Why do many Christians today believe Jews do not go to Heaven when Abraham Moses David and Daniel were men of God who went to Heaven and were also Jews who knew nothing about Jesus Christ?

Answer 1

OpinionAs a Christian, I believe we are instructed exactly how we might be be saved from final death and Hell. Having said this, God can bring anyone to Heaven for any reason He wants to and it's none of my business. Do Jews go to Hell? Some don't. (The Bible tells us of several Old Testament people.) We really don't know and have no way of knowing the realities of Heaven or the scientific laws in that realm. We don't know who is saved (beyond what we are told in scripture) and we don't know how we are saved. We only know that we, as Christians will believe, be baptized, and be saved. If we do not believe and refuse baptism, then we are sent to Hell. Jews have a different deal (covenant) with God. I truly have no way of knowing what is required of others. I only know what is required of me. Answer

In Mark 16 when Jesus says, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he does not believe will be condemned." What I believe to be true is anybody that believes in Jesus Christ will have salvation, and the one that doesn't goes to hell. And for that matter, good deeds are helpful. Discreetly, it is evangelism when one does good works and calls themselves Christians. God is pleased by them.

Jews do not go to Heaven, because they do not believe. Why did the people before go to heaven?

That is because the Testament of the People before Christ was those that did good deeds went to heaven. During and After, the Testament [a contract or agreement] changed and was sealed by Jesus's death and resurrection.

Answer

As a Catholic, I am appalled by the above answerers. They seem to think that faith is more important than good works. They treat good works as little extra help. In my opinion, faith is nothing. It doesn't matter what you believe. Neither is baptism. Good works alone are the key to heaven. Jews can indeed go to heaven if they did enough good works. Christians who think that Jews cannot reach heaven probably interpret the Scriptures literally, because it is only in specific words and phrases that one could deduce that faith alone saves. Look at the phrase "believes and is baptized" in that Mark 16 verse. Couldn't that just be a later author's misinterpretation, based on his own background, of the word "follows?"

To this person, I would only like to say. Acts 4:12"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. " Does this not say believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven? Or do you again question the interpretation of the source. The bible is infallible.

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The gift of God is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus died on the cross, and that is what judges our salvation. That is what God has given us. Appalled or not appalled, the truth is hard to grasp. Hold not onto your beliefs, but the truth.

Answer

If people in the old testament can go to heaven by good deeds then Christ is not the only way to heaven. That is a great contradiction to biblical teaching: "There is no other name under heaven..." "I am the way the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father except through me" "no blood no remission of sin.." "by one man (Adam) sin enter the world and by one man (Jesus) sins removed...." Jesus is "the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world" He was foreseen in the Lamb of the Passover, the snake hanged by Moses in the wilderness; the sacrifices of the animals in the Israelite's temple..... There is no other name and no other way but through Jesus according to the bible teaching. How did Moses and David and Daniel and the great multitude of people Israelite and pagan who lived before during and even after Christ time go to heaven when they knew little or nothing about Jesus?

Answer

We live by faith is what it says in 2 Corinthians 5. And since we live by faith, does this not mean faith is the way? Those in the New Testament, live by the new testament, and that testament is faith, not good deeds. God sent Jesus, because he knew we could not live by his standards. That is why he changed them.

Answer:

When Jesus rose from the dead they followed. The only two people I know of that there may be an exception to are Enoch ( God took him ) and Elijah he was taken in a Chariot of Fire.

As a Christian and not a Catholic, I can assure you that good works are not more important than faith. It is by faith (alone) we are saved.

Answer 2

The typical answer I have seen to this, and yet is strangely absent from the Christian opinions below, is that the Jews of the Old Testament period are allowed to go to Heaven because they believed in the Oneness of God before Jesus came to the Earth. They could not have believed in the Sacrifice upon the Cross since it had not happened yet, but they could believe in everything save that, which they did. Conversely, the Jews of today are people who are aware of the Sacrifice of the Cross and chose not to believe in its redemptive power. As a result, they are damned, since those who do not believe are damned.

However, as a Jew myself, I find the Christian arguments of Jesus being the Messiah to be hollow and poorly argued. I reject the Sacrifice upon the Cross as having any meaning specifically because there is no indication in the Old Testament that the Messiah would perform any such sacrifice nor that Adam's sin lies within all people (therefore, leading to no necessity for such a sacrifice). If you wish to read the Jewish arguments as to why Jesus is not the Messiah please see the Related Question below.
Why is Jesus not the Jewish Messiah?