Exclusivity and Universality

Every human being, from Adam, will go to eternal Heaven or to eternal Hell, after death... rejoicing every minute for an eternity in Heaven, or continually suffering eternally in Hell.

- This is a most clear teaching of the New Testament (Matt.25:31-46).

"How many" will go to Heaven and Hell?:

Every time it talks about how many will go to "Hell", the word "many" is used... 4 times!: "The gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matt.7:13-14, in the Sermon of the Mount). "On that day many will say to me: Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name... (Matt.7:22). "many are invited, but few are chosen" (Matt.22:14). "Someone asked him: Lord, will only a few be saved?. He said to them: Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many will try to enter and will not be able... (Lk.13:23-29).

How many will go to Heaven?:

Here is used the word "few", as we just saw... but those few are "a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages", says Rev.7:9.

- So, I pray that you and I are not one of those "many" who go to Hell, but one of those "few", one of that "great multitude" who go to Heaven.

Who will go to Heaven or Hell?:

The teaching here is very clear: You will not be asked: Were you a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu?... or rich or poor, wise or ignorant?... the only thing you will be asked for is, did you do good to your neighbor?: So, come on to Heaven!... or, did you do bad to your neighbor?: So, go to Hell!...

- This is how it is described in the "Last Judgment" in Matt.25:31-46: To Heaven will go those who fed the hungry, and gave water to the thirsty, those who clothed the naked, and visited the sick or in prison... and to Hell will go those who did not feed the hungry, nor visited the sick or in prison...

- The same account is given in the Judgment of the "great white throne" in Rev.20:11-15: the dead were judged according to their "works", as recorded in the book of life...

- Paul says the same in Romans:2:5-11: "he will pay anyone according to each one's deeds"... and Paul is more specific in 2:11: "for God shows no partiality": If a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim has done good woks will go to Heaven... if a Christian or a Muslin or a Hindu has done bad works, will go to Hell... there is no partiality with God!... (Rom.2:11)

Can a Jew go to Heaven?:

Sure!... Jesus himself says that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets of the Old Testament are in Heaven already (Matt.8:11, Lk.13:28)...

Can a Christian go to Hell?:

Sure!... these last quotations add, "while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt.8:12, Lk.13:28)... and not only that, but "many" who look good Christians, who made prophecies in the name of Jesus, and who healed the sick and cast out demons in the name o Jesus, will go to Hell! (Matt.7:22-24, Sermon on the Mount).

Can an Indian or Muslim go to Heaven?:

Sure!... because in God there is no partiality... a South-American Indian born 5,000 years ago who did good works in life, is now in Heaven, as Abraham or Isaac, or a good Muslim, or a good Hindu, all of them by the merits of the Blood of Christ who paid for the sins of every men and women born before or after Christ...

What about the "faith"?:

The "faith" is a "gift", a "charisma"... like your hands or your face, or the Bible, or the Church... all are "gifts" of God... and you do not go to Heaven because of the "gifts" you received, but because of the "fruits"... because of the "works" you did using your hands, and your Christian faith, or the knowledge of the Bible, or the maternal care of the Church... Paul is specific on this issue: "If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing" (1Cor.13:1-3).

- By "faith" you have been saved from the slavery of the flesh and of the devil, and have been made a "new creature", a "child of God", freely!... as a "gift"... like the son of a King is a Prince, freely... but if that Prince does bad things, he will be a bad Prince, and it is a shame, because as a Prince he had the opportunity to do many good things... the same goes for a "Christian": He has received more good things than a Prince, and if he does bad works it is a shame, and he will go to a worse Hell than an Indian who does bad works, but who never even heard about Jesus, nor had the Bible for guidance, nor the maternal care of the Church...

