Myth Busters:
Church People are Narrow-Minded
By Roger Pryor, Heartland
Community Church
"If you want to get to
heaven, there’s only one way." Is that true? It seems like
every religion offers their road to heaven. Are there many roads but
the same destination? Playwright George Bernard Shaw said,
"There is only one religion, though there are a hundred
versions of it." He’s saying there are different paths that
lead to the same destination. The Christians know God as Jesus, the
Jews know God as Jehovah, and the Muslims call him Allah.
When it comes to Christianity, I’ve
taken my hits over the years for my belief in the exclusive claims
that Jesus is the only way to God and heaven. I’ve been called
narrow-minded, arrogant, and judgmental. (Those were the nice
words.) I must admit over the years I have wrestled with this issue—is
there only one-way to heaven? Here were some troubling verses from
the Bible:
Jesus claimed in John 14:6 I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father
except through me. Or Jesus said in John 8:24 Unless you
believe that I am who I say I am, you will die in your sins. The
Apostle Peter said in Acts 4:12 (MSG) Salvation comes no other
way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can
be saved, only this one [Jesus]. What about all the other
religions and all those sincere people who worship someone besides
Jesus? Can they all be wrong? Why
is it so hard to accept the exclusiveness of Jesus?
#1. We believe that all religions
basically teach the same thing. We
live in a postmodern culture, defined by moral relativism—a world
where there are no absolute truths. Everyone defines for them self
what is right or true. When it comes to religion, tolerance
is the highest value in a postmodern world. To think one religion is
better than another is narrow-minded, intolerant, arrogant,
unacceptable and hateful to others.
So do all religions teach basically
the same thing about the existence of God, morality, sin, salvation,
love and character? They all address these things, but it would be
completely inaccurate and uninformed to claim that they teach the
same thing with just minor differences. In fact, every religion at
some level has core beliefs that are exclusive to them that can’t
be compromised. Bottom line: Every religion is exclusive at some
level.
I’d go a step farther and say every
religion claims to be right. But how can all these religions
be right and at the same time be miles apart on their core beliefs?
You really only have two options. Somebody is right and everyone
else is wrong or everybody is wrong. All religions can’t be right.
Two contradictory beliefs cannot be correct at the same time.
When it comes to the core belief of
salvation—regardless of what that means to different religions
(finding God; reaching god- consciousness; getting to heaven;
finding your inner self) there is a distinct difference between
Christianity and other religions.
Christianity says it’s impossible
for you to earn your way to heaven or get right with God on your own
merits. It’s based on one’s trust in Jesus as their Savior who
paid for their moral failures by dying on a cross. Faith, not human
effort, is the basis of salvation.
Other religions say salvation is
through human effort, ritual, sacrifice and devotional allegiance.
You’ve got to be good and jump through the religious hoops if you’re
going to receive salvation. Even the Bible describes these
contradictory beliefs.
Romans 10:3-4 (NLT) For
they (those who aren’t followers of Christ) don't understand God's
way of making people right with himself. Instead, they are clinging
to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the
law. They won't go along with God's way. For Christ has accomplished
the whole purpose of the law. All who believe in him are made right
with God.
Did you notice how a lifestyle of
obeying the OT law contradicts believing in Jesus as the way to get
right with God? There is no way to reconcile the differences between
Christianity and other religions—even Judaism. Either one of these
options is right and one is wrong, or both are wrong, but there is
no way that both can be true at the same time. It can’t be Jesus
and Mohammed and Buddha. It’s Jesus or not Jesus. There’s no
room for fence-sitters on this one.
#2. A second reason it’s hard to
accept the exclusiveness of Jesus is because the measuring stick
of truth is sincerity. Our postmodern world believes in
the philosophy of tolerance where it doesn’t really matter what
you believe as long as you’re sincere about it. Sincerity makes
something true. It’s not what you believe, but how
you believe that is important.
Certainly, being sincere about your
beliefs is important, but sincerity doesn’t make something true.
Let me illustrate. Imagine you’re in a lab and your professor
gives you a beaker of a clear liquid and tells you, "this is
sulfuric acid." Now after looking at it, you determine that it’s
water. You sincerely believe it’s water with all your heart, so
you drink it. Unfortunately, it is sulfuric acid and you die.
Sincerity or devotion doesn’t make something right or wrong. Truth
must be determined apart from sincerity. It is possible to be
sincere and to be sincerely wrong.
At this point, some might say,
"Okay, Roger, for the sake of argument let’s assume that
Jesus is the only way. Do you realize the implications of what you’re
saying? First and foremost, you’re saying people who believe in
other gods, religions, or human effort and knowingly reject Jesus
are doomed. There is no hope for people who hear of Jesus and choose
not to believe in Him."
