Following the “Five Pillars” to Get to Heaven?

With the world becoming much more aware of

Islam, which is essentially a works‐based religion,
the idea of working for your salvation, or eternal
life continues to be a hot topic of discussion.

To hear members of the Islamic faith tell it, it’s

really not all that different than any other religion
which claims that by keeping specific laws
throughout their life, one gains salvation. Tell me
this is not works‐based. Of course it is works‐
based.

There is NO religion besides Christianity that states

something else altogether; that salvation comes by
grace, through faith in Christ’s finished work on
Calvary’s cross. It is that simple, however it is not
something that seems palatable to people in general, because of that very fact of being
“simple.”

In this article, I’ll be quoting from another website that is dedicated to attacking,
vilifying and debunking Christian beliefs concerning God, Jesus, the Bible, the
resurrection, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, etc., etc. The difficulty of course is upon
reading many of their rantings, it becomes very clear that they really do not understand
what the text of Scripture says, much less how to defend or debunk it. In fact, even a
cursory glance by many will highlight the fact that these deluded folks simply do not
know their history, nor do they understand the vernacular used in biblical times to
describe events, people and history.

However, the focus of this article is on what Islam believes about gaining eternal life,
and if that is even something that the Muslim can know without doubt in this life that
they actually have obtained. We’ll follow their line of reasoning and see where we end
up and then we’ll talk about the Bible and what it has to say about eternal life.

One of the biggest areas of difference between Islam and Christianity (besides the
difference between Mohammed and Jesus), is the way an individual obtains or receives
eternal life.

ISLAM’S ‘ETERNAL LIFE’

In Islam, the devout Muslim must follow what is termed the “Five Pillars” in order to
even hope of obtaining, or becoming a possessor of eternal life. Those Five Pillars are:

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 1. Shahada which is their Profession of Faith
2. Salah which is their Prayers
3. Zakat which is the Giving of Alms
4. Sawm which is Fasting during Ramadan
5. Hajj which is their Pilgrimage to Mecca

As I indicated, if a devout Muslim is consistent about following these Five Pillars, then
the chances of becoming a possessor of eternal life is greatly increased, but not
guaranteed.

I can think of no other religion off the top of my head (and that would include the
religion of the New Age movement), where the possibility of obtaining eternal life,
salvation, entering paradise, or whatever these religions call it, is not received via works.
In fact, the one thing that they all have in common is that they are all works‐based
religions, or religious systems.

Christianity is the only religion (for the lack of a better word) which unequivocally states
that salvation comes through grace, by faith in the finished redemptive work of Jesus
Christ on Calvary’s cross.

MUSLIMS’ VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY

However, what is interesting is that if you talk to a Muslim about Christianity, they will
tell you that Jesus talked about following the Law, by loving your neighbor as yourself
and loving God above all things.

Here is a quote that bears testimony to that idea: “’What must I do to inherit eternal
life?’ No other question can be more straight forward than this. Notice how Jesus
answered this straight forward question: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your
heart......and love your neighbor as yourself......Do this and you will live.’

“Notice that Jesus didn't talk about any trinity‐lie concept, nor did he say to the man
that he must accept Jesus as a mediator between him and GOD Almighty to win Eternal
Life. Jesus was pretty clear and straight forward here: LOVE GOD ALMIGHTY AND LOVE
YOUR NEIGHBORS AS YOURSELF. That is simply all there is to it to win eternal life in
Jesus' standards.

“It certainly wasn't necessary for the man who asked the question to believe in trinity in
order for him to be saved. Jesus assured him Paradise if he believed otherwise.”1

The owner of the website in question continues this theme by quoting various gospel
accounts of Luke 10 and Luke 18 (Rich Young Ruler). Here it is pointed out that the man
enters into conversation with Jesus by saying “Good teacher…?” Jesus responds with
“Why do you call me ‘good’? No one is good, except God alone.” The owner of the

1
http://www.answering‐christianity.com/jesus_paradise.htm

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website is offering this as proof that Christ is literally denying the fact that He is God.
Actually, in point of fact, Jesus is not doing this. He is asking the young ruler a
straightforward question which amounts to “Are you calling me ‘good’ because you
actually think I am good, or that you think I am God?” The man doesn’t respond to
Jesus’ comment, so Jesus tells the man what he must do in order to inherit eternal life.

Christ goes on to point out that since this young man felt that he had upheld every law
given to him through Moses, he still lacked one thing. The one thing was that he placed
a very high value in his own riches.

Jesus tells him to sell everything he had, give to the poor and follow Him (Christ). The
result is that the man walks away extremely sad. Why? Because he was unwilling to
part with his money.

