It is an unfortunate fact that the majority of people who believe in "a God" and "a heaven" think themselves to be on their way to heaven because they consider themselves to be a "good" person. They look around and compare themselves to other people, without fully understanding the true nature of all mankind from the start. People do not understand how terrible our sins truly are, and they do not understand what is required to have these sins forgiven.

Many people think that because they have not murdered anyone or committed any "major sin" they consider themselves good people and therefore will go heaven when they die. Unfortunately this idea is refuted plainly in Romans chapter 3 where it states "There are none good, not one." While most of us may not have murdered anyone, we are guilty of breaking God's law countless times every day.

If we have ever told a lie, then we are a liar. If we have ever stolen something, we are a thief. If we have ever used God's name in vein, we have committed blasphemy. These actions do not even take into account the things we think in our minds from day to day. Jesus said if you hate your brother you have committed murder in your heart. We must not think of ourselves as good people with sin showing through every now and then, but rather we are sinful people in our very core, and therefore everything that we say, do and think is tainted by that sin.

God is a perfect god and demands perfection of which no one can hold by themselves. We will stand before God one day and give an account for every last moment of our lives, including thoughts and deeds, and we need to ask ourselves if we will stand before God innocent or guilty. The fact of the matter is that every man standing before God on their own accord will be guilty. How can we possibly stand before God innocent, then?

Fortunately God has chosen to provide a way by which we can be forgiven of our sins. God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die on our behalf, and suffer the wrath of God in our place. No one can get to heaven on their own because no one is good or perfect. There is only one who is good, and it is Jesus Christ. Therefore in order to get into heaven we must have faith in Him and what He has done for us on the cross. When we do this, we will have Christ's righteousness imputed to us so that when we stand before God on judgment day we will stand before Him in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and be declared innocent.