John says in John 3:36 (NIV) Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son
will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. That’s a
hard teaching. I wish I could sugar coat this, take the spin off and
offer you some hope that we’ve just misunderstood what the Bible
is saying. The implications are staggering, and frankly, terrifying.
So, I must honestly tell you. Jesus
is the way, the truth and the life. No one gets to heaven without
Jesus. But that doesn’t seem fair. Does it? For years, I wrestled
with the fairness of God. What about the people who never hear about
Jesus? Maybe our all-knowing God knows how some people would respond
so He doesn’t tell them. There are things I don’t tell certain
people because I know ahead of time they aren’t going to listen.
Here’s one of my misconceptions
about God’s fairness that I’ve wrestled with over the years. #1.
I want to believe that people would trust Jesus if they knew
about him. But the truth is that most who do know about Jesus
reject Him. WHY?
God shows his anger from heaven
against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from
themselves. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively.
God has put this knowledge in their hearts…So they have no excuse
whatsoever for not knowing God ... [but] Instead of believing what
they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to
believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the
Creator himself. Romans
1:18-20, 25 [NLT]
It’s not that God hasn’t revealed
Himself to this world; the world has pushed him away, rejected his
truth and has chosen to believe lies and worship things and gods.
God is saying, "You didn’t want me in this life, so have it
your way in the next life—a life a part from Me." That seems
fair.
Now, it also seems only fair that a
loving, gracious, merciful God should cut us some moral slack so we
can all get into his heaven. That leads to another of my
misconceptions. #2. I tend to minimize the nature and impact of
sin on God, but sin must be utterly repulsive to God. As
sinners, we’re always going to minimize the impact or severity of
sin. But when you read through the Bible, you find that sin is a
much bigger deal to God than you and I make it.
Isaiah 59:2 [NLT] There is a
problem--your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin,
he has turned away and will not listen anymore. Sin is huge to
God. So how could God accept an unforgiven sinner into heaven
like me? If He did, I’d ruin the place.
Here’s a third misconception about
God’s fairness that I’ve wrestled with. #3. I wonder why God
provided just one road to Him, (it doesn’t seem fair) but the real
wonder is that God provided any road at all. (God paves the road
back to Him.) From my limited perspective, if I were God I’d
provide as many ways to heaven as possible so the greatest number of
people would get in. But in reality, our sin is so repulsive to God.
It’s hard to imagine Him even wanting to provide one way to Him—especially
a way that cost him personally.
1 Timothy 2:4-6 [NLT] He
[God] wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For
there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and
people. He is the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase
freedom for everyone.
Christianity isn’t exclusive.
It’s inclusive. Jesus "gave his life to purchase salvation
for everyone." John 3:16 "For God so loved the
world…" The issue isn’t how narrow is the path to God,
but how gracious is God to offer us even one-way to Him. In
our helpless, hopeless state God decided to do what we couldn’t do
for ourselves. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross, to
pay the penalty for our moral failures so we wouldn’t have to.
Maybe you are still wrestling with
the fact that Christianity and Christians are too narrow-minded,
intolerant, dogmatic, and exclusive. Let me offer you three actions
steps: 1. Know why you believe what you believe. 2. Investigate
the claims of Jesus Christ. 3. No one can decide for you. It’s
your decision or call.
Dan Rather recently interviewed on 60
Minutes former GE CEO Jack Welch. He asked Welch what the toughest
question he’d ever been asked. Welch replied, "Do you think
you’ll go to heaven?" He is how Welch responded to that
question. "Yes, if it’s caring about people, giving your all,
being a great friend. I haven’t done everything right all the
time. I think I got a shot. I’m in no hurry to get there
and find out."
You may be like Jack Welch, trying to
fix your relationship with God on your own—hoping you’ve got a
shot at heaven. Based on the words of the Bible, you can know for
sure about heaven by placing your trust in Jesus as your Savior.
Acts 10:43 "…everyone who believes in him [Jesus] will have
their sins forgiven through his name." If you want to get to
heaven, there’s only one way.
Maybe you are ready to take a step
onto the road that Christ has laid out for you, so you can have a
personal relationship with God and receive His forgiveness and His
gift of eternal life. You can express your decision to trust in
Jesus as your personal Savior with the following prayer:
Dear
God, I know I’m a sinner. Nothing I do will get me to heaven. But
I believe Jesus Christ died for me and rose from the grave. Right
now I put my trust in Him alone as my only way to heaven. Thank you
for the eternal life I now have.
In
Jesus’ name, amen.
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