Jesus warns that most holy people are not holy and will be damned
Jesus was clear that God's ways are hard to follow and live up to which is why the message would only result in mother turning against daughter and son against father and so on. Given that he warns that there is no salvation for one who does not forgive others this alone shows salvation is not likely.
Jesus would have validated and used the book of Proverbs. He would have been inspired by the verse, 20:6, where it is said that it is extremely hard to find a person who is truly loyal and has faith. As faith in God is linked with you being faithful to others this implies there is little real faith of any kind.
The Bible, the book God supposedly wrote, says that most people will go to the place of torment, Hell, that never ends when they die and there is nothing they can do about it once they get there. Jesus wrote nothing but commissioned others to write and said he would ensure it was the truth. So if the apostles and New Testament say it is hard to go to Heaven then that is true.
1 Peter 4:18 says it is hard even for believers who are good to be saved so it
will only be worse for sinners who do not care about God.
Once when he was asked if only a few would be saved,
Jesus replied that people have to strive to get into Heaven and to squeeze
through the narrow door.
And someone said to Him, "Lord, are there just a few
who are being saved?" And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow
door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. "Once the
head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and
knock on the door, saying, 'Lord, open up to us!' then He will answer and say to
you, 'I do not know where you are from.'" See Luke 13:23-25.
Incidentally, some want the narrow door or narrow
gate to refer to a gate in Jerusalem that you could pass through with some
effort. None of the relevant texts hint at an actual gate in Jerusalem - see
Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25. Mark 10:32 tells us that
when the gate was mentioned Jesus and his hearers were not in Jerusalem but they
were going there. The eye of the needle referring to a real gate to make a
point is just a fantasy. Read Legends of the New Testament: 40 Common
Misconceptions, 63. It would destroy Jesus teaching that anybody who is
wealthy cannot enter Heaven. The apostles understood him to be saying
nobody can go in for everybody has some kind of property and in a sense is
wealthy. Jesus validated their interpretation but was clear that it cannot
happen unless God makes it possible. Only a person who is clearly
unconcerned about material things and such people are very rare will be saved as
long as they say God helps them to prefer him.
Back to when the disciples asked Jesus if a few would
be saved. Some say that Jesus did not say straight out that only a few can
expect to be saved. But when he started talking about the need for a struggle
and to get in through a narrow door yes was written all over it. Clearly, a no
would have been too blunt. He was softening the blow of the bad news. So all do
not go to Heaven, namely, those who don’t strive. He did say then that only a
few go to Heaven. When anybody asks you if your pub can hold many punters and
you tell them that they need to do something hard to get in it is obvious that
you are indicating that it does not. Jesus was doing the same thing here.
So his answer was a no.
It is laughable that some argue that 99 out of hundred
would be few to Jesus who wants all to be saved – meaning that not many doesn’t
mean not many here (page 288, Handbook of Christian Apologetics). But when Jesus
was on such a serious subject he was hardly likely to be unclear and childish.
Also, he had to be careful how he spoke to laypeople. If he had been talking to
himself saying so few will be saved we might believe the laughable
interpretation of this but when he said it to others who would have taken him to
mean few in the real sense that is what he meant. Parables were for making his
teaching clearer not vaguer. So in the worldview of Jesus, only a few go to
Heaven so the rest must suffer forever. If sincerity could save most would be
saved. The question sets the context. He was asked how many people on earth then
would be saved. The answer to be an answer follows the context.
The fewer get to Heaven then the harder you have to strive to get to Heaven.
Thus those teachers telling you that its unlikely even the worst sinner will be
damned are telling you not to try. Jesus was clear that the standard was
high and brutal which shows that living up to it is so hard that it takes huge
striving. The strive fits into the gospel message that God's way is far
from easy.
Jesus was also saying that those who battle to get
into Heaven and fail are really trying. Thus sincerity is not enough to get you
into Heaven.
The gospels tell us about a rich young man who would
not turn to Jesus because Jesus asked him to give his wealth to the poor. Jesus
then said that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The
apostles then objected that nobody could be saved if that was the case. Then
Jesus replied that it was impossible with men but not with God. Only God could
save them. The apostles meant that everybody was rich in the sense that they had
material things they would not give up for anybody even God. Jesus does not
disagree with them but actually agrees when he says only God can help them. This
tells us that only those who make outstanding and unnatural sacrifices will be
saved. And it is a miracle of God that enables them to do this. Those who claim
to be saved and do not have not been really saved. The saved will be less less
less than a tiny minority.
Today, nearly everybody in the West and Europe is
rich. The rich never valued money because it was just money but because of the
opportunities it gave them. Today even many of the so-called poor have more
opportunities than had the rich of Jesus’ day who he condemned for their wealth.
