There is a popular party game called “Would You Rather” that poses a dilemma in the form of a question. Usually both of the options offered are bad (would you rather be alone for the rest of your life or always surrounded by annoying people?) and one is forced to choose between the two.

Often the options offered are silly or unrealistic, but a listener recently called in to The Patrick Madrid Show with a “Would You Rather” that you may have actually wondered yourself. She explained that a friend asked her if it was better to be a good person who didn’t believe in God or a bad person who did believe in God. The listener posed the question to Patrick, who responded:

“Personally, I’ll take the latter. And here’s why. Because if you’re a good person who does not believe in God, that’s great. I mean, that’s nice. And you’re probably going to have a lot of friends and people who admire you, but you’re not going to go to heaven.

Jesus says, ‘He who believes and is baptized will go to heaven.’ So belief is a key component. Being nice is nice. But that won’t get you to heaven. But if you chose the latter, to be a sinner and yet you believe in God, at least you’ve got a chance then.

Because if you believe in God, then the likelihood, or at least the chances of you accepting His free gift of grace and  being saved in the end is through the roof. Your chances of going to heaven are high.

And it might seem a bit counter-intuitive, right? Because you’re thinking, ‘Well, why this bad person who lives a bad life? Why does she get to go to heaven and the good person who lives a good life, but yet doesn’t believe, why doesn’t that person get to go to heaven?’ Because the answer is that it has nothing to do with being nice. It has to do with, number one believing, and then following through on that belief, with God’s grace. To become a disciple of Jesus.

So do you see the logic in why I would choose the second option, not the first one? If I could offer a third option I would like to be a good person who doesn’t believe in God, but then does believe in God. In other words, to have a conversion experience. I presume that when you gave me the two choices, the built-in proviso was that you’ll be a good person but you’ll never believe in God.

So then if that were the case, then I’ll take my chances with being a bad person, but believing in God for the reasons I mentioned. But if there’s the possibility of being a good person, and then believing in God, I’ll take that option if that’s available to me.”

Listen to the full conversation below:

The Patrick Madrid Show airs weekdays from 9:00 a.m. – noon Eastern/6:00 – 9:00 a.m. Pacific on Relevant Radio® and the Relevant Radio App.