The short answer is no, God does not weigh our good deeds against our bad deeds to determine if we are good enough to make it into heaven. But let’s look at the Holy Scripture for a biblical answer.

First of all, we need to understand that the Bible teaches that none of us are good. Romans 3:10-12 tells us that there is none that is righteous, none that understandeth, none that seek after God and none that doeth good, no, not even one, quoting Psalm 14. This then leads to verse 23 which says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

When we compare ourselves to others, we can see that our goodness may exceed that of other humans, but God’s standard of goodness far exceeds that of ours and this means that none of us are good or righteous in the eyes of God. God’s standard of goodness is so pure and so far higher than ours that we can never meet them by our own goodness.

In Mark 10 and Luke 18, it records the story of a rich young man who comes to Jesus asking Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. He greets Jesus and calls Him, Good Teacher; Jesus corrects his understanding of what good is by saying, why do you call me good, there is no one good but God. Jesus being the Godman is of course good, but he was correcting the rich young man’s understanding and points to the fact that no human being is good.

If no one is good and all have sinned and fall short of the standard of goodness that God demands, and knowing that God does not weigh our good deeds against our bad deeds to determine salvation, how then can one enter into eternal life in heaven? This is where the wonderful, good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ comes in.

God knowing that we cannot meet his standard of goodness, provided a way for us to receive the gift of eternal of life. In John 3:16, it says that God loved us so much that he gave His only begotten son, the second person of the Trinity, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but verse 24 says being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:23 states, the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The second person of the Trinity was born of the virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit as the Godman Jesus the Messiah. He lived a perfect sinless life and was crucified on the cross as the payment for our sins, to ransom us from the bondage of sin, Mark 10:45; I Tim 2:5-6, to be a propitiation for us, an appeasement against the righteous judgment of God for our sins, Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; I John.2:2; 4:10.

All other religions teach that you can earn salvation, or entrance into paradise, that if you do certain things and you do more good things than bad things you may have earned your way into paradise. Christianity is unique in that you cannot earn salvation, rather God Himself became a man to be the ultimate sacrifice on the cross as payment for our sins. On the cross our sins were imputed to Jesus, and He received the righteous punishment for our sins, punishment that we deserved. Therefore, those that believe in His death, burial and resurrection, are saved and Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to them, and they are made righteous not because of anything they have done but because of the righteousness and completed works of Jesus the Messiah on our behalf.

In summary, God does not weigh our good deeds against our bad, but rather He has provided a far more secure way of salvation; believe in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah and you are saved.