Summary:
Yes you can 100% KNOW you are going to Heaven. And that “absolute assurance” is not found in any other “religion”. An assurance of an unconditional love relationship from God is the only way we would really want God. A truly loving parent would want a child to KNOW that they are loved and accepted regardless of if they are “basically a good person” or not. The child would understand there are rewards and consequences, but they should KNOW that they are loved.
A little more:
First, let’s break a couple of the most common misconceptions:
- It has NOTHING to do with “basically being a good person”. We may reward or give consequences to our children based on their actions, but our love for them is completely independent of them being a basically good person. It is critical they understand that because they will mess up and they need to understand your love for them when they do. Note that although rewards and consequences are a different topic, they are also based on love. Also realize that everyone builds their own framework for what is “a basically good person” and their framework will clearly conflict with how others build their framework. These conflicts are rooted in imperfect values frameworks and focus on “self”.
- It has NOTHING to do with “religion” (religious rituals or actions). It doesn’t matter if you go through various rituals or if you associate yourself with a given church. Those are what God calls ‘works’. You may do those things in response to understanding God’s role in your life, but they have nothing to do with you actually being a Christian or going to Heaven.
Next, know this: You can 100% know if you are going to Heaven. The Bible makes it clear. Like a good parent, God wants you to know you are loved regardless of if you are basically a good person. Jesus made that clear in His conversation with two men on crosses next to Him. The Bible makes it very clear that this time on earth is NOT about us ‘earning’ God’s love or Heaven. It is a time where we learn that we are not perfect and learn to trust our loving and wise parent. Even a pygmy in the jungle who has never heard of Jesus can recognize that he is not perfect and needs God to accept him in his imperfection.
God makes it clear how you can know:
- Acknowledge that we do some wrong things (every last one of us). Any wrong thing we do, as defined by God, is what God calls sin because it is a rejection of His love and wisdom. Also, Heaven would be no better than the mess we see on this short time on earth if sin was not clearly identified and removed.
- Accept that Jesus took on the consequences for ALL your imperfections (sin) past, present and future. You do nothing to earn it, it is all about Him accepting you by His loving grace.
Summary:
- If you think you are going to Heaven because you are basically a good person, you are NOT going to Heaven.
- You can KNOW that you are going to Heaven. You must realize that you are imperfect and the only way to get there is asking God to accept you 100% because of His love (not your good deeds). There are consequences for rejecting His loving wisdom and Jesus took on all those consequences on the cross.
- If you really are a Christian, you will want to spend time with God. If you really have no desire to spend time with God, you may not be a Christian. You may be a very nice person or even a very religious person, but likely not a Christian.
As with most of the pages on this site, remember to review the verses on the bottom of the page. Never rely on just what people say – see what God says.
Read “Heaven – Greatly Misunderstood”
Read “What is sin”
Back to FAQs
Bible references:
- Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
- John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. …Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already…
- 1 John 5:12-13 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.