Faith
Because articles posted on the internet could be read by people all over the world who may not be Christians, this is primarily for them.
If I were to go up to people on a street corner and ask them what they believe will happen to them when they pass away, I would hear a variety of responses but many people may not be able to give a source for their beliefs. Christians would, of course, say they are going to heaven based upon the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. Others would expound on their good works to get them there. Some would like to think they are going to heaven but may not know why. There probably would not be much mention of the "other place." Then, what about the atheists? With no God to believe in, what would their response be? Most people want to believe in a place hereafter of everlasting happiness or, in some cases, maybe total annihilation, when there would be no consciousness at all, so it really wouldn't matter.
However, how many of these people would be able to cite a source for their beliefs, above the human realm? It is amazing to me how many people really do not know why they believe the way they do, backed up by a divine, inspired source of authority, when it comes to their eternal destiny. After all, how reliable is it to base something as important as this, on mere human opinion, intellect, or experience?
How many people have stopped to ask themselves the questions:
WHAT IF there is a literal hell and people who don't accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior by grace through faith, apart from works, are going there?
WHAT IF Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation?
WHAT IF there really is a conscious state of heaven, a place of eternal happiness, or conscious state of hell, a place of eternal punishment, darkness, and isolation, and it depends upon how a person responds to Jesus Christ?
WHAT IF the Bible is the one and only original authority for inspired truth?
None of these things can be proven but you can't disprove them either. I would rather asume they are true and be ready than to toss them aside and suffer eternal consequences.
If you choose not to believe these things then don't you think you need to have something to support however you believe? Christians' reference is the Holy Bible. It has been considered to be the one and only original infallible source of absolute inspired truth, down through the centuries of time, by millions of people. People who use all of the arguments against it do not really know the Bible or have chosen not to interpret it properly. Pick up the book, EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT, by Josh McDowell, one of the best books ever written on biblical inspiration. You won't find anything else that comes even close to the Bible on which to stake your eternal destiny.
Here is a very private and probing question. When you attend funerals do you have a sense of uncertainty as to what will happen to you when you pass away? It's hard to believe that so many people have given little or no thought to this. If you believe you are automatically going to heaven, like many other people, so you are not really worried about this issue, what is YOUR source of authority? Are you going to base it on human opinion or the general feelings of society?
Christians know, beyond any doubt, what happens after physical death, and our funerals are times of sadness and grief, of course, but they are also times of rejoicing!
Don't you think you ought to settle this issue now? You never know when you are going to pass away. Accidents and sickness can happen at any time, to old and young alike. Become one of us, a Christian. Then you can say what is spoken in I John 5:11-13. "And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life."
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