(7) Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Other translations say that Jesus is the "door". Through Him, we enter into heaven, we experience eternal and abundant life, and we escape the penalty for sin that results in eternal death, entering into another gate - that of eternal punishment. The choice is simple: accept Christ as Lord and Savior and experience His life and a relationship with Him, or reject Him and spend eternity apart from Him. We make the choice. Jesus says to us to come and follow Him, and we demonstrate that we have received Him as Savior as we walk as His disciples.
Jesus asked His disciples about who men said that He was, and we read in Matthew 16 that Peter replied that Jesus was the "Christ, the Son of the Living God"... (KJV)
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
There's a report from ABCNews.com that archaeologists have uncovered the cave believed to be what has been called Pluto’s Gate, the mythological portal to hell, in the ancient city of Hierapolis in southern Turkey.
Hierapolis is now known as Pamukkale.
Pluto’s Gate was celebrated as the portal to the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology. Pluto was the Greek god of the underworld. The find was made by a team that was led by Francesco D’Andria, a professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento.
Ancient scholars wrote that the portal was full of vapor and mist and that any animal that tried to enter would perish.
The archaeologists apparently witnessed something of this firsthand, according to the original report on Discovery.com.
D'Andria said that,“We could see the cave’s lethal properties during the excavation...Several birds died as they tried to get close to the warm opening, instantly killed by the carbon dioxide fumes.” D'Andria, by the way, has claimed to have found the tomb of the apostle Philip in the same area.
So, what do you make of this - obviously there is some natural phenomenon surrounding this cave that would cause it to emit these lethal gasses. But, isn't it interesting that those who embraced Greco-Roman mythology believed that there was an underworld and that Pluto was in charge of it?
BeliefNet did a survey of its readers back in 2006, and it does give an indication where many people are on the issue of hell. Check out these questions:
| 1. Do you believe in life after death? | |
| Yes | 79% |
| No | 5% |
| Reincarnation | 8% |
| Other | 7% |
| 1a. Do you believe in hell? (Asked of those who did not reply "no" to #1) | |
| Yes | 76% |
| No | 13% |
| Not sure | 8% |
| 2. What do you think are the chances you might go to hell? (Asked of those who did not reply "no" to #1a) | ||||
| Certain | 0.7% | |||
| Likely | 3% | |||
| Unlikely | 36% | |||
| Not a chance | 36% | |||
| I don't know | 24% | |||
What a question - and almost 3 out of 4 said it was unlikely or would not happen and another 1 out of 4 didn't know. I guess if that is your eternal destiny, you wouldn't admit it either or honestly claim that you did not know.
But you can know. Jesus taught extensively on heaven and hell. And, recognized the existence of and nature of eternal punishment. And, the Bible tells us that we can know where we are headed. Those that accept Jesus as the Lord and Savior of their lives can have the assurance of spending eternity with Him. Those that reject Christ will be rejected by God.
And, we all have a choice - God doesn't arbitrarily "send" people to hell; we make the choice to go there. And, it's not a matter of trying to make our good outweigh our bad here on earth or accepting that everyone is eventually going to be saved - you can't find Biblical evidence for that. Our eternal address is determined by our acceptance of Christ and His substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Once we have settled the matter, then we allow His Spirit to transform our lives.
But this message has been lost on many in our culture: Barna's research from 2011 said that 43% of Americans said it doesn’t matter what religious faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons; 54% of Americans disagree. Half of Americans (50%) believe that all people are eventually saved or accepted by God no matter what they do, while 40% disagreed.
So, while there is plenty of confusion and a real need for correction about the afterlife out there, we can know for sure about our eternal destiny, and help share truth with others on this important matter of life and death.
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