During this season of trying to remember that the ways we’re different are so much less important than the ways we’re all the same, I present a typical letter from someone who doesn’t quite see things this way. – Rabbi Gellman


I won’t even touch the subject of reincarnation; that’s too ridiculous to think about.



You and all the lost, before it’s too late, need to read the complete Bible, not just the first five books. Only then can you possibly understand that only through a full belief in Jesus Christ can you ever get into heaven.

I will pray for your understanding of the truth. If I’m wrong, then, according to your words, I will still go to heaven? If I’m right and you are wrong, then you will spend eternity in hell. Think about it. – Regards, F.E.A.

A: You asked me to think about your claims, and I’ve spent years doing just that. Here are my conclusions:

How can you know if someone really believes in Jesus? Is saying so enough? What about the people who say they believe but really don’t? Or what about the people who say they don’t believe but really do?

One of the reasons I love the laws in the Hebrew Bible is that they’re about actions, and it’s much easier to determine if a person has acted in a proper way.

Placing such a heavy burden of salvation on belief requires some way to determine sincere belief and this seems nearly impossible to me. Think about it.

I do not understand how you can believe that a terrible person who’s lived a corrupt life but who accepts Jesus at the last moment of his or her life is admitted to heaven, while a person who’s lived an exemplary life but does not believe in Jesus is kept out of heaven.


Finally, there are many Christian theologians who’ve taught that one can be saved by Jesus even if one does not explicitly state that one believes in Jesus. There may be people who are “anonymous Christians.”

Jesus saves them even though they don’t know it. So explicitly affirming belief in Jesus may not be necessary to receive the salvation you seek.


In the meantime, I’ll take comfort in the words of God to the prophet Micah (6:8) in the Hebrew Bible (which, by the way, you’re also obligated to accept):




Think about it.