This is perhaps the single greatest hurdle in all of Christianity for most people—the idea, doctrine, teaching, biblical assertion, that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. And, as an evangelist and pastor I can tell you without hesitation that it is the single most common objection to coming to faith in Jesus Christ that I ever hear.
Bar none!
It comes from verses such as John 14:6, which reads,
“Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
And Acts 4:12
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
And John 3:36
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
There’s no shortage of verses that declare the exclusivity of Jesus in a supposed sea of heavenly options. Even the most casual reader can’t miss it.
But that doesn’t really make it go down like butter pecan ice cream, does it?
People still get miffed when they hear this about Jesus. So…
Can we just go ahead and talk about the pink elephant in the room? The notion that any path, person, action, or thing holds the exclusive position of “the only” is always, at face value—offensive. Because we all know that no one is perfect and no human guide pure and godly enough to truthfully say they can lead ‘all others’ to the pearly gates.
But Jesus is more than human. He’s also God. <– A doctrinal truth that may very well come in second on the Offense Richter Scale. But that’s another post for another time—one offense at a time. First…
Let me ask you a question.
Did you know Jesus was well aware of the controversy of His person? In fact, the Bible refers to Him (more than once) as a stumbling block or offense.
Seriously?
Yep, check it out…
I Corinthians 1:23, “…but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…”
And,
“He (Jesus) is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.”
And how about some Old Testament?…
“He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Isaiah 8:14
Now let me ask you another question.
If I walk up to you and dump a bucket of ice-cold water on your head, would you be offended?
Of course you would.
Now let me change the scenario just a bit…
What if you were engulfed in flames at the time?
Still offended at my water dumping stunt?
Nope. Now you’re incredibly grateful—maybe even indebted. I’d even go as far as to say that the average person rescued in that matter might end up becoming friends with their heroic fireman.
Now let’s return to the burning man. Suppose, with all the good intentions in the world, I approached said burning person and threw a life preserver at them? Would that help?
Obviously not. They’re not drowning, they’re on fire!
What if I rushed in with some warm clothes, a hot cup of coffee, and built another fire near by to keep them warm? And remember, I do this with the utmost of sincerity.
We good?
No! Why? Because I’m not freezing to death and suffering from hypothermia! I’m on fire!
One more. I know, you probably already get the point, but I have a habit of beating the nail in until it is well below the surface of the wood.
Suppose I see you on fire and I respond by gathering a team of fire safety experts to coach you on how to deal with fire safely?
Again, I’m sincere as all get out. I even paid these experts to stay for hours and go over everything twice if it will help.
We good now?
Certainly not. In fact, even I want to slap myself for dragging this thing out so long! But don’t miss the point.
- We can be sincere
- We can be filled with empathy and love
- We can be ‘The Majority.’
- We can make a great argument.
- We can sound very logical.
- We can bring tried and true approaches to ‘other’ life threatening situations other than the burning man.
- We can all hold hands and sing Kum baya
And…
We can still be wrong.
And this isn’t horseshoes or hand grenades—“almost” isn’t good enough. Stay tuned for part 2 of this series next week.
For those of you who call Grace Community Church home—tomorrow is our first ever, “basecamp 1 partnership class.” Come find out all about Jesus’ other half—‘The Bride,” otherwise known as ‘The local church.’ You can register here.