What are the requirements for a person to get to heaven?

[doubtingmerle]

What are the requirements for a person to get to heaven?

 

[ViaCrucis]

What are the requirements for a person to get to heaven?

If by "Heaven" you mean the "sweet by-and-by" "pie in the sky" fluffy clouds, etc; then firstly such a thing doesn't exist and Christian Scripture never mentions such a thing.

If by "Heaven" you mean the future good life with and in God in the renewal of creation and all things, then the "requirement" to be part of God's future world is to want to be part of God's future world.

If you don't want to be part of what God is doing and will do in and for the world, then you don't have to.

God's gracious invasion into our world in the Person of Jesus to restore and reconcile the world to Himself, means God drawing us to Himself, joining us to His Son, and thus creating in us the foretaste of that future world by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Hell is the alternative--the fruitful manifestation of a life lived incurvatis, curved inward.

There's no room for injustice, hate, bitterness, murder, greed, pride, selfishness, and malice in God's future world; so those who prefer these will get to keep them. There's plenty of space in Hell to have everything one could ever want, all for oneself. Milton wrote that the devil considered it better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven. And, sure enough, everyone in Hell gets to rule; and everyone in Heaven serves.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Joshua260]

What are the requirements for a person to get to heaven?

The following verse might help answer your question:

Galatians 3:24 KJV
[24] Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

So one can try to get into heaven by fulfilling the law, but it should soon become apparent that the only successful "way" is through Jesus Christ.

 

[doubtingmerle]

but it should soon become apparent that the only successful "way" is through Jesus Christ.

"Through Jesus Christ"? That answers my question?

What do you mean by that expression?

 

[christianmomof3]

What do you mean by "get to heaven"?
Do you think that dead people either go to heaven or go to hell?
There is not really scriptural support for that.

Or are you referring to salvation itself, which is not necessarily the same as going to heaven and occurs while one is living, and not merely after death?

 

[Joshua260]

"Through Jesus Christ"? That answers my question?

What do you mean by that expression?

Sorry, maybe I should have said "through faith in his blood", as in the following:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say , at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Romans 3:23-26

This verse helps also:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6

 

[hedrick]

First, as ViaCrucis says, Jesus didn't teach "getting to heaven" as his primary goal. He certainly warned people of a judgement to come, but his goal was for people to become members of the Kingdom of God, by loving God and neighbor, showing that love in actions, and repenting when they fail. He also saw himself as the one calling us into the Kingdom, and following him as being equivalent to being in the Kingdom. Those who are in the Kingdom now will be in it when it comes into its fullness in the future.

It's hard to know how to respond to a desire to codify the exact requirements, since for Jesus and Paul the key was motivation. Jesus' interpretations of the commandments all focused on our intent. For Paul faith is so important that he thought God would justify us based on having that motivation. Given that focus, it doesn't make a lot of sense to look for detailed requirements. Jesus would say love God and neighbor. Paul would say trust God through Christ. But both would say that this is the foundation for a life following Jesus. Not that we're expected to be perfect at it. Which is why repentance and forgiveness are so important.

There are endless arguments among Christians, particularly recently, about whether God will accept non-Christians. Personally I think God will accept any faith in him as faith in Christ, so there's some possibility. But given that the real faith in Christ is available, I don't think it would make sense for anyone to try and see just how far away they can get and still be acceptable. So despite the fact that I think some non-Christians will likely be saved, I'd say following Jesus is the only way God actually tells us to approach him. That starts by loving and trusting God through Christ, and shows itself in actions, primarily actions that make a difference to other people. Not actions as "good deeds" that we do to earn credits with God, or to establish some kind of purity or special moral standing. But as things that follow from love and faith.

 

[GrayAngel]

What are the requirements for a person to get to heaven?

Ephesians 2:8-9 : For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

There is only one criteria for salvation: faith. Specifically, faith is Christ. However, faith is more than just head knowledge. Genuine faith causes a person to act.

