How to Go to Heaven 

This page is designed so that those who wish to learn how to go to heaven can look in the Bible and read for themselves. Open your Bible to Romans and read the verses shown at the bottom of the image and then go on to the next verse shown above.

Here's some explanation if you want some help.

Romans is a letter written by a man named Paul to a church located in Rome almost 2000 years ago. He wrote it by the inspiration of God. Perhaps it would be better to say it this way: God wrote the letter by putting his spirit in Paul. The letter was written so that a person might learn how they can go to heaven. It is highly recommended that you read the whole letter, but we'll try to give a summary here. Here's what Paul taught:

First of all, there is some good news. God grants salvation to anyone who believes and lives according to that belief. "Anyone" includes you! It doesn't matter what is in your past! Paul took great joy in this and was glad to tell others about it, but he encountered a lot of trouble as he did. That's why he wrote: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." (Romans 1:16).

Paul goes on to explain what this good news is by first explaining our predicament. We are all sinners. Romans 3:23 explains, "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." Murder, sexual immorality, drunkeness, stealing, lying, cheating, swindling, gossiping, slandering, disobeying parents, it doesn't matter which describes your sin, because of that sin we fall short of "the glory of God." We have a tendency of rating sin into different categories because sin does different kinds of damage. For example, a lie would damage a trust and a relationship between two people, but murder would damage every relationship to which that life was attached.  Therefore, we hold the sin of murder as being much worse than lying. Sometimes we even get smug about it and look down our noses at those who have committed bigger sins than we have.  But in God's eyes, in regard to who goes to heaven, we fall short of God's glory too. A student who gets a "D" on a test and mocks the student who got an "F" still fails! We have all failed and don't deserve to go to heaven. Until a person can recognize their sin and repent of it, they'll never be able to make it to heaven. But there is good news: Romans 6:23 tells us, "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

God has made it possible for us to turn away from sin and turn to Him and have salvation because of what he did through His son, Jesus. Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." A good way of portraying what Jesus did for us is to think about our life being represented in a report card. Jesus never sinned, not even once. He got a report card that showed straight "A's". But we have all sinned and failed. We've got "D's" and "F's" across the board. To deserve heaven, there's no curve. We must have perfect "A's". However, Jesus took our place. He took our punishment and allowed us to have His "A's" so that we might be permitted into heaven. Where sin separated us from God, Jesus' sacrifice restored us to our Heavenly Father.

Now you may be wondering, "How do I get on this bandwagon?" Romans 10:9 reads, "if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." We are saved by faith. How do you know you have that faith? By living what you believe. Scripture also teaches that our sins are washed away in a significant activity called Baptism. When Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome, he was reminding the believers of all these things and encouraging them not to sin by reminding them of the day they were baptized and what it meant. Romans 6:4, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

When a person is baptized they are dipped down into water much like a body is laid into a coffin and a spiritual death takes place: the death of our former way of life and the death of sin. We are conjoined with Christ's death in this moment and then we come up out of the water, just as Jesus rose from the dead and all Christian will rise from death. We rise as new creations, followers of Jesus Christ, learning to be more like Him.

After repenting, confessing, and being baptized, a person can rest assured that Jesus' blood is continually washing their sins away, even sins we commit after being baptized. We can live with renewed hope and motivation, thankful to God for his love for us and what he has done for us through His son Jesus. That's why Paul goes on to write to the church in Rome, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:1-2).  The way we live reflects the faith we have.