The Road to Heaven
The Road to Heaven – The Most Important Decision
A traveler is standing at the crossroads to the road to heaven and reading directions. One arm of the sign reads, “Road to Heaven, Islamic way.” The other sign reads, “Road to Heaven, Christian way.” Which one should he follow? What is truth? Every person comes to a point where he needs to make a decision. What is the true road to heaven?
The Road to Heaven – The Muslim Idea
There are five tenets or pillars a Muslim must follow on the road to heaven. They are:
- Declare that Allah is the One and only God and Mohamed is his prophet.
- Pray five times a day.
- Fast at specified times, especially during Ramadan.
- Pay the alms-tax.
- Make a pilgrimage to Mecca, unless one is a cripple or very poor.
The Muslim road to heaven is one of works. If they do enough, they may attain it.
The Koran speaks of Jesus and his Virgin birth, but the imams have said that Jesus is only a prophet like Moses was. . .like Elijah was. . .like Mohamed was. Most Muslims don’t realize that, according to their own holy book, Allah sent Jesus and supported Him with the Holy Spirit (Sura 2:87). It says that Allah exalted Jesus (Sura 2:253), who was righteous and sinless (Sura 3:46; 6:85; 19:19), and that Jesus was raised from the dead (Sura 19:33-34). Allah commanded Jesus to establish a religion (Sura 42:13), and that Jesus ascended into Heaven (Sura 4:157-158). As a result, faithful Muslims obey the prophet Jesus’ teachings (Sura 3:48-49; 5:46).
If you were to ask a Muslim, “Can a prophet be believed?” He would say, “Yes, a prophet speaks the words of God and must be believed.” Since they call Jesus a “prophet” (although not the Son of God), let’s see what the “prophet” Jesus says about himself and his road to heaven.
The Road to Heaven – The Christian Truth
Regarding the road to heaven, Jesus said these words in the Bible:
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-16).
“I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins” (John 8:24).
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
The Bible makes the road to heaven very clear:
- The Christian road to heaven is to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
- Acknowledge that in ourselves we will never make it on our own merit. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The result of our sin is death (Romans 6:23). Unlike Islam, our good works do not earn our way to heaven (Ephesians 2:8-9). Eternal life in Heaven is gift of God.
- Ask Jesus to come into our hearts and forgive our sins. “But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
What is your response?
