Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
The Most Common False Doctrine Today
John 3:13 (NASB)
13 No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
At first this seems like the most basic of scriptures. Jesus is clearly saying that (at the time He said this) that He was the only one to ever go to heaven. That nobody else who ever lived before this had ever been to heaven. What you might not realize is this verse proves the most common doctrine taught today as being false.
Let me ask you a simple question. What about the newborn babies that died from the days of Adam until Jesus said this? Around 4,000 years must have had plenty of newborns who died. Babies that never even had an opportunity to sin. Why didn't they go to heaven? I want you to really think about that.
If it was truly unforgiven sin that sends us to hell, then all the babies that died before they ever had a chance to sin would have gone to heaven. Yet Jesus clearly says they didn't. Why not?
Now I will throw you another curve ball. Did you know that God had been forgiving sin even in the Old Testament? Seriously! Look up the word "atonement" in the Bible. The Old Testament is filled with scriptures where God tells His people to make animal sacrifices to atone for their sins. Now atonement is not the same as forgiveness. Atonement is the action one makes to right a wrong in hopes of being forgiven. Ask yourself, would God tell His people to slaughter innocent animals to atone for their sins if He wasn't willing to forgive them? Is God a Liar? Because God says this...
Leviticus 4:20 (NASB)
20 He shall also do with the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; he shall do the same with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.
So you have all the newborn babies who have died and still did not go to heaven, and now you have scripture showing that God was already forgiving sin in the Old Testament. With these two facts before you, if you still believe it is unforgiven sin that sends us to hell, and Jesus died so we could be forgiven for our sins, you are just being stupid stubborn.
Look, I know that nearly every church and pastor teaches those two things. It doesn't make it true. No more than so many people being taught that Islam is the right religion makes that true. People teach what they were taught and quite often what they were taught is not truth.
Don't worry too much however, by the time this article is over, it will all make more sense.
When Jesus died on the cross, He did in fact die for our sins, but just not in the way you were taught. His blood did two things on the cross that day.
1) He was the last sacrifice. His blood covers all of our sins and now we are forgiven without the need to sacrifice animals for it. He didn't die so we could be forgiven, because God was already forgiving sin. He died so we would be forgiven automatically without the need to slaughter animals for it. Contrary to many teachings, I am not convinced this is what saves us. I believe this is what allows us to have a closer relationship with God. When people sacrificed animals in the Old Testament days, it was not so they could go to heaven. It was so God would forgive them and they could build on their relationship with God.
2) His blood washes our souls clean. This is where salvation comes into play. This is why those babies never went to heaven before Jesus died. When Adam sinned, it did more than just upset God. It corrupted His soul. From that point on everyone born of Adams seed was born with a soul already stained by sin. The problem with that is that heaven is the place where God abides in His full glory and He is so pure and Holy, sin cannot exist in His presence. That is why when Moses was on the mountain and he asked God to show him His glory, God replied, "Man cannot see my face and survive". Because man's soul was stained with sin, if man was allowed to enter heaven, Gods presence would destroy that man's soul. God is not going to allow those He loves to enter His presence just to be destroyed.
You see, an animals blood sacrifice was enough to allow God to forgive us for our sins and continue our relationship with Him. But no animal was pure or holy enough to wash our souls clean. That is why the Word took on flesh and became human. That is why Jesus willingly died on the cross for us. So we would be washed clean by His blood. Because He was God in the flesh, He was a sacrifice that was pure enough and holy enough to wash our souls clean.
The forgiveness of our sins is not what saves us. That is about our relationship with God. The cleansing of our sin stained souls, that is what saves us.
To believe that God would cast us into hell because he was angry with us for sinning, is akin to a man killing his son because his child broke his rules. That is not what God is like. God wants us in heaven. He just couldn't allow those who loved Him into heaven until their souls were cleansed.
So we know that it is not unforgiven sin that sends us to hell. We also know for certain that we would never be sent to hell over forgiven sin. Is there another kind of sin? You see? What this proves is that it is not sin that even sends us to hell at all. The amazing thing is that there is not a single verse that says it does. Every verse we use to support that is nothing more than interpreted to mean something it never actually says, or it is translated wrong so those who read the Bible but never dig into the translations believe the wrong translation.
If you do not know what a primary verse is, I would ask you to read this article. Primary Verses
There are on average, one to three primary verses that support each doctrine in the Bible. Salvation has nineteen! Clearly, God wanted to make the most important doctrine in the Bible very clear.
Of the 19 primary salvation scriptures, every single one of them says we are saved by believing in Jesus. When you break them all down, you find there are more specifics to what we must believe.
1) We must believe Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.
2) We must believe that Jesus died for us, and that God raised Him from the dead.
3) We must believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
4) We must believe those things strong enough that we are willing to tell others and mean it.
Do you know what none of them say? None of them say we must stop sinning. None of them say we are saved by any means other than believing in Jesus. Not one single primary verse says we are saved by any other means.
