Can a good person go to hell?

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

According to the New Testament texts there is a little formula that if followed and taken literally would lead any man to salvation. Let's take a look at that and then dissect if for those who don't quite get it. The very first ingredient is faith so let's take a moment to define what the Bible means by faith.

1Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

For the most part faith is synonymous with hopes and beliefs. The Bible clearly teaches that without faith it is impossible to please God. Notice that the entire point of belief is to please the good Lord and creator of all things great and small. Although the Bible often condemns vanity which is defined as : the quality of people who have too much pride in their own appearance, abilities, achievements, etc. It seems that God suffers greatly from this ailment. He often reminds us in the so called "good book" how awesome he is and how great his works are etc. But I digress.

God wants you to believe in him and that he will fulfill his promises and reward you for your belief and hope in him. Now you know where we get the term believers from, just read the Bible and you will find it just about everywhere. To have faith is to believe in something without sight or when everything else seems contrary to what  you believe. There's nothing esoteric or mysterious or mystical about it contrary to what apologists and theologians have led you to believe.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6

As you can see Hebrews 11:6 sums up everything I have stated about faith so far. So now that we have covered faith what is it that God wants us to have faith in besides just him? Once again the "good book" provides a pretty straight forward answer to that question.

16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18

In other words your so called "salvation" is contingent on your believing in Christ as God's sacrifice for mankind. He is "the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Because of the fact that we are all born in sin only his blood is pure enough to satisfy God's price for our sins and our souls. So once you've got belief in place and have committed your life and will to that of God's you have to obtain the final ingredient.

14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 24You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.  James 2:14;17;24;26

The final ingredient is works. It's not enough to just run around claiming that you believe in God and that Christ is your savior. It's not enough to talk the talk my dear Christian, you have to walk the walk. The whole point of being a Christian is to be an emissary of God on earth you represent God and Christ and have to act as such. Your goal as a believer is to be as Christ like as you possibly can and be guided by his example as it is outlined in the scriptures.

15“If you love me, keep my commands. 21Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” John 14:15;21

So to answer the question posed as the title of this post; can a good man go to hell? The answer is absolutely! Simply because without Christ your works will count for nothing and your sinful nature is not covered in the blood of Christ. His alleged sacrifice does not apply to unbelievers because you have not accepted him as your Lord and savior. Also, it's not enough to believe because as the scriptures say even demons believe and tremble. So when you hear a Christian stating that maybe God will have mercy on you and judge you by your works then you can safely assume that the believer doesn't know the Bible, the plan of salvation and its requirements, or what the hell he or she is talking about.

God's so called plan of salvation is entirely contingent on your being subservient to him. As I stated earlier you cannot please God if you don't have faith. Atheists such as myself who does no wrong by anybody for the most part, who helps out the homeless from time to time, who donates blood regularly, and enjoys doing good deeds often is hell bound because I refuse to bow down to God and submit my will to him. In the eyes of God I am his enemy and am evil. 

4You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.  James 4:4

10As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

11there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

12All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”  Romans 3:10-12

Note: All biblical citations are taken from the New International Version of the scriptures. 

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