Friends, I was out for a few days, but I'll be back here too!

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9

This is THE only way into Heaven...believing in Jesus Christ. No belief, No entry. If at the time of your death you believed, your ticket is golden.

"I know that this is not a popular belief among many Christians, but we all go to the Father when we die. Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

Even satan is being held in Heaven by Michael the Archangel."
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Hi Cathi,

I love you in the name of our Lord but I must reply to your post, as it is untrue. We all do not go to heaven when we die, unless we believe Jesus died on the cross, arose and is the son of God then we are saved. (Romans 10:9)

Not to give Satan too much credit, here is additional info on your comment that he is in Heaven with God:

Satan is not in Heaven. If you look to Luke 10:18, Jesus replied to other men (approx. 70 that had come back from the towns Jesus had sent them to heal the sick and to declare Jesus' arrival), "I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." Another text which confirms this passage is Isaiah 14:12, which says that Satan has fallen from heaven (Isaiah 14:12)

Here is a good article about this topic: http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=186

We do not live by the Old Testament but by the New Testament, as it is the fulfillment of Jesus' birth and death, who died for our sins (the good news!)

I'm also not sure what you are referring to when you pointed to Ecclesiastes 12:6-7. Although it says in verse 7 …"and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it," this is just one text taken out of context. Yes, we will return to God, after we have accepted Him into our hearts.

Although the Old Testament has a lot of historical facts and great wisdom and poetry and even shapes the world of the New Testament, we live by the New Testament which is the fulfillment of the stories/prophecies of the Old Testament.

For more information about the New Testament, go here: http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=2077
I've also found this site very useful: www.GotQuestions.org but please feel free to confer with your pastor for confirmation. Hope this has been useful.

In love,

I still prefer to let God be God...not one of us here possesses even a glimmer of the profound depth of love or mercy that is God. Jesus didn't die on the cross so we could throw that in the unbeliever's face and banish him/her to hell forever according to our own narrow interpretation of "the rules". We have to read mercy and love into God's Word or else we have missed the message entirely. Unconditional love means that we ALL are loved simply because we exist, not because of what we do or believe. The doing and believing determine how we express our lives and purpose, but they do not affect God's love for us...it's already there, no matter what.

There are too many unanswered questions to automatically relegate non-believers to hell. There are too many people (and you don't have to look past your own neighborhood to find them) who live in oppressive hunger and poverty, and whose spirits are battered down by hatred and violence. They may never know Jesus or have the opportunity to believe in Him. But I firmly believe that the merciful Father I know and love will run out of the gates of Heaven to greet each and every one of them/us and hug us close to His heart and welcome us all Home. And whatever else has transpired on earth, our eyes will be opened and the veils torn apart and we will know Him as Home.

Not one of us knows the heart and situation of another person, or is in a position to even begin to judge another human being's relationship with God, either now or at the moment of death. Let's just let God be God and stop painting Him in the colour of our own feeble inability to love unconditionally. As much as I treasure and strive to live by the Bible, I refuse to use those scriptures to justify the eternal condemnation of another human being. The mind of God is so much wiser and compassionate than we could ever imagine. He will know the "why" of who we were and couldn't be here on earth. Let's leave it all in His hands and get on with the business of unconditionally loving others the way we're supposed to here and now.

The overriding message of the entire Bible is MERCY. Without love and mercy at the root of our being, our words are empty.

It's interesting to see the diversity of beliefs. I understand this is a sensitive and extensive subject, and respect each opinion and belief expressed here.

Here's a bit of what I've learned from the Bible:

1. God created man from the dust in the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul-Genesis 2:7

2. When a person dies-the dust returns to the earth as it was; and the spirit(Breath of life God gave him) returns unto God who gave it-Ecclesiastes 12:7, see also Gen. 3:19

3. According to Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10 the dead can't help us. They have no part in anything under the sun. They don't know what their loved ones are doing. They can't think, help, guide us, communicate with us, etc. The day they die, their thoughts perish-Psalm 146:4

4. Jesus referred to the unconscious state of the dead as "sleep". (John 11:11-14)

5. Jesus promised that whoever believes in Him will rise again. John 11:25

5.Those who accepted Christ as their Savior will rise at the sound of the trumpet when Jesus comes. (1 Thesalonians 4:16,17)

~We decide our eternal destiny by choosing or not to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior- John 3:16 "...that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life";
And Jesus said: "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned" Mark 16:16.

