The Bible says that Jesus said, "No one gets to the Father except through me", which I have been taught means if you don't believe God is the Father and Jesus is His Son, you don't/won't go to heaven.

My question is: does this mean that three quarters of the world's population (non-christians, Jews, Mormons, the Dalai Lama, etc.) who don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God aren't going to heaven?  It doesn't seem to me that the God I believe in would let this happen.

Sincerely,
Sympathy For The Masses

Dear Sympathy For The Masses,

The verse you are referring to is Jhn 14:6.  Here is a great example of a fork in the road for christians.  Will we take the Bible at face value and accept what God says, or will we ignore certain verses in order to mold God into an image that is more suitable for us?  You are absolutely right; there is no mistaking the implications of Jhn 14:6.  All that do not follow Christ will not be saved.  In fact, there are other verses that re-emphasize this message.  Jesus said that the way to salvation was narrow, and the way to destruction was wide (Matt 7:13).  He also says that many people will erroneously claim to have served God and will be turned away on the Judgment Day (Matt 7:22-23).

These verses do exclude large swaths of mankind from heaven.  However, if we believe the Bible to be God’s infallible Word (and we here at AYP do – read “Who Wrote The Bible” to see why we are so convinced), then we must accept that the same loving God who would send His own Son to die for our sins has a very good reason for being so picky about who goes to heaven.  Remember, God doesn’t condemn people to hell; it is our sinful choices that does that (Rom 6:23).  Jehovah offers us salvation through His Son, even though we deserve death (Jhn 3:16).

I read Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion, and having doubts, on my own made the switch from Christian to agnostic.  I had been accepted into Christ during my youth and later in my life came closer to Christ, enforcing my beliefs.

After reading this book, as I said, I had made the switch and confessed to both my parents and a few friends that I didn't believe in the Bible.

My parents, as I would have guessed, cannot stand the fact that I denied Christ.

Now, I am having doubts, feeling that I just lost my soul and that I am going to hell for the mistake I made.  (I made this choice before, once or twice, but felt God forgave me and that He was still drawing me closer.)

Now I am unsure what to believe – people or the Bible – and what my faith is.  I want to come back to being a Christian, but I am afraid there is no use as Jesus said, “Whoever denies Me, I will deny to My Father.”

Is there really no hope?  Am I lost for good?

Sincerely,
Soul In Despair

Dear Soul In Despair,

Yes, there is hope, and no, you aren’t lost for good.  Your question has two parts to it.

1. Can I be forgiven of denying God?
2. Does God really exist, or is Richard Dawkins right?

You can be forgiven of denying God.  Paul was forgiven of denying Jesus (1 Cor 15:9-10).  Peter denied Jesus (Matt 26:75), and he was forgiven.  Now is the time to repent and begin anew.  We recommend you read “What Must I Do To Be Saved” to learn about what it takes to obey God.

The second part of your question has a little more depth to it.  The short answer is, yes, God does exist.  We have several articles that you might want to read.  Read through our articles in the EVIDENCES category of the archive; almost all of them pertain to your situation and will reinforce your belief in God.  We also recommend that you rent or buy “Expelled” by Ben Stein.  That movie has an interview with Richard Dawkins where Dawkins admits that he has no idea where life came from.  He even guesses it might be aliens that put life on this planet!  That film does a good job of exposing the bias and prejudices that men like Richard Dawkins have.  And last, but not certainly not least, we highly recommend that you go to our congregation’s main website (www.mvchurchofchrist.org) and listen to a series of lessons preached by a geologist, Dr. Don Patton, on Science and Creation.  Every one of those sources should help to reinforce that evolutionists don’t have the answers; God’s Word does.