Will Most People...

Will Most People Go to Heaven?

Initial Thinking

When I first started reading the Bible years ago, I read in the Old Testament of how various people acted in ways that the Bible characterized as bad behavior and how God was very displeased with those people. In the New Testament I also read of how Christ was highly critical towards certain people for acting self-righteously and for not listening to what the God had been saying to them though the prophets, and would not hear what Christ himself was saying to them.

I thought that the Bible was probably a bit over-exaggerating most of those people's behavior and how they refused to hear what God and Jesus said to them, and that the vast majority of people could not hardly be as bad as how the Bible typified them in various passages. Passages such as;

But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets.
- Zechariah 7:11-12

My thoughts were that most people are much better than that, and that in general most people at least try to be good people and be considerate to others. Also that after they die, that most people would go to heaven, and only bad people, like Hitler, and people who committed major crimes, would be sent to hell. My thinking was that passages like the one from Zechariah were mainly just meant to serve as a general warning for people to keep in mind.

The Event

I held this view for a long time, but as years passed and I started to read and understand the Bible more, I started to change my opinion. Even so, what really drove the point home is one recent event, The election of Donald Trump as president; but more specifically, its aftermath.

After the election I noticed numerous negative things happening in the country. For instance, there were so many people in the various forms of the media and in the political arena who were very misleading or dishonest about various things that they were saying, writing, and doing in regards to President Trump and various people and polices of his administration; many of those things having serous negative effects and consequences for the nation as a whole. And the people doing so seemed to be acting that way in order to advance their own social, or political, preferences or agendas. It was also disheartening that some of this behavior was from people that I had previously liked and though were "good people". One can be critical, or even highly critical, about another person or group, and even outright dislike them, and still be fair and honest (as the Bible calls people to be) in the process.

As well, many Americans started displaying a seemingly unreasonably high degree of animosity towards people they disagreed with on some particular political or social issue; this occurred in various forms of the media, and especially in the social media. Also, throughout the country many people showed outright anger and hostility, and became very disrespectful in the things that they said and did against their fellow citizens who happen to support and/or did not overtly actively oppose President Trump and his administration. Friendships and family relations even sometimes become fractured due to this. Somewhat sadly, certain socially and politically prominent people even went so far as to encourage, and even seemed to try to incite, public aggression against others.

Additionally as a side point, though significantly reduced and muted, regrettably it seems that certain of these issues have continued with the Corona virus crisis.

After noticing these things, there came a fuller understanding of the Bible passages like Zechariah. There also came a recognition and fuller understanding of passages that I had previously either consciously overlooked or minimized. Passages such as:

One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?” He said to them, “Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able."
- Luke 13:23-24

And when Christ also said;

"Enter by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter by it. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it."
- Matthew 7:13-14

These two passages quite possibly make the (perhaps somewhat uncomfortable) point that most people in the world will not go to heaven.

Note: It might seem to some people that the meaning of these two passages are different and somewhat contradictory, and so that it's still possible that most people will go to heaven after all. However, that is not the case; the two passages are not contradictory. For example: Person one says that there is a bowl of ice cream on the table. Person two says that there is a bowl of strawberry ice cream on the table. Both statements are correct (assuming there is a bowl of strawberry ice cream sitting on the table), person two's statement is just a more detailed statement.

But why "quite possibly"? Because, there is one overarching question: Was Christ speaking about only the people of his time, or about all people - past, preset, and future? On one hand if he was speaking only about his time, then things may be different now and a greater portion of people nowadays will end up going to heaven. But, on the other hand he might not have been speaking only about his time; and even if he had been, that does not necessarily mean that things have changed much, or even at all, now. Therefore, there is a pretty good chance that, Matthew 7:13-14 still applies today.

Perspective

There are two important things to recognize which helps to put this somewhat sobering possibility in perspective:

1 - While there are various opinions among Bible scholars concerning the specifics of hell, contrary to how it often seems to be portrayed outside of the Bible, such as in movies, scripture does not teach that hell will be a place of corporeal fire. However, whatever its actual form, hell will be God's punishment for the unrighteous.

2 - Assuming that Matthew 7:13-14 still applies today and so only a small minority of people will go to heaven, it does not say from where. It may be that, for example; 80% of Americans will go to heaven or maybe only 20% will; or maybe 80% of people in Poland will go to heaven or maybe 20% will; or maybe 80% of people living in Africa will go to heaven or maybe 20% will; or maybe 80% of people living in South Korea will go to heaven or maybe 20% will; etc. In other words, no-one of any particular nation or race of people should automatically presume that they are in a better position in terms of going to heaven than the people of any other nation or race of people; it's each person's individual beliefs and behavior which determines that (e.g. Acts 10:34); and this point in turn can serve as motivation for people to make efforts to not give into particular temptations, such as feelings of entitlement or self-righteousness.

Future Hope

Perhaps at the current moment in time in the United States, with the present social situation, it should become a high priority for people to take some time to read and consider the preceding passages from the Bible and others that are related to them. Doing so may help Christians to have a better perspective of the world and events that occur in it. But even more importantly, it may motivate non-Christians and proclaiming Christians alike, to, if particularly personally relevant, reconsider their thinking and make any appropriate changes in their behavior; for the sake of having a good eternal outcome for themselves, as well as helping to create a better earthly environment for everyone.

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