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December 19, 2008 | 2:25 pm

Christians believe Jews go to heaven

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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In the Gospel of John, Jesus is recorded as saying: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” How then can a majority of American Christians believe that non-Christians go to heaven?

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, following up on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, found that 52 percent of American Christians think another faith can lead to eternal life. Here’s a snippet from the press release:

American adults express a variety of views on how people can achieve eternal life. When asked to describe in their own words what determines whether a person will attain eternal life, nearly three-in-ten (29%) say that a person’s actions are most important. A similar number (30%) says that belief is the key factor in achieving everlasting life. One-in-ten refer to a combination of belief and actions as necessary for eternal life, and almost as many (8%) cite some other factor as most important. In addition, more than one-in-ten (14%) indicate they are unsure of what leads to eternal life, and another 7% volunteer they do not believe in eternal life.

White evangelical Protestants stand out as the group most likely to name belief as the most important factor in obtaining eternal life, with 64% expressing this view. Nearly half of evangelicals (45%) are explicit in stating that belief in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation, while another 19% are somewhat more generic in their responses, citing belief in God or, more simply, “belief” or “faith” as most important. An additional 10% of evangelicals say that a combination of belief and actions are crucial for salvation, meaning that, in total, nearly three-quarters of this group (74%) identify an element of belief as necessary for salvation.

Among evangelicals, 64 percent say Jews can go to heaven without believing in Jesus. Reminds me of a comment an acquaintance made at a party last week when he learned I had Christianity to go with my curly hair: “Well, somebody’s got to let you in.”

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Jesus, if you love him and live for him by him live your life for him you will live in heaven with him forever.  He is coming to rule over the World. So How could a Jewish Or Christian miss out except by not having him in your Heart mind and soul loving God and Your Neighbor. This is the way, the truth to the light.

Comment by Mark Smith on 12/19/08 at 4:02 pm

This website is a messianic front. Why not be up front Brad, rather than insidious, and just say why Chrsitianity is so much better than Judaism. After all, Christianity was your choice. Tell us all why.

Comment by Martini "Kike" Leaf on 12/19/08 at 4:42 pm

Hi Brad,
I agree.
That was a thought provoking mix of statistics.
Having recently travelled through Israel with a couple of Jewish tour guides, (non Messianic) I found it interesting that they had formed some sort of a view of Jesus from their contemplation, that seemed to in some way lead to a similar conclusion.  They could speak with conviction about the historical Jesus and his miracles and teachings. They knew the scriptures quite well. On both sides of the Jesus line falls true the old quote “That which we tolerate we soon embrace”.
Toleration seems to be gaining great ground in both Jewish and Christian communities.  What seems to me to be adding to the inability of “Evangelical” Christians to come to grips with the lostness of Jews who do not trust Jesus to save them, is the broad doctrine of Christian Zionism, maybe over 90 percent of the churches, teaching that Jesus will return to His people Israel in the land and set up a 1000 year kingdom during which time “all Israel will be saved”.
This abuse of Romans 11 by theologians from the broad spectrum of the Christian world has so confused their flock as to make it difficult for the rank and file to give a clear answer as to who really will be saved.  Beyond that it has all kinds of other political implications.  If one dare stand up and say that God has already fulfilled all of His promises to the Jews as a nation in Jesus, and there remains nothing for them uniquely that He has not already fulfilled, he might get a stronger reproach from the Christian community than the Jewish.

Comment by Tim Brinley on 12/19/08 at 4:43 pm

Thanks for the thoughts, Tim. I was particularly surprised because the title “evangelical”—not fundamentalist, but evangelical—requires still a few criteria. One is that Jesus is the way to God.

As for Martini, I’m not sure what value there is in responding to you. I’ve had this conversation before with sober-minded people, but you don’t seem to care what others have to say. This blog, and my identity, is not a Messianic front. I never—never—use my job for evangelizing, and I only occasionally write about my Christian beliefs on this blog—and only then when necessary.

In the above post I don’t even do that. I simply bring to light a theological dissonance between what evangelicalism stands for and what a majority of evangelicals say they believe. This is no different than me discussing the disparity between, say, Muslims who say Islam stands for peace and the terrorists who believe that it actually is about “submission” to Allah and killing the infidels.

Good day, sir.

