by Elli Hall

Created on: January 21, 2010

There are various religions that believe being the Good Samaritan will allow the believer to get into heaven.  This is without any belief or faith but by doing good deeds.  I totally disagree with this logic of thinking.   Yes, I do believe that it is important to do good works, but I personally do not believe that doing good works alone will save you.  It has to be a combination of faith and works. 

Faith and works go hand in hand.  Without one or the other, it is impossible to get into heaven.  I could have enough faith to move mountains, but if I do not act according to what I believe then my belief in the Creator is empty.  Vice versa, if I am playing the perfect role of the Good Samaritan and do not have the faith to move mountains, then once again my works have been worthless in regards to trying to get into heaven.  Granted we will not know whether we are able to get into heaven or not until the Day of Judgment passes.  We can definitely try with all of our might to do all that we can to be with the Creator and His Son.

Good deeds and having faith or belief are incredibly important in regards to our walk with the Messiah.  It is important to try to be like the Messiah and do all that we can to make the lives of everyone we meet better even by just a little bit.  I firmly believe that it is just as important to be taking care of our fellow widows, orphans and the needy.  The Messiah would want us to care for them, and I believe He would do the same.  Doing good deeds also has to come from the deepest corners of our hearts.  Even if we do good deeds but our hearts are not in it, then it is all for show.  It does not matter if we are trying to impress others by doing good works such as donating to charities just to say I did this or I did that.  The matter of our hearts matter the most.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that doing good works alone will not get the Good Samaritan into heaven.  To get into heaven requires a combination of good deeds and faith.  Without one or the other, there is nothing to back up the works or the belief, whichever one is being done.  To get into heaven, we must have both.

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