Have you ever heard someone say or even pondered for yourself this question;
“Johnny believes his religion just as much as you believe yours, so what makes you right and him wrong”? Simply put, is Jesus the ONLY way for a person to be saved? Our response to this question has eternal consequences for those seeking truth.
Below are 3 major reasons why so many believers, even Christian leaders, falter when it comes to this question. Those reasons are:
1. OUR DESIRE FOR TOLERANCE
2. THE "GOODNESS DOCTRINE"
3. NO LOGICAL RESPONSE OUTSIDE OF SCRIPTUREReasons 1 & 2 are briefly mentioned below; I will deal with them in greater detail during later posts. Here, I want to focus on how we can respond to this question.
OUR DESIRE FOR TOLERANCE:
Because we live in a culture where tolerance has been assigned a value greater than truth, some have chosen to ignore scriptural truth in order to seem culturally tolerant. This leads one toward accepting a belief that God could have made other paths to Himself outside of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. There is a popular book, written by Dr. Patrick Swift call "One Mountain, Many Paths," which is getting rave reviews. This book supports an idea which, if viewed logically, makes no sense. Like Dr. Swift, I agree we should be respectful of others beliefs, for as you will see below all religions have some redeeming qualities and moral values. However, allowing for the possibility that there are many paths to this "mountain" destroys the character of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the authority of scripture. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed,
"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will" Matthew 26:29. Jesus is asking, "God, is there any other way?" and God responds, "Son, there is no other way." We know God cannot lie; therefore there cannot possibly be any other way. (See
Numbers 23:19,
Titus 1:2) To claim there might be some other way is to defame the character of God and destroy the value of the cross.
THE GOODNESS DOCTRINE:
Another reason so many have trouble with the exclusivity of Christ is because of what I call the
“Goodness Doctrine”. This is a belief that being good, going to church, taking care of our families, and a whole list of other do’s and don’ts gains us saving grace with God. Hardly a day goes by that you don't here someone say, “He is (or was) a good person” in reference to someone's spiritual condition. This attitude is common within Christianity and even includes the leadership in many areas. Once you allow for the possibility that, because you are a “good person”, you will gain saving grace with God, you then must allow for the possibility that any “good person” (based on your standard of good) will also gain this favor with God. Otherwise, God would be unjust to grant you eternal life and not someone who was at least as “good” as you. Many Christians have brought into the idea that God may have many ways to heaven because they will not accept this scriptural truth;
there are no good people. Jesus said,
“no one is good but one” Matthew 19:17. Paul tell us in
Romans 3:23 that,
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. We could never be good enough to meet God’s perfect standard because we cannot of ourselves, achieve perfection. James tells us in his epistle that,
"whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10. In other words, even the smallest of our sins has separated us from a perfectly righteous God. So there must be some other way besides our "Goodness" to salvation.
NO LOGICAL RESPONSE OUTSIDE SCRIPTURE:
Don’t misunderstand me here, scripture is our guide and clearly states that Jesus is the only way for anyone to be justified in the eyes of God. (See
John 14:6;
Acts 4:12;
1 John 5:11-12; and many more) Those willing to defend Biblical Christianity should know and use these verses. However, we should also develop abilities to explain the logical & biblical reasons why it
HAS to be this way. Sadly, I find myself defending the exclusivity of Christ to professed Christians as much if not more than to those who believe in a god but not necessarily the God of the Bible. To many "Christians" the Bible is no longer the absolute authority in their life.
(See post "Instructions from the Master" for more on this subject) Therefore, it is critical to learn how we can logically demonstrate Christ as the only true path, even if only for those within the church. By doing so, we can better respond to the question, “If Johnny believes his religion just as much as you believe yours, what makes you right and him wrong”.
To accomplish this we first need to understand some basic facts about all religions.
NOTE: Scripture references for each point are given at the end of the post.
ALL MAJOR RELIGIONS ARE EXCLUSIVE:
Every one of the 5 major religions and their many sects are exclusionary in some way. (Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity & Islam) They all have elements stating that if you do not do it their way you will not get the benefits they claim exist in eternity.
Keeping this in mind and assuming there is a god, would not this god have some way for us to know him? Otherwise, what would be the point of our creation? Without getting to deep here, what this logically leads to is that one of these "exclusive" religions is actually the real one given us by the real God. All the other religions would have been created by man even though they would have some characteristics of the original one given us by the true God. All these religions would have characteristics which obviously came from man.
Now, when I say man-made religions, I don't mean they were created by "mankind" but refer specifically to the "male" dominated cultures from which all the major religions originate. You might say they are "Male-made" religions.
Male-Made vs. God-Given:
Should we find ourselves with an opportunity to answer the question at hand, we will be far more effective if first we remove the conflict inherent within the question. Instead of arguing back and forth over whose religion is right or getting bogged down with topics like tolerance, goodness and judgment, we should turn the discussion into one of basic logic. The discussion should be about which religion has the characteristics one would expect from a God, verses those one would expect from a male-made god. Let’s apply this logic to 4 areas of life as they relate to religion.
