The Eternal Life Disaster

Well its official...supposedly the groundhog saw his shadow. Which groundhog and where he was at might play a big role in this conundrum in the sense that many cities across this country celebrate their own Groundhogs Hay with their own groundhogs!

For example, the most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania is reported to have seen his shadow joining with Chattanooga Chuck (Chattanooga, TN) Chuckles (Manchester, CT), Fred (Val d'Espoir, Quebec), and others, but came to a different conclusion than Stormy Marmot (Aurora, CO), Staten Island Chuck (Staten Island, NY), Dunkirk Dan (Dunkirk, NY), Balzak Bill (Balzac, Alberta), Buckeye Chuck (Marion, OH), Cocoalico Cal (Ephrata, PA), Dover Doug (Dover, PA), French Creek Freddie (French Creek, WV), Woodstock Willie (Woodstock, IL), Susquehanna Sherman (Mount Wolf, PA), Sir Walter Willie (Raleigh, NC), and General Beauregard Lee (Lilburn, GA). Time doesn't allow me to explain how Jimmy the Groundhog in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin couldn't even make up his mind after he bit the ear of the mayor (http://www.channel3000.com/weather/jimmy-the-groundhogs-forecast-debated/31046574), or talk about the other 17 groundhogs listed on Wikipedia.org!

The question is...which one is the real official groundhog, what location is the correct location, and how do we know which one is right!?

Its interesting in this day and age, even 2,000 years after the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, people still today are asking the question..."Which way is the right way to heaven?"

There are lots of theories on how to get to heaven, i.e. by going to church, by being a good person, by giving to charities, by volunteering time, by joining some monastic group, by following a guru, by practicing religion, by traditions, etc...

I read recently that in America, 92 percent of our population believe in God, 74 percent believe in life after death and 63 percent say their respective scriptures are the word of God (http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/06/24/americans-my-faith-isnt-only-way-to-heaven/). Truth be told though another statistic from the same article said, "But deeper investigation found that more than one in four Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants and Orthodox Christians expressed some doubts about God's existence, as did six in ten Jews." Apparently, its okay to believe that there is some type of afterlife, be it heaven, hell, nirvana, paradise, purgatory or what have you, but its also okay to now "doubt" that God does really exist. How the afterlife exists without God is beyond me. If truly this world came into existence through a means of accidents (evolution) then our bodies are mortal, and we have no soul that will ascend on to an afterlife, thus we should have no reason to believe as do 92% of Americans that there is a God. One in four is 25% of our population! That's a quarter of the 92%  leaving us with in reality 69% of American's that believe in God, but then how many truly believe that God is the only source of eternal life?

Again the same article states, "Nearly across the board, the majority of religious Americans believe many religions can lead to eternal life: mainline Protestants (83 percent), members of historic black Protestant churches (59 percent), Roman Catholics (79 percent), Jews (82 percent) and Muslims (56 percent). By similar margins, people in those faith groups believe in multiple interpretations of their own traditions' teachings. Yet 44 percent of the religiously affiliated also said their religion should preserve its traditional beliefs and practices."

So 83% of Protestants...(now I'm not Protestant but I align better with Protestants than I do any other "religious group") say that it is quite possible that people can still get to heaven through other religions and beliefs. Yet remember 69% of the 92% believe that the scriptures of the Word of God.

With that in mind they must have forgotten John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

The problem is that they may not just know the verse, but in all honesty most have become ignorant of it! The same way that our culture has embraced numerous other actions based upon emotions and feelings rather than upon what God's Word says. Our world today is filled with hate, lust, death, murder, and so much more, but even though God's Word may forbid it, we continue to indulge ourselves or even shrug our shoulders and reluctantly accept the changes due to the peer pressures of our society.

When the Bible says, "Jesus says to him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life..." if we truly believe the Bible to be the Word of God, the very inspired, "God-breathed" scriptures, then we MUST take them at face value and believe them.

Jesus didn't say, "I am one of the ways..." he was very clear in the singular saying, "THE" meaning the only way. He never said, "I am one of the truths..." He clearly defined Himself as the only truth, and he very much didn't say that he was one of the ways to life, He said He was the life.

The old saying, "There are many roads to the top of the mountain" may be true for the physical mountain, but John wrote, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." It says nothing about giving offerings, going to church, traditions, chanting, joining special groups, or the like in order to obtain the afterlife. It clearly states, "Believe".

No individual in their right mind would have gone through what Jesus went through on the cross if there were more than one way to heaven. Jesus was beaten, his body ripped open, skin shredded, beaten with reeds that would have stung, his beard was plucked out of his face causing his face to swell and hurt, a crown of thorns was pushed down into his scalp causing blood to flow down his face and body. His body was bruised and beaten, hands and feet nailed to pieces of wood, his body dripped of mucus as people spit upon him, literally asphyxiating upon the cross, the Bible says that through all this even his visage (appearance) didn't even resemble a man (Isaiah 52:14).

Why did he do this? Because He had to. He had to become the perfect sacrifice the one and only Lamb of God, who had come to take away the sins of the world as John the Baptist had so boldly proclaimed.

There was no other way to heaven. There was no other way then, and there is no other way today.

Jesus Christ is THEE ONLY WAY, THEE ONLY TRUTH, and THEE ONLY LIFE.

What you believe is up to you, but the truth still stands.

We are all sinners in need of God's forgiveness.  (ROMANS 3:23)
Because of our sin we all deserve death (ROMANS 6:23A)/1 JOHN 1:6-10
But the wonderful news is is that God gave us a means of forgiveness (ROMANS 6:23B)
That gift that God gave us is his only begotten Son - Jesus (JOHN 3:16)
Because of who Christ is (the Son of God) and what he has done (died on the cross) we can have the gift of salvation - ROMANS 10:13/JOHN 6:47
If we would just believe that He is the Christ, and he and only he has the power to forgive us...
This special gift comes to us not because we have done anything special, but because of what Christ has done for us - EPHESIANS 2:8-9
And we have God's Word so that we might know the truth about what is yet to come - JOHN 6:40/1 JOHN 5:13

No traditions, no church attendance, no rituals, no candle lighting, no priestly penance, no holy water or baptism can save you and give you entrance into eternal life...only Jesus Christ.

(If you have questions about this specific topic I would be honored to address them. Feel free to email me at Nathan_gast00@yahoo.com)