James 2:26 : As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Good deeds do not justify us, but they do serve as proof that our faith is real.

 

[ebia]

As others have said, the goal is not fluffy clouds, but god's reign on earth.


The requirements - a choice to be part of that, starting now.

 

[football5680]

Accept Jesus, live by his teachings and refrain from mortal sins (Murder, adultery, etc.)

 

[SH89]

What are the requirements for a person to get to heaven?

For a person to go to heaven, they must experience a new, spiritual birth from above. When Nicodemus was speaking with Jesus, the Lord stated that "unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Ultimately it is the Lord who calls to salvation, and, like the wind, this isn't predictable. But the Bible is clear that we can only go to heaven through believing in Jesus (John 14:6).

The exact process of salvation is simple as stated by Paul:

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.(Romans 10:9-10).

If a person believes that Jesus is God the Messiah, died and rose from the dead for the purpose of atonement for sins, and confesses this - he is saved.

 

[hedrick]

Jesus was actually asked this question. He gave two answers that I'm aware of. One was to follow the commandments. (Mark 10:27 ff) However he went on to call the person to leave everything and follow him.

The other answer was “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)

 

[juvenissun]

"Through Jesus Christ"? That answers my question?

What do you mean by that expression?

Except that the man Jesus is God.

 

[doubtingmerle]

Sorry, maybe I should have said "through faith in his blood", as in the following:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:...

That doesn't exactly answer my question. What is faith in his blood? Is it simply confidence that God will forgive based on seeing the blood?

So that's it? Just belief? That's all? You can lie, cheat, steal, rape, murder, pillage, and plunder, but as long as you have confidence that the blood provides a free path to heaven, you make it? The blood is a "get out of jail free card"? And the saint who spends her entire life in service of others without believing that story about the blood enters eternal torment?

 

[doubtingmerle]

If a person believes that Jesus is God the Messiah, died and rose from the dead for the purpose of atonement for sins, and confesses this - he is saved.

So if a person believes that Jesus is God the Messiah, died and rose from the dead for the purpose of atonement for sins, and confesses this--and also lies, cheats, steals, kills, rapes, pillages and plunders-- he is saved?

 

[ebia]

So if a person believes that Jesus is God the Messiah, died and rose from the dead for the purpose of atonement for sins, and confesses this--and also lies, cheats, steals, kills, rapes, pillages and plunders-- he is saved?

... is saved?
Or
... will be saved?

 

[doubtingmerle]

Except that the man Jesus is God.

My question is what one needs to do to go to heaven. My question is not whether Jesus is God, or whether he has authority.

 

[doubtingmerle]

... is saved?
Or
... will be saved?

Whatever.

If a man believes that Jesus is God the Messiah, died and rose from the dead for the purpose of atonement for sins, and confesses this--and also lies, cheats, steals, kills, rapes, pillages and plunders-- and dies in that condition, does he go to heaven?

 

[doubtingmerle]

If a person believes that Jesus is God the Messiah, died and rose from the dead for the purpose of atonement for sins, and confesses this - he is saved.

So you see there are 3 requirements:

1. believe that Jesus is God the Messiah,
2. [believe that he] died and rose from the dead for the purpose of atonement for sins,
3. confesses this.​

And that is all? I would hate to find out there are 4 requirements and you left one out of your list.

Interestingly Joshua260 only has 1 requirement--faith in the blood--and that doesn't even appear on your list. Should we add that to your list?

Should he add your 3 requirements to his list. Is his 1-requirement plan insufficient?

 

[ebia]

Whatever. If a man believes that Jesus is God the Messiah, died and rose from the dead for the purpose of atonement for sins, and confesses this--and also lies, cheats, steals, kills, rapes, pillages and plunders-- and dies in that condition, does he go to heaven?

Clearly his assent is purely intellectual; he hasn't actually got on-board with the idea.

In Hebrew thought to know something implies not just theoretical knowledge but also to act in accordance with that truth.