1. Relationships (marital & personnel)
2. Morality & Sin
3. Life’s Purpose
4. Salvation & Eternity
NOTE: There are other areas you can use and we go into greater detail in our EWO classes. These should be
enough to make the point.
1. Relationships:
Marital Relationships;
Remembering that all the major religions originated from male dominated cultures; imagine a group of males developing marriage laws for their new religion. Of course, being “religious men” they would understand the need for marriage as a stabilizing force in society. However, these men would also see its potential problems, especially as it relates to males. I know, if a bunch of my college fraternity brothers were given the opportunity to write the laws for marriage within a religion, they would make sure to include certain provisions favorable to men. They might allow men to marry other women they meet after marriage. Of course, there is no way they are going to allow their wives that same option. No respectable man would let his wife be with another man. Obviously, this provision would be one we might expect from a religion created within a male dominated culture, and if you don’t think so just ask your wife!
Now think about this, would you volunteer to make the following motion before the rules committee of your new religion? "I rise to make the following motion, A man should stay married to his first and only wife, even if she gains 200 lbs., smells, can't cook and won’t give you the time of day, you are to stay married to her until death, and NO you cannot assist in the process. You are to love and care for her because God has made the two of you one. The covenant of marriage is both with her and God."
Do I hear a second?
We would only expect this kind of provision to come from a God who, being the creator, understands the value of unconditional love and the importance of a family structure. You might even expect this God to use the relationship between a man, a woman and their children as earthly examples of his spiritual love for us.
Other Relationships;
Now let’s look at our relationships with respect to other people including those who don't or won't accept our beliefs.
(1) If someone harms us it would be OK to return the favor. Limited vengeance would be accepted in a man-made religion. A real God being fully righteous (because he would determine what constitutes righteousness) and having created everyone would make himself the true arbiter of vengeance. Good fathers don't let their children punish each other, they do it.
(2) In any religion, if someone harms a person or his family there would be some form of social justice. However, in a man-made religion we would certainly not be required to forgive them for their action. No mortal man would insert a provision into a religion that says, if you murder his daughter he is required (even commanded) to find it in his heart to forgive you of your action against his family.
If that's not enough, imagine including with this provision the understanding that a man's unwillingness to forgive demonstrates he is unworthy of forgiveness from God. Can you imagine any man, or especially a woman in this case, providing for the possibility that the man who murdered their daughter might find forgiveness from God one day and they, if unwilling to forgive, might not be forgiven themselves. That idea wouldn't see the light of day in a man made religion unless it was extracted from the true one.
(3) We might include a provision making it acceptable to physically force our beliefs on others. This would be justified based on the belief we worship the one true god and would actually be doing those we force into our religion a favor. If they refuse, it would be acceptable to punish them even unto death for they are bad and might cause others to follow in their path.
However, since a real god would have created everyone, He would want us to love those He created. A real god would expect us to love each other just as we expect our children to do the same.
2. Morality & Sin:
How would man determine what was moral within his religion, and how might he protect himself from being entrapped by those moralities. One way, might be to make morality relative. What is sin for you might not be a sin for me. As a matter of fact, the difference between what is immoral and what is moral might depend on our religious enlightenment or the circumstances within which we find ourselves. Given this, morality could change within the cultural and social enlightenment of our time.
When someone breaks a rule of our man-made religion, they might suffer spiritually or even physically, but it would not cause suffering for our god.
Now, a religion coming from a real God would also have rules given directly to the ones who were expected to keep them. Since that God created us and he is perfectly righteous, his laws would be static not relative. Since this God created us for a purpose his rules would be what are best for us to fulfill that purpose. They would not change with time because he would not change.
Because this God loves us and his laws are for our benefit, we would expect him to be saddened by our rejection of His way.
3. Life’s Purpose:
Man generally defines the purpose of life as; fulfilling his destiny, getting in touch with himself, living a prosperous life, doing good deeds in life, leaving a good legacy, raising a good family or any number of goals all focusing in some way on one's on legacy. Therefore, if man created a religion we would expect some variation of these purposes within that religion.
Now think logically about this, if you or I create something we do so for a purpose. We then want that thing to serve it's purpose, namely to do what we made it to do. A God who created us would be no different. He would not need us for anything other than to fulfill his creative purpose. We would have nothing of value for our creator other than to give him glory by doing his will through fulfilling His purpose. Therefore, any religion claiming to be of God would be one which puts that God above all else including self.
Since this God loves us (he would because he made us) he would want us to love others. He would view selfishness not only as putting ourselves before others but also putting ourselves above Him. It stands to reason that any religion coming from a real God would have God first and others second. In other words, our purpose would be to serve God, then others, and thinking of ourselves last.
