Month: July 2021

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth…. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Colossians 1:16

Dr. Marcos Eberlin, founder of the Thomson Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, claims that “biology is in the midst of a gold rush of discovery.” Many of these advances are impacting medicine and others are spurring new inventions. “All of this new knowledge is exhilarating in its own right,” wrote Eberlin. “At the same time I am now convinced that many of these discoveries, taken together, point beyond themselves to something even more extraordinary….I will put this as plainly as I can: This rush of discovery seems to point beyond any purely blind evolutionary process to the workings of an attribute unique to minds—foresight.” Through God all things were created—visible and invisible. They were created through Jesus and for Jesus. For His pleasure. For His praise. That includes the birds that sing, the crickets that chirp, the stars that twinkle, and you and me! Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below! He has made the universe with divine foresight!

The evidence for foresight and design in nature is growing progressively more apparent as we pursue scientific discovery.
Marcos Eberlin

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
–Matthew 7:13

This week we are examining objections to the claim that Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved. Not only is that idea intolerant, people say, but it also leads to hatred. A popular objection is this: How could billions of people be wrong? Charles Templeton, a former preaching colleague of Billy Graham who later became an agnostic, summarized the argument this way: “Christians are a small minority in the world. Approximately four of every five people on the face of the earth believe in gods other than the Christian God. . . . Are we to believe that only Christians are right?”

Let’s see how Jesus weighed in on this question. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus predicted that the majority of people are going to be wrong, not right, about the way of salvation. He said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” The highway that leads to hell is a wide road and most people in the world are on that road. On the other hand, the road that leads to heaven is a very narrow road, and few people are on it. Jesus predicted that the majority of people will spend eternity in hell, not in heaven.

But as jarring as such a thought is, even more jolting is the idea that many of those in hell will be religious people. Look what Jesus said in verses 21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Many people who will be consigned to an eternity in hell will be religious people who miss the way of salvation.

So when people say, “But surely billions of people cannot be wrong about which religion is the right one,” that objection does not negate the idea that Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved–it proves it. Jesus Himself predicted it. If Jesus Christ was right in His prediction of the number of people who will be in hell, isn’t it logical that He was also right in His prescription of how to escape hell? The fact that the majority of people will miss heaven undergirds, rather than negates, the truth of the exclusivity of Christ for salvation.

 

1 Timothy 1:5  The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

 

According to our culture, if you claim that Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved, you are being intolerant. That leads to another objection that people have to the exclusivity of Christ: exclusivity promotes hatred. That is, if you claim that there is only one way to God, not only are you being intolerant, but you are actually being hateful toward other people. Years ago on an episode of “Larry King Live,” Larry King invited a couple of Christians and a couple of Jewish rabbis for a debate about religion. At one point, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach said, “I am absolutely against any religion that says that one faith is superior to another. I don’t see how that is anything different than spiritual racism. It’s a way of saying that we are closer to God than you, and that’s what leads to hatred.” Why is it that the quest for truth has been replaced by the quest for tolerance? It is because of the unquestioned assumption that somehow truth leads to hatred.

This assumption has now spilled over into evangelical Christianity. I recently read some amazing statistics: According to new research, 84 percent of evangelical Christians believe the Bible is completely accurate. Yet when asked whether religious belief is a matter of personal opinion rather than objective truth, only 58 percent strongly disagreed. Furthermore, 42 percent say that God accepts the worship of all religions. How do you reconcile those beliefs? Christians believe the Bible is the truth, but they do not believe this truth necessarily applies to everyone. I think Christians have bought hook, line, and sinker this assumption that exclusivity leads to hatred. But is that contention logical?

Imagine for a moment that you have a small child at home, and they have an uncontrollable cough and a high fever. The doctor tells you that your child has pneumonia. You say, “No, my child cannot possibly have pneumonia.” But the doctor is insistent, so you say, “What makes you think your opinion is better than my opinion?” The doctor says, “I have seen hundreds of cases of pneumonia, and your child has all of the symptoms. The only way your child is going to get well is by taking a round of antibiotics.” Is that doctor being hateful when he says that your child is sick, or that there is only one way for your child to get well? Of course not. In fact, he is showing love toward you and your child by correctly diagnosing the problem and prescribing the only remedy. When you say, “Christ is the only way to be saved,” do not let people push you into believing that is being hateful. If without Christ all people are in danger of hell, the most loving thing we can do is to share the gospel with them.