Can 'being good' get me into Heaven?

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   Team Wisemanposted 9 years ago

   Can 'being good' get me into Heaven?
   
   I've always heard "Be good and you'll get this." Or "Be good and you can have that." I've even heard that I must be good to go to heaven. Is this how we can enter heaven after death?
   
   

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   jfischerstoneposted 9 years ago

   For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

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      glynch1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That's right.

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      flpalermoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      So salvation is going to heaven?

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      jfischerstoneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Of course.

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      lone77starposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      And salvation is a removal of self-concern (ego) and replacing it with altruistic love of others (as if they were ourselves). This is God's viewpoint. This is following Christ. This is pure bliss, because your pleasure is not for the separate self

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      jfischerstoneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      @ Lone Did an angel appear to you and tell you what you preach?

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   manatita44posted 9 years ago

   You must be wise and right. Good is that which brings you a sense of inner value, and wrong is what takes you away from this. Good comes with purity of intent, sincerity of purpose.
   
   Truly our Lord dwells within and already knows our intentions. Do the things that takes you away from that which makes you weak and gives you an advantage in the position of strength, in so far as it is pleasing to your inner conscience.
   
   That which is a joy to the inner conscience, pleases God. Happy Christmas!

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      lone77starposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Beautiful! And purity of intent will include a removal of self-concern. It will include loving others as yourself and wishing for them everything that they desire. When you achieve this, turning the other cheek becomes effortless

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      manatita44posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the support,  Bro.
      
      Have a great Christmas for you and yours!

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      celafoeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      sounds nice to the ears but totally non scriptural

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   glynch1posted 9 years ago

   The Apostle Paul quoted portions of the Psalms that state "There is none righteous, no, not one" and "There is none who does good, no, not one." No one is good, only God, and no human being can earn salvation (heaven) by his or her "good" works. People are saved by grace through faith; salvation is a gift of God that we must receive with the empty hands of faith. Because of our sin, we can bring nothing at all to God that He would accept; God will only accept us if the righteousness of Christ has been put to our account.

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      jfischerstoneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Amen!

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      lone77starposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Beautiful. Meaning? Remove self-concern -- that which separates us from one another and from God. When we love others as if they were ourselves and wish for them everything that they desire, we are empty of our egos.

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   lone77starposted 9 years ago

   No, you can get into heaven before you die. Christ said that the kingdom of God is within you already.
   
   In order to reach this heaven, you need to eliminate all self-concern (ego). This is what truly following Christ is all about. You need to love others as if they were yourself. Only then can you find heaven.
   
   Too many do good for self's sake and miss everything. Jesus pointed this out when he talked of the Pharisees.
   
   The First (egoist) shall be last, and the Last (humble and loving) shall be first.

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      glynch1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      No human being, sinful as we are, can reach this state of perfection in this life. Only after we "shuffle off this mortal coil" will regenerate believers attain heaven. We are only positionally sanctified now. Paul tells us to press toward the goal.

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   Lady Guinevereposted 9 years ago

   The answer to that is in Mathew 5: 43-48.  Jesus did also state that the Kingdom was also WITHIN you.
   
   43 `Ye heard that it was said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and shalt hate thine enemy; but I -- I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those cursing you, do good to those hating you, and pray for those accusing you falsely, and persecuting you, that ye may be sons of your Father in the heavens, because His sun He doth cause to rise on evil and good, and He doth send rain on righteous and unrighteous. `For, if ye may love those loving you, what reward have ye? do not also the tax-gatherers the same? and if ye may salute your brethren only, what do ye abundant? do not also the tax-gatherers so?  ye shall therefore be perfect, as your Father who [is] in the heavens is perfect.
   
   Luke 17:  And having been questioned by the Pharisees, when the reign of God doth come, he answered them, and said, `The reign of God doth not come with observation; nor shall they say, Lo, here; or lo, there; for lo, the reign of God is within you.'  And he said unto his disciples, `Days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not behold [it]; and they shall say to you, Lo, here; or lo, there; ye may not go away, nor follow: for as the lightning that is lightening out of the one [part] under heaven, to the other part under heaven doth shine, so shall be also the Son of Man in his day; and first it behoveth him to suffer many things, and to be rejected by this generation.  `And, as it came to pass in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man;

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      jfischerstoneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      So Lady you have come to your own conclusions about salvation from only a very few verses from the Bible. I am afraid you are missing the entire point because you refuse to believe the rest of the Bible that does not support your illusions.

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      Lady Guinevereposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      jf is am reporting you and that is that!

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      jfischerstoneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Reporting me for what? Questioning your ideology?

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      celafoeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      jfis-  yes thats about it.  she does not like her wierd unscriptural ideas and thoughts questioned or compared to scripture in proper context

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