The links below navigate to external web sites. I did not create the sites, but I consider them to be good resources for further research. Roman Road To Salvation (The Book of Romans lays out the plan of salvation) Am I Going To Heaven?

How can I have eternal life with God?

The first thing we can get out of the way is something we call all agree on; we have all done wrong things in our lives. The Bible says that if we do something that is wrong in God's eyes, it is disobedience to him, and it is sin.

The very first time a person understands the difference between right and wrong and realizes he is guilty of wrong, he is guilty of sin.

Man's spirit is imperfect - not holy and righteous like God. God is perfectly holy and righteous, and as such cannot abide in the presence of anything less than perfect holiness and righteousness. It's his very nature. God can't exist contrary to his own nature.

But God is not happy with that. He wants everyone to have eternal life with him. God so loves the people of the world that he devised a rescue plan. He sent his only son, Jesus to Earth. The price of sin is spiritual death. Christ willingly paid that price for us by allowing himself to be crucified in our place. It only worked because Christ is perfect and holy not only in spirit, but also in flesh, unlike man. Christ paid the debt that we could not pay. He rose again on the third day, thereby defeating death.

Man can "try and try and try to be good enough" to earn his way into Heaven, but it will never be good enough; he will never make it by his own good works. And why? Because God's standard is absolute perfection and holiness, and no man can be good enough to attain that perfect righteous state.

Bringing God's answer, his "rescue plan", into your life is quite simple:

• Confess to God that you have sinned against him and that you are sorry for it.
• Ask him to forgive you of your sins.
• Ask him to come into your heart and be Lord of your life.
• Put your faith in Christ and what he has done for you. 

Your sins will be forgiven, and Christ will make of you a new spirit clothed in his holiness and righteousness. He will make you, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 puts it, a "new creation". When God looks at you from that point on, he will not see sin; he will see the blood of Christ that has washed away all guilt.

Consider some lines from the Christmas carol "Away In A Manger":

"Bless all the dear children in thy tender care
And fit us for Heaven, to live with you there."

Because of God's perfect holiness and his absolutely sinless nature, he cannot live in the presence of sin. Therefore, only those whom God has made "fit for Heaven" can live eternally with him. But the thing is, that offer is open to anyone who will exercise his free will and accept it.