Can You Get to Heaven Through Good Deeds?

I am sorry to burst your bubble but going to Heaven cannot be achieved with only being good. It is simply a concept of whether you know Jesus Christ and based on your extend of knowledge of him, what type of life you led. Whether it may be honorable, good or evil.

To better understand the dilemma, it can be put into a question format. Thus a better question would be, Do you know of Jesus Christ or do you know Jesus Christ? It is kind of like saying I know of Tom Cruise but I do not know Tom Cruise personally. The same concept applies to God. You may have heard of Jesus Christ or know things about Jesus Christ but as long as you do not know Jesus Christ personally then your soul is lost, no matter how many good deeds you do. The main part of getting to heaven would be to know Jesus Christ as your personal savior and accept him as God and then have a daily relationship with him through prayers and upholding all his commandments. The bible says no one can approach the father except through the son (Jesus). Thus by believing in Jesus Christ and having a personal relationship with God is a good start off point to gaining entry into heaven.

Now, I am not entirely saying that being good or doing good deeds does not count. In Mathew 13:47-51, Jesus is symbolizing that all people will be preached the Gospel of God but only few will be accepted into the kingdom of God because they are good. But this definition of good is clarified in the epistles of the apostles and in the further teachings of Christ as not only doing charitable work or leading a good life, but also accepting and serving God. So I would have to say that a major part of getting to heaven is knowing God personally and serving God at the same time. But a more minor factor, yet still a factor would be leading a blameless life or a "good life" as the psalmist says. Psalms 15 specifically states the requirements to leading a blameless life and can serve as an example for the requirements in leading a "good life." In psalms 37:37, it says "Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace." And what kind of future does he have? They will have a blessed earthly life and a future for his heavenly life. In psalms 119:1, it says blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the lord. In Philippians 1:10, Paul urges us to remain blameless until the day of Christ (coming of the lord). Also in Philippians 2:15 it clearly says to lead a blameless and pure life or in other words a good life, as the children of God so you can stand in the presence of God at end times without shame or blemish.

The Bible in numerous times calls for us to lead a good life, a charitable life and a life of holiness, pure and blameless, pleasing unto God. Just the sheer frequency of words that call for just to lead an exemplary life must mean that it does play as a factor in deciding our eternal life. However, Jesus and the apostles in various parts of the life says that even if you lead a good life, without following the commandments of God and knowing and serving God, your good deeds will be in vain. However, your deeds also define your life of faith. Faiths without deeds are useless but deeds without faith are equally useless. So both are interdependent and servers an important role in the deciding factor as to if you will get to heaven.