Now, since our purpose would be to serve this God, we would need some kind of a relationship with Him so He could be our guide. He would not leave us without some instruction as to how this relationship works.
4. Salvation & Eternity:
A man-made religion would have rules which we could measure ourselves against. How well one followed those rules would determine whatever spoils our religion had to offer upon death. If one claims commitment to our religion but is unable to live up to some measure of these rules, they could not expect the benefits from our god upon death. Someone wishing to enter into our religion would have certain things they must do to gain acceptance. A man-made religion would be unlikely to include a provision whereby someone could live a wicked life, claim a sincere belief in our god upon death and gain the same reward as one who has lived obediently from childhood. Human nature would not allow for this option. The only way man would consider it would be to require that person be punished first and then earn their way out from this punishment, simply because to allow them equal entrance would be unfair to those who lived faithfully for so long. By reward here I mean eternal life with God.
Religion given us by the real God would also have rules written by that God. These rules would exist to help those he created see better how to live the life he has given them and fulfill His purpose for creating them. A real God, being perfectly good, (because he determines what good is) would also have perfection as his requirement to live eternally with him. Otherwise, he would have to allow immoral people to live beside him in eternity which would make eternity much like this place, thereby destroying a large part of its real value. This problem would leave a real God with one of two options; (1) Let immorality be part of eternal life or (2) Create a way to cover or remove our immorality.
We can see that the first option makes no sense, so the later one remains the only logical option God has, if he is to allow someone who has broken His law into His presence.
Therefore, solution to this problem of righteousness could only come from a God who understands righteousness. In other words, the real God would be the only one who could make a way since we cannot make ourselves sinless.
Logically, a perfect & righteous all-powerful God would not be indecisive. Not only would he make A way but he would only have ONE way. If there were many ways then how could God claim to be a righteous judge? Some would gain his favor one way and others in a totally different but unequal way. If that were true we would all shop around for the way which had the least requirements on us and allowed for the most options. In one religion you can get divorced at your connivance in another you must remain faithful. Therefore, God would be judging from (in this case) two different moralities, two different personalities, two different standards. Is god schizophrenic?
Now, the real God who created us would love us all. He would give us every chance to accept this way he has created, even if we came to accept it (sincerely of course) in our dying days. Who among us would turn away a wayward child if he came back and humbly submitted to us asking our forgiveness? A real God would be no different for he would look for every opportunity to bring us back to himself, not wanting to be separated from anyone he created. As a matter of fact, this God would see one primary purpose for those who have found his way, as helping others to do the same. If you had two children who were wayward and one came back, after celebrating his return you would enlist him in the effort to restore your other son, his brother.
A real God would think it ridiculous and quite the height of arrogance for someone to believe they could make themselves so special, via their on goodness, to somehow overshadow their sinfulness and gain favor with a righteous God. Fools, he would call them, and he did.
Conclusion:
It is important to note that all the major religions, and most of the sects found therein, have some of the god-like qualities noted above. We would logically expect this because all people groups can be traced back to the original creation and therefore back to the one real God.
However, there is only one "so called religion" which contains all the traits one would expect from a real God. That one is Christianity. The fact is Christianity is not even a religion; it is a relationship; A relationship between us and the God who created us. He loves you and I so much that He made a way to restore that relationship. He was even willing to do it no matter the cost to Himself, thereby demonstrating His truth in LOVE. Other religions don’t really profess to have a personal relationship with their god as is understood within Christianity. This makes logical sense because how would one have a relationship with a god that doesn’t exist?
Looking back one can see that Christianity best reflects the type of relationship (religion) one would logically expect from a real God and not from one which is man-made. Note the scriptures below demonstrating Christianities uniqueness.
Our sin causes God great pain (
John 11:35)
Life’s Purpose:
We were created to Glorify God.
(Genesis 1:26 - 3)We are no longer condemned by the law but are freed through Christ. (
Romans 8:1,2)
Any religion that is based on works could not possible be from a truly righteous God for he would have to be willing to accept unrighteousness in heaven. If we are not saved by grace through faith then we have no chance of ever seeing the perfection of heaven. There is only one so called religion which gives a pathway for man to stand blameless before a righteous God and that is Christianity. Anyone who claims God might have made another way is panning a fool's gold. All other religions lead to a logical dead end. They may have certain desirable traits but in the end they are all helplessly man-made, offering us no hope of standing blameless before a righteous God.
There is only one God and only one way. The path may be narrow and it may seem difficult but it is the only path that solves the problem of our sin before God. Believing there is any other way to heaven, outside of the blood of Jesus Christ, is to create your own man-made religion. Call it what you may but it is not Biblical Christianity and it will not stand up to logic or more importantly judgment from a righteous God. We must be willing to believe the unbelievable.
God Bless,
Scott Cosper
Co-Founder, Eyes Wide Open Ministry