Faith in Christ... and Faith in God:

The Gospel of St. John talks both about the "faith in Christ" and the "faith in God", and in both cases says that he who has faith in Christ or in God "has eternal life" (Jn.3:36, 5:24)... A Christian has faith in Christ; Abraham had faith in God; many Indians, and Jews, and Hindus, and Muslims, have faith in God... and they have "eternal life"... a glorious life, like in eternity... but they are not yet in Heaven, they can still loose that life, if they do bad works, after having faith in God or in Jesus Christ...

- This present life on earth is very short, like a drop of water compared with the ocean... and it is a "period of trial": He who lives trusting in God, is going to do many good works, is going to be happy on earth... and, on top of it, he is going to go to Heaven... he who does not trust in the Lord, is going to have a miserable life on earth, trusting only in his nothingness, unable to do any good deeds, and on top of it, he is going to Hell...

... and this "trust in God", or "faith in Christ" is not just the decision of a minute, but a faith or a trust in God for every second of every day, the life lived every second of the day in Christ!... and for this, Paul says that "whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Rom.14:23).

The Atheists:

They have "no excuse", says Paul, because since the creation of the world God has shown to them his eternal power and divine nature, in Rom.1:18-24... Psalms 14 and 53 call them "fools"... and Job says: "ask the beasts!, and they will teach you"... who made the feathers of the birds, or the lungs of the fish...? (Job 12:7-9).

God wants everybody in Heaven:

"God desires everyone to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1Tim.2:4)... God wants every man and woman to go to Heaven... this is the God of the Bible!: He wants every man and woman, before and after Christ, to go to Heaven... every Indian who lived 3,000 years ago had all he needed to know God, and to go to Heaven... every Hindu or Jew woman who lived 2,000 years before Christ is a treasure to God, and God gave her all she needed to reach Heaven... and Jesus Christ died for her!...

The "eternal Hell":

It sounds like scandalous... it looks unjust to have only one shot!... but it is not, because the main sorrow in Hell for the damned will be to realize how foolishly they wasted the thousand and one opportunities they had on earth to go to Heaven...

... When we "sin", we "crucify again the Son of God" (Heb.6:6)... it is an infinity evil, because it is an evil made against the Infinity, and the only infinity in man is the eternity... so, the only way to justly pay for sin is with an eternal punishment, and that's Hell!.

... It is not unjust for a man who killed another man to go to jail for life... and it is not unjust that he did not have another shot at it!... in the same way, it is not unjust for a sinner to go to eternal Hell, rather it is the normal way justice can be done... if the Devil would be in Heaven, God would not be just, He would not even be good!... and you an I, sinners, are not in Hell for the mercy and justice of God, because Jesus paid for our sins with his own blood, of an infinity value.

Two Eternities:

In short, two eternities are waiting for you and for me: Eternally in Heaven with God and all the saints, or eternally in Hell with Satan and all the demons... and it depends only of you and me!... because God wants us in Heaven, and He has done, and is doing the most He can to bring us to Heaven... God, even being God, can do no more!.

Christianity, like its parent religion Judaism, contains two essential principles: "Exclusivity" and "universality"... they appear to be mutually exclusive, but they are not... and if Christianity were to forfeit its exclusivity or its universality, it would by definition, cease to be Christianity.

Christianity is the only true religion, outside of whom there is no salvation, it is the only one true faith for all human kind... the very notion of an exclusive religion appears scandalous, but it is not, because of its universality.

2- "Universality":

Jesus Christ died on a Cross to save "all men and women" born before or after Christ, "brought justification and life to all humanity" (Romans 5:18). And Christianity is God's full disclosure of himself to all humanity through the work of Jesus.

- However only "many" will appropriate for themselves the salvation of Christ (Romans 5:19). And those "many" are the ones who live with "faith in God" or "faith in Christ" every minute of their earthly lives (Jn.3:36, 5:24, Rom.14:23).

- The redemption of Jesus Christ is for every man and women born before or after Christ, and at the time of Judgment, their will not be "partiality" of God, He will treat with the same measure the Christian, the Jew, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Atheist... as we just commented.

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