In the recent days, I have had several conversations with people about what the Bible has to say, and many people have been taught the wrong thing in church, by friends and family, etc. so I felt like I should give as clear and concise of a message in my own words as to what the Bible says.
Yes, I know – this has NOTHING to do with baseball cards or writing.
It is *far more important* – as a matter of fact, it is the most important subject I can and will ever write on.
So, I’m curious – what do you believe the Bible teaches? If you are like most, you probably think that it is a book of rules and regulations. You may think it teaches that in order to go to heaven, you have to be a good person … the kind of person that does more good than bad.
Does that describe you? If so, you are not alone. The wrong message is being circulated over and over again. There are many lies out there!
Allow me to give you a synopsis of what the Bible really has to say. For those who believe, it is life-changing. For those who don’t, it will sound like foolishness coming from an antiquated text.
So anyway, here goes a rundown:
The Bible says everyone of us has sinned. Every single one of us falls short.
“For all have sinned, and fall short of the Glory of God,” – Romans 3:23
We are all born into sin. You don’t learn it – it is our human nature. When I was 5, and there were cookies my mom made on the counter that she told me not to eat, I didn’t have to learn to disobey my parents and take one anyway. My human nature said “Don’t listen to the lady … grab one! She’ll never know.” 
(Somehow, she always knew…I never could get away with anything!)
As we get older, we get exposed to more and more things that are tempting like lying cheating, stealing, immorality, treating others poorly, etc. With age, we get better and better at justifying our actions and explaining away why our behavior is okay.
With no one looking and no justification / explaining away think about this: If you were to take up a REAL list for just one day of your impure thoughts words and actions, how many things do you think would be on your list? For me? I’m sure it would be much longer than I would like to admit. Heck, proof Santa Claus isn’t real is the fact that I ever got any presents!
Because of this, I’ve got some BAD news. Because we sin, our payment is death.
“For the wages of sin is death,” – Romans 6:23a
BUT … now I have some GOOD news.
“but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23b
God gave us a HUGE gift by sending His Son to die for us. We could never earn this on our own, no matter how good we are.
Did God send his only Son Jesus to die for us because we deserved it?
Heck no, he didn’t! (Said in a Napoleon Dynamite voice in keeping up with the previous meme theme.)
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8
God loves us. Deeply. He doesn’t want us to go to hell and spend eternity apart from him. You have probably seen/heard John 3:16 before but it says:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
To go further, Romans 10:9 says: “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
This isn’t just a head belief thing here – this is a heart-belief. Something you believe in your soul. Neither I, nor can anyone else make that happen. That is up to you! I have the joy and privilege to tell you of this good news, which I am thankful for.
If you have a hard time with this all because of the hypocrites in the church, I can understand that. There are a LOT of them. Heck, I’m a hypocrite a lot of time also. I try not to be, but I am. Everyone is – you may believe completely that the absolute best thing for your health is to eat salad and run everyday, but do you do it?
The same is for people in the church. Don’t let the hypocritical actions of others stand in your way of learning what the truth is from the Bible. When you are at the end of your life, you are going to be accountable for your decisions. Not on the decisions others have made.
So, with all that said, I hope you now have a clear understanding of what the Bible teaches about heaven and hell: That we are all going to hell unless we put our faith in Christ…it doesn’t matter how good we are! Salvation is a gift. We just need to accept it!
If you have any questions or comments at all, I would be more than happy to talk to you. Feel free to ask/comment away!
Amen! Go Jesus.
I had no idea you were a Christian. I had contacted you months ago about a Jose Canseco autographed baseball, but you said you weren’t interested. I completely agree with what you wrote. Glad to see people who really read their Bible. By the way do you sell on ebay?
Hey Jonathan! I’m sorry … I didn’t realize you had written this until now . Yes, I sure do sell on ebay. Not much though!
Completely agree Tanner! People need to understand that life, even with Jesus in it, is going to be hard at times. Christ, his sacrifice, and his love makes those hard days much easier. When you feel the most alone….he is still there. I was asked once by a self-pronounced atheist, “How can you believe in God…something you have never seen”. I asked if he believed in the wind…his answer was obviously “YES”. I then asked “Why do you believe in the wind? You can see it”. He said “of course I can. I can see it blowing the trees around”. I said “No, you are seeing the tree, not the wind. You are seeing leaves and branches move, not the force making it move”. He then said “well I can feel it on my skin”. I said “Ok, so you believe in the wind because you can see it’s effects and feel it?! That is the same reason I KNOW God is there. I can see his effects and I can feel him.” I simply can’t imagine my life without the belief in something more than what we can only see. Love your work Tanner. Keep up the mission! It’s good for the hobby and the soul!
Thanks for writing! Very good explanation about the wind. It reminds me of the DC Talk Minds Eye that came out probably 20 years ago. Good stuff!
Tanner- very well said! God bless brother!
Thanks Nate!
I like this so much. In an age where people use politics to define their Christianity it’s refreshing to see a soup to nuts breakdown of what being a Christian is all about.
Thank you for sharing the good news!