Last edited on 18/Jan/2020
The Bible’s Answer
The Importance of Christianity
Why should you consider Christianity? Many people think of Christianity as just another religion out there that promotes loving one another in accordance with Jesus’ commandments, and that you should choose it or reject it based upon personal preference—whether its lifestyle or ethics seem favourable to you or not. Without a doubt, Christianity is a religion about love and peace, but there’s much more to it than just that. According to the Bible, Christianity is the one and only true religion. Every other worldview and faith out there is false.
Furthermore, there is one of two places that everyone will end up in after they die. The first is Heaven, which is a place of eternal, conscious peace and joy in God’s presence, and the second is Hell, which is a place of eternal, conscious punishment away from God’s presence. We will dwell in either Heaven or Hell eternally after we die. And the Bible makes it clear that everyone who rejects the fundamental tenants of the Christian faith will go to Hell forever (Matthew 13:40–43; Matthew 25:34, 41, 46). We won’t just be annihilated as many people-pleasing cults and false religions teach, nor will we be there for a few days, or even a few years, but forever.
Why God Sends People to Hell
God sends people to Hell forever as punishment for sinning against him, that is to say, for breaking his laws and commandments, and violating his holiness and standards (1 John 3:4; Romans 1:18). Everyone in the world, without exception, is guilty of having sinned against God (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8, 10). Because God is infinitely holy, and so is his domain, Heaven, this means that nothing evil or unclean can enter his presence. So, the only other place people can go to after they die if they have sinned against God is Hell, the place of separation from his presence, where every sinner will dwell in forever and be punished according to the sins they committed.
Not all punishments there will be the same, but all people in Hell will be punished forever. Some people might feel fine about the idea of one day dying and ceasing to exist, but no one in the world would ever want to suffer forever. If you’re not a Christian, and you’re not 100% certain what happens after you die, and you’re at least honest enough to think that there may be a chance that Christianity is true, then this means that there is a chance that unless you believe in the fundamental tenants of the Christian faith, you will go to Hell forever. This is something to seriously consider.
The Essential Doctrines of Christianity
So, what are these tenants? First, you must believe in the real Jesus of history, who is God in the flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 1:1, 14; Hebrews 1:8–9). If you have the wrong Jesus, then you can’t believe in him in the first place. The real Jesus that the Bible teaches is 100% man and 100% God. He has a divine and human nature.
Second, you must accept God’s means of saving you. It’s not just enough to know Jesus as Saviour; you’ve actually got to know how he’s your Saviour, as well. The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in the works of Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8–9), who lived the perfect life you failed to live, having fulfilled the divine law perfectly, and who paid the full penalty for all your sins on the cross, as your substitute (Matthew 5:17; Hebrews 9:28). Jesus took our unrighteousness upon himself, so that by faith in his name, we could receive his righteousness, and be declared innocent before God the Father (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Third, you must believe that on the third day after his death and burial Jesus rose again from the dead bodily—in the same body he died in (John 2:19–21), which is proof that: 1. God accepted Jesus’ ransom payment that he made for you on the cross, and 2. Jesus is the Messiah—he fulfilled all the Messianic prophecies regarding the Messiah’s first coming, of which the last and final prophecy was his physical, bodily resurrection (Romans 4:24–25; Luke 24:45–47).
This Life Is Our Only Chance
Ultimately, going to Heaven or Hell is a choice, a choice that God freely gives us to make. We can either choose to accept God’s means of salvation, which is in Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that we can spend eternity with him, or we can choose to reject Jesus, and go to Hell, so that we won’t have to spend eternity with God forever.
If anyone does end up in Hell, they’ve only got themselves to blame, because firstly people who go to Hell have sinned against God by their own free will, and secondly, they are to blame because they have chosen to reject God’s free gift of eternal life in Jesus that he offers to everyone (John 3:16–18). Whether you like Christianity or not doesn’t matter, because it’s true, and Hell is the last place that you ever want to end up in. Jesus said:
And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. (Matthew 18:8–9, ESVUK)
Once you die, it’s too late to change sides. In addition, Jesus will one day come again on a day and an hour we do not know and will not expect (Matthew 24:42–44), bringing his recompense with him to judge the world, the living and the dead (Revelation 22:12). When that happens, it will also be too late to change sides. Right here and now is the time to repent and confess Jesus as Lord.
No one is beyond the forgiveness that Jesus offers everyone through faith in him and his saving grace. However, if you do reject the saving grace of Jesus that he bought for you personally on the cross till the day you die, then you will be beyond forgiveness. This isn’t simply a matter of life and death; this is a matter of eternal life and eternal damnation. So consider Christianity very carefully, for your sake.