13 No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
At first this seems like the most basic of scriptures. Jesus is clearly saying that (at the time He said this) that He was the only one to ever go to heaven. That nobody else who ever lived before this had ever been to heaven. What you might not realize is this verse proves the most common doctrine taught today as being false.
Let me ask you a simple question. What about the newborn babies that died from the days of Adam until Jesus said this? Around 4,000 years must have had plenty of newborns who died. Babies that never even had an opportunity to sin. Why didn't they go to heaven? I want you to really think about that.
If it was truly unforgiven sin that sends us to hell, then all the babies that died before they ever had a chance to sin would have gone to heaven. Yet Jesus clearly says they didn't. Why not?
Now I will throw you another curve ball. Did you know that God had been forgiving sin even in the Old Testament? Seriously! Look up the word "atonement" in the Bible. The Old Testament is filled with scriptures where God tells His people to make animal sacrifices to atone for their sins. Now atonement is not the same as forgiveness. Atonement is the action one makes to right a wrong in hopes of being forgiven. Ask yourself, would God tell His people to slaughter innocent animals to atone for their sins if He wasn't willing to forgive them? Is God a Liar? Because God says this...
Leviticus 4:20 (NASB)
20 He shall also do with the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; he shall do the same with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.
So you have all the newborn babies who have died and still did not go to heaven, and now you have scripture showing that God was already forgiving sin in the Old Testament. With these two facts before you, if you still believe it is unforgiven sin that sends us to hell, and Jesus died so we could be forgiven for our sins, you are just being stupid stubborn.
Look, I know that nearly every church and pastor teaches those two things. It doesn't make it true. No more than so many people being taught that Islam is the right religion makes that true. People teach what they were taught and quite often what they were taught is not truth.
Don't worry too much however, by the time this article is over, it will all make more sense.
When Jesus died on the cross, He did in fact die for our sins, but just not in the way you were taught. His blood did two things on the cross that day.
1) He was the last sacrifice. His blood covers all of our sins and now we are forgiven without the need to sacrifice animals for it. He didn't die so we could be forgiven, because God was already forgiving sin. He died so we would be forgiven automatically without the need to slaughter animals for it. Contrary to many teachings, I am not convinced this is what saves us. I believe this is what allows us to have a closer relationship with God. When people sacrificed animals in the Old Testament days, it was not so they could go to heaven. It was so God would forgive them and they could build on their relationship with God.
2) His blood washes our souls clean. This is where salvation comes into play. This is why those babies never went to heaven before Jesus died. When Adam sinned, it did more than just upset God. It corrupted His soul. From that point on everyone born of Adams seed was born with a soul already stained by sin. The problem with that is that heaven is the place where God abides in His full glory and He is so pure and Holy, sin cannot exist in His presence. That is why when Moses was on the mountain and he asked God to show him His glory, God replied, "Man cannot see my face and survive". Because man's soul was stained with sin, if man was allowed to enter heaven, Gods presence would destroy that man's soul. God is not going to allow those He loves to enter His presence just to be destroyed.
You see, an animals blood sacrifice was enough to allow God to forgive us for our sins and continue our relationship with Him. But no animal was pure or holy enough to wash our souls clean. That is why the Word took on flesh and became human. That is why Jesus willingly died on the cross for us. So we would be washed clean by His blood. Because He was God in the flesh, He was a sacrifice that was pure enough and holy enough to wash our souls clean.
The forgiveness of our sins is not what saves us. That is about our relationship with God. The cleansing of our sin stained souls, that is what saves us.
To believe that God would cast us into hell because he was angry with us for sinning, is akin to a man killing his son because his child broke his rules. That is not what God is like. God wants us in heaven. He just couldn't allow those who loved Him into heaven until their souls were cleansed.
So we know that it is not unforgiven sin that sends us to hell. We also know for certain that we would never be sent to hell over forgiven sin. Is there another kind of sin? You see? What this proves is that it is not sin that even sends us to hell at all. The amazing thing is that there is not a single verse that says it does. Every verse we use to support that is nothing more than interpreted to mean something it never actually says, or it is translated wrong so those who read the Bible but never dig into the translations believe the wrong translation.
If you do not know what a primary verse is, I would ask you to read this article. Primary Verses
There are on average, one to three primary verses that support each doctrine in the Bible. Salvation has nineteen! Clearly, God wanted to make the most important doctrine in the Bible very clear.
Of the 19 primary salvation scriptures, every single one of them says we are saved by believing in Jesus. When you break them all down, you find there are more specifics to what we must believe.
1) We must believe Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.
2) We must believe that Jesus died for us, and that God raised Him from the dead.
3) We must believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
4) We must believe those things strong enough that we are willing to tell others and mean it.
Do you know what none of them say? None of them say we must stop sinning. None of them say we are saved by any means other than believing in Jesus. Not one single primary verse says we are saved by any other means.