Comment by Brad A. Greenberg on 12/19/08 at 6:03 pm

Welllll, Wanting Jews to go to heaven is one thing, getting them there is quite another. Either the church is doing a rather poor job of teaching the scriptures or evangelicals refuse to allow the scriptures to carry final weight. Anything but taking Jesus seriously is just wishful thinking.

Most would agree with SAul of Tarsus that we would cut oursleves off for the sake of his people the Jews, that they would believe in their own Messiah. Most Jews I meet do not even take their own scriptures seriously or even believe in G-d anymore. That takes loving them as much as he did willing to suffer scorn and shame to deliver the message.

Sad, sad state of evangelicalism, but True Israel remains faithful.

Comment by Michael Bergman on 12/20/08 at 2:17 pm

One of the consistent themes of the Old Testament is that the Jews are God’s Chosen People. I don’t recall Jesus ever refuting this. I am a Catholic and my faith is centered around the love, mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. I also believe that the Twelve Tribes, the people of Abraham, are God’s chosen people. While my mind acknowledges the apparent conflct, I also acknowledge that as a human being I see as through a glass darkly. I don’t have to understand exactly how God will fulfill his promise. I just trust that he will.

Comment by Kate on 12/20/08 at 2:47 pm

I’m no theologian, but when Pat Robertson ran for President several years ago, he was asked about this point and made the politic response that, yes, Jews may indeed go to heaven. It was explained to me that according to Christian theology, the Law of Moses (Torah) remains in force as a path to eternal life for Jews. What Robertson did not mention that according to Christian theology the Law of Moses is impossible to keep fully which would be required for salvation etc. Jews however do not have such an everything-or-nothing approach to the Law, salvation, atonement etc. The fact that some people get box seats in heaven doesn’t mean those in the cheap seats are burning in hell.

Jews also see Christianity as an incompatible permutation of Judaism. It seems clear from statements such as “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me“ that the real spiritual goal is understood to be a relationship with the Creator. While Christians understand that Jesus is the Son who is the conduit to the father, it was common knowledge in the ancient world that the firstborn son was the priest of the family, and Israel is often referred to by God as His firstborn son. Exodus 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh: Thus saith the LORD: Israel is My son, My first-born. 23 23 And I have said unto thee: Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and thou hast refused to let him go. Behold, I will slay thy son, thy first-born.’ Next see Exodus 19:5 (right before Sinai) ... ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; 6 and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. (Many more such references in the Prophets.)

So that Israel is the Son of the Father, and contemporary listeners could well relate to “No one comes to the Father except through me”. The Yin and Yang of it is that if Israel is a kingdom of priests, the entire world is the laity (observing the seven Covenental Laws of Noah). It is not intended that their be multiple religions; if there is one god, then it follows that ideally there is one humanity and one religion. The Temple of God on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem (called the ‘Temple Mount’ today) was visited by representatives of the nations of the world in its heyday, and received and brought sacrifices from them. Within the nation of Israel, there is likewise a laity and a priesthood, with differing roles and obligations within a single theology.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 12/21/08 at 3:28 am

I have been reading some Jewish site and saw comments made by some Jews that Christians believe that Jesus which is not the right way to address the meaning they wish to convey. We as a whole must accept the fact there are different religions in the world and within those religions there are different groups known as denominations. As there are different types of Jews so are there different types of Christians or different denominations of Christianity. Therefore we Christians do have conflicts in our religion. Not all but some believe that God and Jesus are one being while others such as the Catholics and the Adventists believe in the Holy Trinity, God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit of God which are three different beings but are only classified as one in their purpose: the salvation of the human race. I am an Adventist and we do follow all the laws of the old testament, which includes keeping the Sabbath and abstain from eating unclean carcasses. We also follow the new testaments as it includes the teachings and prophesies of Jesus and the prophecies are proven to be fulfilled over and over again and is still in the process of doing so now.

Comment by RoseyD on 12/22/08 at 2:28 am

I meant that I have been reading some Jewish site and saw comments made by some Jews that Christians believe that Jesus is God….

Comment by RoseyD on 12/22/08 at 2:33 am

All across the country, the anti-jew and anti-Israel groups have rallyed. Is it niot time for the pro-Israel people to rally? WE are known to sit back and let the minority rule and I am tired of doing nothing.  Thank you Jean

Comment by jean sweat on 1/03/09 at 10:57 pm

Good vibes and good trip, that is all about, good companies and people are a hell of a memory gift, anyway Nice blog Ill keep track of this one.
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Comment by Aaron on 2/19/10 at 7:46 am

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