Most people want something better for themselves. If given choices to improve life or make it worse most would choose to make their life better. One way to make life better is to make a decision and then act on that decision. Improving life in this way takes effort. Self-improvements and hard effort usually go hand-in-hand.
All but one religious belief, including the Old Testament laws, applies this understanding to their philosophies on God and eternal life in Paradise. They assume that since God made the work-improvement principle active in this world, then it must apply to going to the next better world. They declare that good works mean a better life to come in Paradise, and bad acts keep us from it.
However, there is another way to improve life. The other way is receiving gifts. If a rich, powerful, and kind person were to give a desolate a fully paid home and food for the rest of their life then the desolate’s life would improve. A price would need to be paid for this to happen. The price would be paid by the rich person. Also, the desolate would need to believe and accept the gift for this to happen.
One religious belief, Christianity, states that God establishes this principle in regards to eternal life in Paradise. Jesus taught that righteousness is given freely by faith in him (22, 24). The price he paid was with his blood and his life (25). Jesus is the rich man that gives the better eternal life freely. Jesus paid the price. Christianity is based on the belief that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law (28). I believe and accept that gift.