Jesus is also saying that the rich man could not come
to him. The rich man was too weak to do what Jesus asked and still Jesus said he
was unfit for Heaven. This undermines the Christian doctrine that Jesus preached
an understanding God. It would take time for God to change him but Jesus still
condemns him for he approves of all God does and God has rejected him. If the
rich man was strong then it would not be impossible for him to be saved without
much help from God.
In Matthew 7:13, Jesus says the road to life is
difficult and rough while the road to everlasting torture is wide and smooth.
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate
and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."
The road to Hell is easy and wide. This is hardly an
encouraging doctrine. Jesus said that few find the way to Heaven meaning that
sincere but mistaken faith is not enough for most would enter for most sincerely
believe. One has to know and believe what he taught. If the sincerely wrong will
not be saved then most people will not be saved.
Do not forget that Jesus said that to his own holy
disciples! He warned them to fear not death but him who could destroy body and
soul in Hell (Matthew 10:28). Is this him Satan? In Matthew 10:25, 26
speaks of Satan and his demons and advises his disciples to place no fear in
them. God then is the one who kills body and soul in Gehenna and is to be
feared. With that picture of God, he might be capable of throwing you in
prison forever.
Jesus was clear in Luke 12 that a parable warning
what will happen if you are not ready for Jesus coming back was addressed to the
disciples. Peter had asked him if the parable was meant for them too.
Jesus' references to his generation being an evil and
adulterous one hint that few were considered fit for Heaven.
Jesus said that the last will be first and first last
implies that many are called to be first and few are chosen for only the last
called make it for anybody that is a follower of God for long falls away and
that is why the last get saved.
Jesus and the New Testament warn a lot about God's
eternal judgement. If you die estranged from God, he punishes you for it in Hell
forever and your chance of repentance is permanently taken from you. Liberal
Christians say they see no biblical reason to hold that any human being goes to
Hell. So is Jesus and the New Testament just using Hell to try and scare us into
obeying God and being good? That would show he was no saint so the Christians
reject that thought. They say, "You know your friend will not go over the cliff.
Yet you might warn him to be careful. Jesus constantly warning us about Hell
does not mean any of us will go there only that we can go." If you keep going on
about the cliff it would show there is a real chance he might fall over. Jesus
went into Hell overdrive.
It is said that Jesus said we must not judge – judge means hating people for
the wrong they have done. He said the judgement you give is what you will get
back obviously from God for many notorious judgers get away with it on the
earthly level. This is a clear denial that God loves sinners who are
hardened in sin. It is said to be judgmental to worry about how many
people will go to Hell or to ask if it will be the majority. If it is then when
Jesus said few are saved and the gate to Hell is wide he meant it. He told
the men who the Church considers to be his apostles and saints that even for
them they must struggle to find the narrow way to salvation. If they had
problems what about everybody else? We all judge and given what Jesus said
about judgers few will get to Heaven!
The chance of being abducted by aliens then seems to
be a bigger chance than Hell if the liberals are right. We don't worry about the
aliens so why worry about Hell? The doctrine takes away any motivation for
following Christianity. There is no point in saying, "I will follow the
Christian religion in case I follow another and end up in Hell."
And the Christian is only rationalising that Jesus is
not trying to induce fear for the sake of manipulating. There is no proof that
they are right. If they were honest they would simply say, "We cannot know if
Jesus was trying to scare us with Hell or not."
THE SOURCE
The Fourth Book of Ezra 8 was used by the gospellers to word what Jesus said and it is clear that few literally have any real hope.
God's message is, The most High hath made this world for many, but the world to come for few.
I will tell thee a similitude, Esdras; As when thou askest the earth, it shall say unto thee, that it giveth much mould whereof earthen vessels are made, but little dust that gold cometh of: even so is the course of this present world.
There be many created, but few shall be saved.
So answered I and said, Swallow then down, O my soul, understanding, and devour wisdom.
For thou hast agreed to give ear, and art willing to prophesy: for thou hast no longer space than only to live. And that he is of great mercy, for he multiplieth more and more mercies to them that are present, and that are past, and also to them which are to come.
For if he shall not multiply his mercies, the world would not continue with them that inherit therein.
And he pardoneth; for if he did not so of his goodness, that they which have committed iniquities might be eased of them, the ten thousandth part of men should not remain living.
And being judge, if he should not forgive them that are cured with his word, and put out the multitude of contentions,
There should be very few left peradventure in an innumerable multitude.
Jesus was validating that text and remember this book is apocryphal but the New Testament says that such texts do have some true material. The letter of Jude used similar works.
The Bible evidence is that Jesus stood for the position that most people will be damned. His whole behaviour during his ministry says that too for he acted with a sense of urgency and held that his own life took second place.
