This might dissapoint you, but there is no qualification criteria for admittance to heaven. There is no "You have to be this virtous to ride"-sign in front of the pearly gates. That's because it ain't about admittance in the first place. It's about mending the brokenness of this world, and our relationship with our fellow man. Just as the immensity of our suffering defies easy analysis, so does the immensity of faith and salvation.
God is not a celestial santa that rewards the virtous and punishes the wicked. God isn't angry, and doesn't need to be appeased through right behavior. God desires to be with us. In fact, he desires us so bad that he bent low enough to take on your flesh and mine in Jesus Christ. As Christ, God showed how much he cares for us, and how little he cares of our need to measure ourselves. He showed that he'd rather die than be in the sin acounting business anymore!
God is already here, with us. The question is if we can stand the intense and vulnerable intimacy of this strangely beautiful promise. If we can't stay in the community that God created with us, then where will we go but to the outer darkness?
Because that's what heaven is. It's not a final station that we can reach individually in splendid isolation. It's a community forged in water and spirit, a kingdom of grace.
CRUCIFORM THEOLOGY
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