all the good works a person could muster up, those good works would not be enough to save Him.  That is why Jesus had to die for us.  Romans 3:20 says that by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight”.  This does not mean that we are not accountable to obey God.  A true believer obeys the commands of Jesus because he loves Jesus.  A true believer has a changed heart and seeks to live a life that is honoring to God.  But it is important to note that doing good works is evidence of a changed life, but good works in and of themselves will not save.

Heaven is not composed of “good” people.  Heaven is composed of people who were deeply grieved by their sin and who sought repentance and forgiveness.  These people have no confidence in their own ability to please God on their own merits.  They have thrown themselves down at the feet of God’s mercy and begged for forgiveness.  After all, Jesus said that he did not come to heal the well but the sick (Matthew 9).  The religious leaders criticized Jesus for reaching out to sinners, but Jesus knew that the sinners recognized that they needed help. Those who are “well”, think they don’t need help.  They would rather rest in their own “goodness”.  And with that being the case, they will have to be judged on their own goodness, which will fall short of God’s standard.

God is not a killjoy.  He wants us to come to Him and put our faith and life in His hands.  Ezekiel 33:11 says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live”.

I would like to end my response by looking at Jesus’s parable of the laborers in Matthew 20. It says:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

“The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

This parable shows a glimpse of God’s heart. Are we envious because He shows mercy to sinners? Who are we that we should dare tell God who He can show grace towards? We should be careful, lest we depend on our own self righteousness and forfeit an eternity with Christ.

Find out what the heart of the gospel is.
Find out how the law is a tutor.
Find out what troubled this preacher.

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