~Accepting him as such also means we obey HIS commandments and serve him wholeheartedly.- "If you love me, keep MY comamndments"-John 14:15.

~Each person's reward is not at death, but at Christ's return-"And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be"-Rev. 22:12

God loves us all, His son died for all, regardless of our differences in opinion or belief. I pray this discussion proves healthy and helps us seek God's answers to our questions. God bless!

If any of you is interested, I found this site, which has a more detailed explanation on the subject:
http://www.amazingfacts.org/items/study_guides.asp

Click on the lesson "Are the dead really dead?"

There are so many beliefs on this subject and each seems to be supported by Scripture or other writings.
I guess mid life is the time when we have to all look inside our hearts and examine our spirits to determine what we truly believe then pursue it in the way we live our lives.

At this point, living is all we can do.
smile

I was raised Catholic. I grew up believing I had to "earn" my way to heaven. I was also told that if I confessed my sins, then talked back to mom and got hit by a car and killed...I would more than likely go to pergotury. The only way I could go to heaven was to leave the confessional and drop dead.

Unconfessed sins kept me from heaven. And trust me, you know the sins of youth: picking on my brother and sisters, talking back to Mom and Dad, taking the last piece of cake and lying when Mom asks "who had the last piece of cake and didn't clean the plate?" This was quite a cross to carry as a little kid, but it's what I believed. I was a candidate for purgotury no matter how you looked at it. And purgatory was the heaven and hell limbo. I could go either way at that point.

My childhood God was one of fear.

My adult God is one of love! In my mid-twenties I went through some struggles: infertility, suicide death of a friend, and my husband's health problems caused by Diabetes. It was at that time Ross and I went to a minister friend for help.

Since that time, this is what I believe:

I am going to heaven because I believe in God, I beleive He sent His only son to die for me and I believe He rose from the dead to save me from my sins.

I believed these things before, but I didn't know they gave me eternal life. I thought I had to "earn" it.

How in the world can anyone be "good enough" to "earn" their way to heaven when you take into consideration what Jesus did for us?

Knowing God has a place for me in heaven gives me tremendous freedom.

Now, some people say, "so you mean all you have to do is believe and you can go kill someone and go to heaven. Just because you believe?"

My reply to that is that when you believe as I do, you do all you possibly can to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, try to be more Christ-like, and love your neighbor as yourself. If one is doing those things they are not going to kill someone.

As far as judging others for what they believe. That is not what God wants me to do. I need to leave that to Him. All He wants me to do is LOVE everyone, regardless of our beliefs. It's really quite simple.

He doesn't care if my neighbor believes something else. His only care is that I love them.

We can't change people,. That's not up to us. But I believe loving people can make them wonder what we are up to. Especially if they are the downtrodden. If you can share that your love comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ it may make them curious.

The changing we need to leave to the Holy Spirit. And that's a whole other topic.

Thanks to everyone for sharing in this thread. It's such a good one!

AMEN. Yes, the Holy Spirit is another topic all in itself. Thanks everyone for sharing as well. I love you all ... so don't kill the messenger, okay? :-) But I love my God with all my heart and just wanted to share HIs wonderful news. Thanks for the question.

Dots, I appreciate your response, as well as all others.

I agree with you about going to heaven because you accept the salvation God gives us through Jesus's sacrifice, I agree with you regarding loving God and others, not judging, letting the Holy Spirit work in our lives, etc.

The original question is regarding what many believe happens when we die . Do we go to heaven?

If it were so, why is there a need for resurrection?