Typical Response: NO ONE REALLY KNOWS FOR SURE IF THEY WILL GO TO HEAVEN!

ANSWER: The Bible, God’s perfect and infallible Word, does plainly indicated that we can know for sure – without doubt – where our eternal home will be when we die.

I John 5:11-13 tells us “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

Ø God’s Word is either true or it’s not – hopefully you have already established this truth with them earlier in the conversation.

Ø If it is indeed true, an individual can KNOW FOR SURE based on the above passage that he has eternal life.

Ø Someone who responds like this (“know one knows for sure”) clearly reveals their true spiritual condition – LOST!

Ø Someone who doesn’t accept the fact that you can know for sure HAS TO BE then depending on something other than GRACE alone (i.e. GRACE plus). Point this fact our and take them back to Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast”

Ø The passage in I John also points to the only way to salvation – God has given us eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ. The only way we can receive this gift is through believing in Jesus as our Lord (He is LORD – in control – not us) and Saviour.

Ø At least on one occasion, I had a Catholic person tell me that I John wasn’t in her Catholic Bible so she was refuting the truth of that verse. Given that response, I would take them back to the simplicity of John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Typical Response: I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IN A GOD WHO ALLOWS INNOCENT CHILDREN TO SUFFER THROUGH HUNGER, DEATH, MENTAL RETARDATION, ETC…

ANSWER: This can be a challenging area to deal with because there is so much injustice in our world today. One cannot help but to often be heartbroken when watching the local and world news and seeing “innocent” children suffering. Man’s natural response is to blame God for allowing such injustice to happen. But God’s Word paints a much different picture.

John 8:44 tells us that the devil is responsible for much of the ugliness and effects of sin that we see around us today: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

God’s Word also tells us that we are all sinners. “There is none righteous – no not one.” (Romans 3:10). When left to our own devices, we will ALWAYS choose sin. God created man with a WILL – an ability to make our own choices – and the responsibility to live with the consequences of those choices. When man chose to sin, he turned his back on God. The ugliness that we see in our world today is a direct result from our own disobedience – from us turning our backs on God. God will not intervene and “correct” man’s choices UNLESS man (individually) will admit his powerlessness to sin, accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and repent of those sins. Only then will God change the man from the inside out – making him a new creation – filled with the Holy Spirit – and empowered to live a victorious life – victorious over the old sin nature and glorifying to God.

There is another stark reality that is in play with this issue that cannot be avoided - and that is God’s perfect judgment. God does judge sin! When we as a nation or world, with such incredible disdain for God, reject and disobey Him – His judgment is (and will continue to be) unleashed. Deuteronomy 11:26-28 tells us “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.”

Finally, I do believe that some things we might label as “suffering” or “unjust” are really hidden examples of God’s perfect mercy. Many young and infant children that died horrible deaths, often at great pains to their loved ones, in reality received the perfect healing by entering into eternity to forever be with the Lord. They did not have to “suffer” through a lifetime battle with the sin nature but were ushered into the eternal presence of the Lord. Although there is much that I don’t understand (or hidden from my understanding), as a Christian, I take great comfort in knowing that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28)