Most religious systems are founded on the basic philosophy that there’s a good god who lives in a good place, where good people will eventually go to. As Christians, we believe in a good God who lives in a good place, but completely different from all other religions, we believe that forgiven people go to heaven, not good people.

Most religious systems are founded on faith, the belief that there are a deity and an afterlife. The problem is that when we use words like faith and belief in the context of religions they take on a completely different meaning. The actual meaning is hope. In religion, we hope something to be true, but we’re not entirely sure. In science or history, we don’t just hope for something to be true we work with facts and what is provable. The good news for Christians is that our belief is not based on hope, but rather based on a provable fact. We’re not hoping for something to be true, we actually believe something to be true.

Two thousand years ago, a man came into the world claiming to be God. He taught like no other man, but his teachings could not be proven. He also performed many signs and miracles, but he was arrested, sentenced to death and died on a cross and his disciples lost all of their hope and their faith. After all, Jesus died like any other man. But three days later he rose from the dead. Now his disciples did not only hope something to be true, they actually believed something to be true.

All other religious faith systems are based on the hope that their leaders’ teachings are truthful. As Christians our faith system is completely different, ours is founded on an event, on a provable fact, the resurrection. Because Jesus resurrected, our faith in the afterlife is not based on hope. And because Jesus resurrected, we can trust his teachings. And he taught that it’s not good people who go to heaven but rather those who’ve have accepted the gift of forgiveness that God offers everyone who believes in Jesus as their savior.