It seems some envision Christ as the door guy at the heaven club. You needed to have the secret password or the accumulated status via demonstrated fealty to gain admission. I reject this formulation. It is not a serious theology.
The kingdom of heaven must necessarily lie within.
Jesus says in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
And in Acts 4:12 Peter says of Jesus: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Scripture is clear on this point.
Scripture might be clear but God does not follow a script IMO.
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? - Numbers 23:19
God is true to His Word.
It sounds like you don’t believe the Scripture is the revealed Word of God.
I challenge you to read the Bible with an open heart and to ask God to speak to you through it. I have found the Bible to be valuable far beyond any other book or philosophy. It is the only book that reveals how easily I can delude myself. It is a mirror for the soul.
I believe you. You sound earnest and sincere. Yet I also believe symbols (words in any format) are not the same as what they represent. The scripture can point people to the truth (God) but words are not the thing itself.