SO IS ETERNAL LIFE EARNED OR GIVEN?

So just what exactly is Christ saying; that if the young man simply DOES a few things, he
will inherit eternal life? Is Christ really advocating a works‐based salvation here?
Hardly. What Christ is telling the young man is that he can be absolutely no good to
himself or anyone else unless he is willing to part with his own special god; the god of
money and riches. Christ was literally telling the man to put down his idols and worship
the one, true God. Salvation for this young man would only be found in coming to grips
with the fact that his idolatry was the only thing that was keeping him from obtaining
salvation. Jesus was not telling the man to go out and get involved in good works for
salvation. He was telling him without equivocation that he would never be able to
receive salvation as long as he continued to cling to his idols.

Proof of the above is the fact that Jesus did not tell every rich person he saw that this
was in fact what he needed to do to receive salvation. When Christ met Zaccheus, a
chief tax collector (Luke 19:1‐10), he tells him to come down from the tree because
today, Jesus would dine with him. Of course the people who heard this invitation by
Jesus were absolutely shocked. How could a man like Jesus be willing to dine with a
“dirty” man like Zaccheus?! Obviously Christ was not aware of who this man really was
and how he had possibly cheated his own brothers (fellow Jews).

Please note the text says that Jesus says nothing, but simply stood waiting. It was
Zaccheus who actually said something first and this is what he said: “Behold, Lord, the
half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false
accusation, I restore him fourfold.” Jesus’ response is telling: “This day is salvation
come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is
come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Did salvation come to Zaccheus because of what he intended to do? No, salvation came
to Zaccheus because he saw that his life was in need of salvation and because of that he
naturally wanted to do what was right. This is the amazing thing about salvation. When

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it comes to us, we often look back on our life and see things that we desperately want
to fix, or make right. Making them right is not the thing that grants us salvation. It is
the RESULT of obtaining salvation and beginning to see things from God’s perspective.

The website I’ve quoted from continues to quote various passages of Scripture, from the
Beatitudes to the book of Acts, attempting to show that true salvation, even for the
Christian, comes by following the Law. This is simply wrong and the faulty logic of those
who believe this comes to the fore rather quickly.

WHAT ABOUT THE BEATITUDES?

If we consider the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5, we see a number of statements
made by Jesus about the type of person who inherits salvation. Whether the individual
is a peacemaker, one who mourns, one who is pure in heart, one who is merciful, etc.,
all speak to the same thing which is life after having received salvation.

Whether people like it or not, or are willing to admit it or not, an unsaved individual
cannot truly be a peacemaker. They cannot, nor do they mourn because of their utter
sinfulness, they are not pure in heart because they have no ability to make themselves
pure, nor can they truly show mercy to others, because the people who try to do these
things and are not saved are always doing these things from an ulterior motivation,
never a pure one.

Jesus is saying that people who are truly renewed, or born again, will exhibit these
particular traits naturally. They will not have to work at them, but they will simply begin
to well up from within them. A peacemaker by the way is not someone who simply tries
to bring peace between two warring factions. A peacemaker is someone who succeeds
in bringing peace. Jesus is not referring to people who attempt to do the things listed in
the Beatitudes. He is referring to those who succeed in doing them and this only springs
forth from individuals who have the mind of Christ and live in the power of the Holy
Spirit. Jesus is not promoting a works‐based way of life. He is referring to the new life
of a believer and what their life will look like.

The individual on this website then moves into the Old Testament in his attempts to
disprove that Jesus is the Messiah. I love how he quotes Isaiah 43:11, which states “I,
even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.” (KJV) Amazing, is it not? What
the text is actually stating is a proof text for Christ’s deity and for the Trinity. God is
stating that there is no savior besides Him. Yet we see Jesus who in many ways claims
deity and claims to be the Savior of the world. How can these two seemingly opposing
ideas gel? They cannot if you see Jesus as simply a “good man” filled with integrity and
a good teacher, but not God. In John 14:6 He clearly states, “I am the Way, the Truth
and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me, the Son.” Please note that in one
swell swoop He is pushing all other savior wannabes to the side and claiming that He
and He alone is the only means of getting to the Father. In other words He is stating

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that He is the only way of salvation. In order for this not to be contradictory with the
Isaiah passage, He must also be stating that He is God. If not, then He is a liar, or worse,
but it has to be one or the other.

I take special delight in noticing that the individual of this particular website in question
does not refer to two specific situations in Scripture which would seriously negate his
own beliefs and place a huge question mark over the seeming contradictory statements
that he believes the Bible has presented so far.

