The criminal on the cross believed Jesus and so he was good to go to Paradise.
Criminals just have to believe Jesus to become citizens in the Kingdom of God... which logically is filled with criminals who believe Jesus. Or do criminals stop being criminals just because they believe Jesus ?
Somebody: I'm a criminal.
Jesus: Do you believe me ?
Somebody: Yes.
Jesus: Welcome.
Somebody: But i'm a criminal...?
Jesus: But you believe me...?
Somebody: Yes.
Jesus: Yes so it's all good friend.
Somebody: I believe.
Jesus: Believe you me.
Criminals believe Jesus Christ is some sort of Lord of criminals.
This is a classic
"Christian" myth; that we will all be rewarded for being
criminals (law-breakers/sinners).
Christ did
NOT say to the thief that hung next to Him that He was "saved" or that he (the thief) was "going to heaven".
He said "
today shalt thou be with me in PARADISE".
Is "paradise" the same place as heaven? Absolutely not! The following verse is 3 days
AND 3 nights
AFTER Christ's words to the thief.
John 20:17 Jesus saith unto her,
Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and [to] my God, and your God.
Just to be sure, where is Father? He's definitely in heaven.
Matthew 6:9
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
Has anyone other than Christ ever gone to heaven? Not according to Christ.
John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of Man which is from heaven.
So paradise and heaven are definitely two different places according to Christ, which means the thief could not possibly have gone to heaven.
So what and where is "paradise"?
Paradise is the place where a soul is taken immediately after it's been liberated from the body it was incarnating. It is known by other names, e.g. the astral plane/plain, but it is the place where each of us are given our "life review" upon the conclusion of our most recent incarnation.
A humorous depiction of paradise in the 1991 film "Defending Your Life"
Once we've received our life review, all of the bad/evil that we did in our most recent incarnation is erased, leaving only the cumulative good from that lifetime and from all our previous incarnations as well. We then either advance to heaven, or are sent back to Earth with only the good we've done. In this way, everyone is in the exact place they've earned a right to be in eternal time. Perfect divine justice.
The word "paradise" is derived from two Latin-based words: "para" and "dice" which together mean "to be told". Exactly what the "life review" is all about: telling us what we did right and what we did wrong so we can hopefully learn.
This should help make sense of how Christ could say to the thief that he would be with Him (Christ) in paradise, before telling Mary Magdalene three days later that He had not yet ascended to heaven.
So there is no "quick and easy" path to heaven. The strait and narrow Way that leads to Life is one of discipline, obedience and a genuine love for the truth, which is why so few find it.
John 14:15-24
14:15
If ye love me, KEEP my COMMANDments.
14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
14:17 [Even] the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I Live, ye shall live also.
14:20 At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
14:21 He that hath my COMMANDments, and KEEPETH them, HE it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
14:22 Jude saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will obey my words: and my Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
14:24 He that loveth me not obeyeth not my sayings: and the Truth which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.