yes, i guess this could be considered a sermon
TRUTHS ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL
I've read a lot of fanfic---massive, massive amounts of it, especially within the past five or so years---and it just came to my attention that there are times when we writers, especially Christian writers, do our readers a disservice when we write about afterlives.
I've read a number of deathfics where our beloved heroes stay on as ghostly protectors or are re-incarnated. This is not so bad as we merely let our imagination take flight.
The problem comes when we write in that good people will go to heaven because they are good and have done good deeds to pay for their bad ones. Unfortunately, (and yes, it's a very bitter pill to swallow), this is not true. The only way to heaven is to believe in Jesus Christ and remain completely, totally rooted in Him and His Word (the Bible) for the rest of our lives. Everybody else ends up in hell.
Yes, that is painful to type, no matter what you may think. And no, this is not some hate literature; this is merely stating biblical truths that need to be faced.
This sounds hokey and condemnatory, but this is also true. You are deceiving yourself if you think otherwise.
God is everywhere in nature---how can you not see how diverse and complete each system is and not see that He made it? In His eyes, you and I have failed to meet His standards of righteousness and there's nothing you or I can do to ever make up for all the wrongs we do to Him and to each other. Only Jesus could and He did, which is what the cross stands for.
I wish I could say that living a good life is a ticket to heaven, but I can't in good conscience. We all have our tickets in heaven through belief in Jesus and everything that He did and that only through His grace, not our good works, can we be saved. Good works come as a result, not a prerequisite. And that's the only ticket there is---to reject Jesus is to reject heaven and it is each individual's personal choice as to what path to take. But we all should remember that there will come a day when we all will be held accountable for the choice we made.
I am not perfect---I make a lot of mistakes and I admit that I struggle a lot reconciling biblical truths with what I want to believe is true. I struggle with depression and my own pet sins. The life of a committed Christian is not an easy one; Jesus' wasn't, why should ours be?
I state all of that because I want people to know the reality of heaven and hell and make their decision accordingly.