NICODEMUS
If we look in the third chapter of the gospel of John, we read about a member of the
Sanhedrin named Nicodemus. Obviously, this man had been moved by Jesus’ words
previously because he takes the time to visit Him under cover of night. He has
questions, but he is afraid of the other members of the Sanhedrin and what they will
think of him if they learn that he has had a heart to heart talk with Jesus.

Nicodemus goes to Jesus and says that he believes Him to be a teacher from God,
because no one would be able to do what Jesus did unless God was with Him. To this
Jesus responds with “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Come again? What did Jesus say? He said
something about being ‘born again’ to Nicodemus. Please note that Jesus did not tell
Nicodemus to sell his land, his home, his family and give it all away and then follow Him.
He did not tell Nicodemus to go out and do this thing or that thing in order to inherit
eternal life. He simply said that He must be born again.

Of course this confused Nicodemus and he unfortunately took Jesus’ words in their
most literal sense when he responded with “How can a man be born when he is old?
can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?” (John 3:4) Here
was a man who was used to following the Law and knew it by heart. He was
undoubtedly a faithful member of the Sanhedrin and a faithful Jew, who did everything
he could to ensure that he followed all the Law, given by Moses. He had just learned
this wasn’t enough.

BORN AGAIN? WHAT?!

Jesus responds with “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Unfortunately, many people have taken Jesus’
words to mean that they must be baptized as part of the means of salvation, but this
does not enter the picture at all. Jesus has just told Nicodemus that he must be “born
again” and obviously Nicodemus had been born once already. This is the “water” part
of the equation because prior to birth, a baby lives in the womb, within a sac that is
filled with “water” or amniotic fluid. Nicodemus had already been born of water then
through his physical birth many years prior. Jesus was now telling him that he must also
be born of the Spirit.

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Jesus continues to explain the situation, going all the way back to Moses in the
wilderness and the time he lifted up the serpent for the children of Israel. This situation
is narrated for us in Numbers 21. There we read that the nation of Israel was invaded by
fiery serpents. Moses went to pray for the people and God told him that he should have
a serpent of bronze made and placed on a staff above the people. If someone was
bitten, all they needed to do was look at the bronze serpent and they would be healed.

Jesus explains by way of this illustration that just as that serpent was raised above the
people in order to save them, so He also would be “lifted up” in order to save many.
This was given to Nicodemus as a sign of what was to come, so that when it happened,
Nicodemus would remember Christ’s words and would be convinced of what He said
about Himself.

Again though, the point is that Nicodemus had to do nothing but believe in Jesus; who
He said He was and what He came to accomplish for sinful humanity. There is nothing in
this entire narrative that would suggest that Nicodemus needed to do something
physical in order to receive or obtain salvation. He needed to merely believe in Christ,
as Savior, then he would be born of the Spirit, just as years before, he had been born of
water.

THE PENITENT THIEF

Lastly, I would like to end this brief
discussion with a very noteworthy, yet
unexpected individual who shows us
beyond doubt that salvation has nothing
to do with works, but is every bit a
matter of faith in Christ’s atoning work
on Calvary’s cross.

Let’s head over to Golgotha where we see that the crucifixion of Jesus is already in
progress. As we approach, we hear the cries of agony from the three dying men (Jesus
and a thief on either side of Him). As we move closer, we see how difficult it is for them
to breathe and we see the sweat mixed with blood pouring off of them. We see them
with great difficulty attempting to lift themselves up on their nailed feet just enough so
that they can take in another breath. Their muscles are obviously wracked with pain
and they are shaking uncontrollably.

We stand there in wonder and amazement, wonder at why anyone would deliberately
put themselves through that situation because of love and amazement that we are
loved that much that Someone was willing to put themselves though that amount of
torture.

We hear the thieves ridicule Christ, mocking Him. We see and hear some of those on
the ground near the cross do the same. Christ does not answer back. He knows why He

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has chosen to do this and for those who will receive His salvation, they will never be
able to tell Him enough how much they love and appreciate what He has done for them.

We wait a few minutes more and then we see a bit of a change take place with the one
thief. Gone is his hardness of heart. Gone is his ridicule. In its place is a sense of
wonder. Forgotten ever so briefly is the pain from his own situation, as he looks on the
Author of Life. He begins to cry, but not for himself. He cries because he now has a
strong sense that this Man is truly innocent of any crime, yet He has not once opened
His mouth in retort to His accusers. In fact, He takes the time to ask for God’s
forgiveness, since He reasons, they really did not know what they were doing (Luke 23).

