I believe there is a God... and that Jesus Christ is His [Only] Son

In my younger days I always thought we were all Christians - at least those of us who'd been born in 'Christian' Britain! My mum and dad didn't go to Church (except at Christmas, of course) but they sent me to Sunday School, and I thought I was a Christian.

How could all British people be Christians? Because we were born that way, of course! I was sure that was right, and in 'Christian' Britain or the USA only folk who deliberately opted out, or got themselves excluded due to some horrendous sin, would miss out on their place in heaven! I'm sure many people 'of us' think it's like that... we're - okay! I also think many other nationalities think of Christianity as a 'foreign' religion, and that it's pretty much as hard for them to get in as it is for us to miss out?!

Well, that's pretty much what I thought... but I've changed my mind!

Getting to the Truth!

After our marriage Chris and I only went to Church occasionally - i.e Christmas and (very) special occasions! - but on one of these visits we realised we'd got it the wrong way round: we're not born Christians at all - we're all born sinners, and we all keep on sinning (it's in our human nature, just read the news or watch TV) - and if we want to go to heaven we have to opt back in!

Now I've found there's plenty of places in the Bible that show this is the true position. Here are 5 FACTS, based around the word ALL:

1. The Bible says: God loves us ALL.
2. The Bible says: we are ALL sinners.
3. The Bible says (and, be honest, we know): we have ALL sinned.
4. The Bible says: Christ died for us ALL. "JESUS, Who had NO SIN, was made sin FOR US".
5. The Bible does not say that we'll ALL go to heaven! It actually says the gate is NARROW and FEW find it!

So God loves us ALL, we are ALL sinners, we have ALL sinned, Christ died for ALL, but we're not ALL going to heaven... whether we're good old British, American, or anything else.

Gladly the Bible also makes it equally clear that, whoever we are, wherever we've been born, whatever we've done (!), EACH one of us CAN go to heaven. How?... we must be 'born again', we must opt in, we must be converted. I like to call it 'a new life in Jesus'. Whoever we are, we can say like the most famous apostle and disciple, Simon Peter, 'Lord, save ME!'.

Have a look a Matthew chapter 14 verses 22-33 for the incident with Peter, and especially John chapter 3 & John chapter 14 verses 1-6. By all means contact me personally if you'd like to know more.

What are we doing now?

We belong to a lively and growing Fellowship in nearby Ely, where we help with the Youth Church. I also get quite a few 'local preacher' opportunities to minister in the many village Churches in the area, and Chris has an excellent gift with puppets which gets us plenty of invitations to do Family Services.

Index of related Christian information & stories:

My Faith I Believe there is a God
Chess in the Bible?!An Easter Allegory... Chess in the Bible?
An Unusual Meeting... Daniel's Story
An Easter Painting, one of my famous Family Service sketchboard stories! The Great Exchange
A set of One Line Bible verse messages, designed to make you think... _Bible Answers

For more information, or a free Booklet, write to: Eric Hallsworth, 45 Stretham Road, Wilburton, Cambs CB6 3RX, England, or e-mail..._ eric@elhchess.demon.co.uk