Dead or Alive

"Is not!" Santiago's voice rang throughout the house. "Is too!" Aria shouted back at her older brother. "Don't be so narrow-minded!" said Santiago crossly. "When you're older, you'll learn more about the world and find out you're not always right." "Well, Dad's older than you, and I'm sure he agrees with me!" Aria said, crossing her arms. She turned to her father, who was just coming into the room. "Santiago's been learning about different religions, and he thinks they're as good as ours," she said. "I didn't say that!" protested Santiago. "But you should be willing to listen to other people and think about what they say instead of being so sure you're the only one who's right." "Well, I learned a verse in church that says no one gets to heaven except through Jesus," said Aria. "Isn't that right, Dad?" Both of them looked at their father expectantly. "Yes, Aria," said Dad. "The Bible is very clear that Jesus is the only way to eternal life." "But some of the religious leaders we've been learning about in school were really good people," said Santiago. "It may seem that way, but think about this," said Dad. "Has your teacher told you about Mohammed's tomb? Or Buddha's grave? You could visit the places where those men are buried, right?" Santiago shrugged. "I guess so. I could visit the tomb where Jesus was buried too." "If you visited each of those graves or tombs, what would you find there?" asked Dad. Aria smiled. "You wouldn't find anything in Jesus's tomb, just like when Mary and the disciples saw it on Easter morning. But those other graves aren't empty." Dad nodded. "Aria's right, Santiago. Jesus died to pay the price for our sins, but then He rose again so all of us can have eternal life. The men you're learning about may have been very smart teachers--in fact, many of them mimic the teaching of Jesus. But not one of them took our sins upon himself, died to take our punishment, and then came back to life to save us. Those men are still dead. If you choose to trust in anyone other than Jesus, you are choosing death, not life." –Lore Wolif