The other thief, still angry and feeling sorry for himself, sends more ridicule Christ’s way.
This time though, the thief who is becoming increasingly more penitent, shuts him up
with “Do you not fear God, seeing we are justly condemned? for we receive the due
reward of our deeds: but this man has done nothing wrong.”

The thief has gotten to the point of understanding that he deserved what he was
getting, but Jesus was a different story to begin with as He was being unjustly crucified
and would die for having done nothing wrong.

He then now turns to Jesus, obviously fully repentant and says “Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom.”

THE THIEF AND HIS REWARD

Jesus’ response was short and to the point. He said “I tell you that today, you will be
with me in Paradise.”

Please note that the thief, who one minute was joining in and condemning Christ, had
the next minute, seen his own filth contrasted against the absolute cleanliness of Jesus
and realized Who He was as He hung their – the innocent Son of God – on a cross, dying
the worst death possible.

This penitent thief had no time to become baptized. He had no time to do any good
works at all, much less the Five Pillars of Islam. He had no time to do anything, except
be willing to acknowledge that he was indeed a very sinful man. He then looked to
another outside of himself; the only One who could give him life eternal.

The Bible does not contradict itself. It is closed to those whose eyes are blinded. It is
not understood by those who are unwilling to humble themselves before God Almighty
and understand that they can see nothing about Him, unless they are willing to do what
the thief on the cross did and then only after their spiritual eyes have been pried open
by the God of glory.

Only Christianity offers a way of salvation that does not include works. The works that
we are to do come after we receive our salvation; after God begins His work in us so

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that we actually want to do the things that please Him. Works are not there for our
salvation. They are there as a witness to our salvation and come as a natural outflow of
the new life within us. Because of that, we have no reason to boast since God is doing
all the work. We are merely submitting to His precious will.

No other religion or religious system claims what Christianity claims. No other system of
religion offers what Christianity offers.

In Islam, for the Muslim who tries their hardest to live their life according to the Five
Pillars, there is STILL no guarantee because Allah will ultimately decide if their life has
been worth something and if any fruit that they bore is worthy of eternal life. There
simply is no guarantee for the Muslim.

For the individual who trusts in Jesus as Savior, the guarantee received is the same
guarantee that the thief on the cross received “You will be with me in Paradise.” You
can be assured that upon death, you will be present with the Lord in Paradise, forever.

Yet it is astounding how many people refuse that free gift, preferring instead to do it on
their own, in their own power and for their own merit. How is it possible for anyone
who thinks that earning their salvation will provide them with the pure motivation that
compels them to do good works for others? I hasten to say that their motivation is
actually based on self. They do those good works in order that they might obtain or
become possessors of eternal life. It is not a pure motivation that drives them. It is self
that drives them and in that way, they are no better off than the rich young ruler who
was so concerned about himself that he could not let go of the idols he possessed.

The rich young ruler was actually more honest than most are today. He knew beyond
doubt that he could not let go and receive salvation from God’s hand. Today, people
are caught up in all types of good works and deeds, but at its root is the fact that self is
still on the throne. It is self that prompts those people to do good. It is self that causes
those folks to become involved in deeds that they hope will grant them eternal life.

SELF CANNOT DO IT
Self cannot inherit heaven. Self in all people is headed for
eternal destruction. You can ultimately go to hell with Self, or
allow Christ’s new life within you as a believer to separate you
from Self. In Christ Self can be separated from each individual
and destroyed beginning with this earthly life. In Christ, Self is
displaced from the throne and put where it belongs; in a
subservient position with God in Christ on the throne. This is
the only way to obtain salvation. It is not something that we can
accomplish on our own. It can only be accomplished by grace,
through faith in Christ’s redemptive work on Calvary’s cross.

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Stop working in your attempts to save yourself. It cannot be done. It is not by works
that we are saved, but by faith. Christ did the work. We benefit through faith in that
work. We trust that His work was good enough. Continuing to work for salvation says
that we do not think His work was good enough.

Whether you are a Muslim, a Jehovah’s Witness, a Mormon, a New Ager, a Christian
Scientist, or whatever, you all have one thing in common with everyone else. You are
desperately trying to save yourself and win for yourself eternal life. Christianity is the
only one that truly answers the question and takes Self out of the equation from having
to earn it in order to receive it.

If you like working for something that you have no guarantee of getting, then feel free
to continue. However, if you would prefer to simply receive the free gift of eternal life
from Christ’s hand, and allow Him to change you from within, then I would invite you to
do just that.

Christianity is on one side and stands alone. All other religious systems stand on the
other side. Christ or Self. Which will you choose? Choose wisely and choose today.
You have no idea if you will even be here tomorrow.

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