There is a common tendency with people to make negative judgments about other people. In high schools, this tendency shows itself in cliques. A few popular kids get into a group, and gradually begin to think that they are better than others because they are better liked. Kids who aren't "in" may become objects of pity, or contempt, or even of cruel jokes. In one way or another the clique passes subtle judgment on the others as being a lower class of human beings.

The same tendency to look down on others shows itself in various religions. Some religious groups become so self-centered that they believe no one of a different faith can go to heaven. When taken to an extreme, this kind of attitude is far more cruel than the snobbish teenage cliques.

The teachings of the Bible are quite a contrast to this. To begin with, God's Word tells us that we should not label people as "saved" or "sinner." Jesus said,

"Judge not, that you be not condemned. Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1, 3)

The disciple James put it this way: "There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?" (James 4:1)

When the Lord was on earth, a judging attitude was prevalent among the leaders of the church. Many thought that when the Messiah came, He would save Jews, and not others. When Jesus did come, they condemned Him for associating with non-Jews and Jews alike.

Jesus discouraged this kind of attitude. Once He was speaking with some people who "trusted in themselves" that they were saved and others were not. He asked them to consider two prayers: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men," and "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" Jesus praised the man who thought he was a sinner. (Luke 18:9-14)

It's better to think of yourself as a sinner than to think you are saved.

You may remember the parable of the good Samaritan, too, who stopped to help the wounded man by the roadside. Even though this Samaritan was of the "wrong" faith (from the Jewish point of view), Jesus said that the Samaritan should be loved as a neighbor, because he was a good man. In fact, He said that a person who wants eternal life should be like this Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), even though the Samaritan was neither Christian nor Jewish. Jesus saw - and sees - what is in a person's heart, not just what church one belongs to.

The Bible states clearly that it is the way a person lives, not just what he believes, that determines whether he goes to heaven or not. Jesus said, "Not every one who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

Again, "He shall reward every one according to his works." (Matthew 16:27)

"Those who have done good," He says, will go "to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (John 5:29)

Since a person's life, not just his faith, determines his eternal lot, Jesus foretold that many Christians would not be saved, because they had lived an evil life.

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you: depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matthew 7:22-23, Luke 13:25-27)

One reason why a non-Christian can be saved, is that he can love his neighbor. Anyone who genuinely loves his neighbor also loves Christ, although he may not realize it. Jesus said, "Inasmuch as you have ministered to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." (Matthew 25:40)

Faith in Jesus, without love to the neighbor is meaningless.

"Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:2)

Genuine love, on the other hand, is a sign that a person knows the Lord in his heart, regardless of the religion he professes outwardly.

"Love believes all things." (1 Corinthians 13:7)

"He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God." (3 John 1:11)

"Let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one who loves is born of God and knows God. God is love, and anyone who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:7-11)

Summary:

Some Christian churches teach this: Only Christians are saved.

What the Bible actually says (and what the New Christian Church teaches): Good people from all religions are saved.

Some references from teachings for the New Christian Church : Heaven and Hell 318-328, Divine Providence 326

Used with the permission of John Odhner, the author of this very useful site: http://whatthebiblesays.info/Introduction.html

4169. 'Your sheep and your she-goats have not miscarried' means its state as regards good and the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'sheep' as good, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'she-goat' as the good of truth, dealt with in 3995, 4006. The word good when used by itself means the good of the will, whereas the expression the good of truth means the good of the understanding. The good of the will consists in doing good from good, whereas the good of the understanding consists in doing it from truth. To people who do good from truth those two activities seem to be one and the same, when in fact they are considerably different from each other. For doing good from good consists in doing it from the perception of good, and that perception does not exist with any except those who are celestial. But doing good from truth is doing it from knowledge and consequently from the understanding. It amounts to doing it without any perception that it is good, and so solely as something that a person has been taught to do by others, or else by the exercise of his own intellect has decided that it is good. Such truth may well be faulty, but if it has good as its end in view, then a person's action arising out of that truth becomes tantamount to good.

[2] 'Sheep' means goods. This may be seen from many places in the Word, from which places let merely the following be quoted: In Isaiah,

He was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He is led like a lamb ¹ to the slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers, he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:7.

This refers to the Lord, where He is compared to 'a sheep' not by virtue of truth but of good. In Matthew,

Jesus said to the twelve whom He sent out, Do not go into the way of the gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 10:5-6.

'The gentiles' to whom they were forbidden to go stands for those among whom evils exist - 'gentiles' meaning evils, see 1259, 1260, 1849; 'the cities of the Samaritans' stands for those among whom falsities are present; and 'sheep' stands for those among whom forms of good may be found.

[3] In John,

Jesus after the Resurrection said to Peter, Feed My lambs. A second time He said, Feed My sheep; the third time He said, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-17.

'Lambs' stands for those who have innocence within them. The first reference to 'sheep' stands for people whose practice of good stems from good, the second for those whose practice of it stems from truth. In Matthew,

When the Son of Man comes in His glory He will place the sheep at His right hand but the goats at His left. And He will say to those at His right hand, Come, O blessed of My Father, possess as an inheritance the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me. Insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers you did it to Me. Matthew 25:31-40.

Here it is quite plain that 'sheep' stands for goods, that is, for those in whom good is present. Every kind of good flowing from charity, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be described elsewhere, is included here in the internal sense. 'Goats' means in particular those who have faith but no charity.

[4] Similarly in Ezekiel,

As for you, O My flock, said the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I am judging between one member of the flock and another, between rams of the sheep, and he-goats. Ezekiel 34:17.

'He-goats' means in particular those whose faith is not linked to any charity. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'he-goats' in the good sense as those who possess the truth of faith and from this some charity, but in the contrary sense those whose faith is not linked to any charity. Such people reason about salvation from basic assumptions that faith is what saves. The same point is apparent from what the Lord says about the goats in the passage in Matthew quoted above. But people who do not possess any truth of faith, or at the same time any good of charity, are carried away into hell without undergoing any such judgement, that is to say, without any examination to prove that they are governed by falsity.

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