Can only Christians Get Into Heaven?

Here's a video of a text written by John Shore, a Christian writer.

Christian vs. Non-Christian

The basic point of the video is this:

Christians assume that unless one becomes a Christian then one cannot enter into heaven. The passage often used for this is Jesus' statement, "No one comes to the Father except through me." The video makes the point that all this means is that Jesus is the gatekeeper to heaven, the bouncer at the door who decides who gets in, but it doesn't talk about what the conditions of getting into heaven are. One way or another, it doesn't say that becoming a Christian is the means of getting into heaven.

To go beyond the video now, let's look at another passage Christians often quote to speak of their exclusionary right to get into heaven. "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." (Act 4:12 NAU). This verse is speaking about Jesus and how Jesus is the one authority to grant salvation, which is, passage to God's presence, heaven. This passage speaks of Jesus' authority to allow people to obtain salvation, and that this ability is exclusive. But it does not mean that being a Christian is the only way to obtain permission through Jesus' authority.

The problem is that Christianity is not a simple submission to Jesus' authority. Rather it is a whole social construct. It is one way of being submitted to Jesus, but it is not the only way. A lot of people use "spirituality" to speak of a way to God that isn't institutionalized. And, let's face it, Christianity has had two thousand years of institutionalization. To make the demand that one be a "Christian" is not a simple belief in Jesus, but a demand to participate in the institutional church. Just as the requirement to be "born again" has little to do with Jesus' requirement to be "born of the Spirit", but to be a certain brand of Christian. The term "Spirit-filled" as it is used by Pentecostals and Charismatics today has little to do with the connection to the Spirit Jesus spoke about, but rather is about a social construct developed over the last century.

What we need to realize in evangelism is that we are trying to make an introduction, not get someone to sign a membership card to a club. We want to introduce a person to another real person whose name is Jesus. After we have made that introduction, we have no right to say what is going to happen to that relationship. We may want it to go a certain way, and we can pray for that, but really, it's out of our hands. It's up to the two persons involved to determine what will occur within that relationship.

But if we insist that getting into heaven is being a part of our exclusive club, then we are making the same mistake the disciples did when they approached Jesus, saying, "There's some guy casting out demons in your name, but he isn't a part of our group." Jesus told them not to stop him from doing miracles, but said, "Whoever is not against us is for us." Let's not be socially exclusionary. The point is Jesus. Not the brand of Jesus, the club of Jesus, the church of Jesus-- it's just Jesus.