In what now seems like some kind of former life I used to sell books. The company that employed me provided me with a mobile library and I travelled around the state visiting schools and public libraries.
At one stage amid some new titles that were placed in my library was a children's book called, "Many Paths, One Heaven". As the title suggests, the content endeavoured to present the case for the validity and equality of all religions to be recognised. The authors of the book wanted their readers to understand that we are all seeking to attain the one heaven and that each religious belief system is as valid as any other and that each provided a way or a path to that heaven.
Such an equality of religious belief allowed no possibility for any one system to be superior or inferior to another and, therefore, certainly no provision for any one to be exclusive. Today, such an all-embracing belief would be applauded as being 'politically correct' and showing the kind of tolerance that is seen as a virtue to be embraced.
Having this book on board occasionally provided me with opportunities to discuss with teachers and librarians the underlying thesis of the authors. It became apparent very quickly that the vast majority believed that, if there was a heaven to be gained, it was only fair that everyone who sincerely believed the tenants of their particular religion should go to heaven.
When I sensitively raised the possibility that Christianity, for example, might 'have more going for it' than other faiths, there was usually an immediate negative reaction. Often the intensity of that reaction increased when I pressed the point further by suggesting that Christianity taught that Jesus was the one and only way or path to heaven.
It was during such conversations I learned that the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith presents we Christians with a formidable obstacle as we seek to present the gospel to the whole world. To believe in the supremacy and uniqueness of Jesus Christ is, in the eyes of fair-minded people, to dismiss the sincerity and integrity of people who believe otherwise. They find this Christian claim to reveal an arrogance and superiority that is self-serving and, paradoxically, 'un-Christian'.
I have to confess that I find the belief in the uniqueness of Jesus and the exclusiveness of the Christian faith hard to defend because, even to my ears, it does sound somewhat arrogant. I hasten to say that I do believe in the exclusive nature of Jesus' claims. I just find that posture hard to explain or defend because of the perceived intolerance that such a stand projects to others.
My efforts to explain my beliefs are further complicated by the fact that, most often, the person to whom I am offering the explanation is not coming from a theological perspective. They are hearing what they perceive to be my attitude - not my theology. The challenge for me is simply this; Is it possible to explain the uniqueness of Christ and Christianity without alienating the person I am trying to convince.
If I can't eliminate the perceived 'arrogance' of my conviction, can I at least minimise that perception to make possible more accurate communication? There has to be a better way than appearing to say, "I'm right and you're wrong!"
When I have the opportunity to discuss this subject now I begin with a statement something like this: "There are two ways to get to heaven but only one of them works." I find that this approach usually evokes a two-fold response. First, the other person's interest is immediately activated. What are the two ways and why does only one work? Second, I avoid the charge of being intolerant of every other faith or religion - for the moment, anyway.
Such a statement virtually guarantees that my listener will respond by asking me a question which, in turn, invites me to explain my statement. The communication door is now open. What I want to communicate is the difference between religion and revelation (or, religion and relationship). I try to explain that religion, as I understand it, originates with human effort to create a system of beliefs and behaviour by which the devotee reaches out to his or her particular 'god'. The initiative rests on the human side. It usually involves specific ways and means by which the 'god' can be approached with the hope that the devotee will be found worthy and be accepted by their 'god'.
On the other hand, revelation works in reverse. Instead of human initiative reaching out to the deity, the deity takes the initiative and reaches out to us by revealing himself and, more than that, he actually takes the initiative to remove any barriers that separate between himself and us. This makes possible the very relationship we long to experience with our 'god'.
So there are two ways to get to heaven. We can go down the path of religion - beliefs and behaviour that attempt to bridge the chasm that we instinctively know exists between us and our deity and, if we could bridge that gulf, we then have to live up to the standards of our deity. And all that has to be accomplished by unaided human effort & energy. In short, we have to be good enough to get to heaven if we try to get there by the religion pathway.
The problem comes when we try to identify how much effort is required to please the god. What constitutes a "pass mark"? How good is good enough?Are we talking 51% of human effort? What about 75%? Will that do it? Surely that amount of goodness will outweigh the 'bad things' that I do, won't it? How about 99%? God has to be impressed with that kind of achievement! But what if the pass mark is 100%?
Imagine three people trying to jump across a chasm that is 100 metres(over 300 feet) above a raging river and jagged rocks. The first person takes a running jump and makes it 51% of the distance. The second person makes it 75% of the distance. The third person makes it 99% of the distance. What is the outcome for all three given that the pass mark is 100%?
The fact is that all systems of belief and behaviour that depend upon human endeavour to find acceptance with a particular god or deity fall into the category of religion. And we will never, by our own efforts, be good enough. That is true of every faith or religion.
Christianity is founded on the unique truth that God the Creator has taken the initiative and reached out to us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and He has done all that is necessary to bridge the chasm created by our sin (self-centredness) and made it possible for us to enter into an eternal love relationship with Him.
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's love is expressed and His justice is fulfilled. A full & free pardon is now available to all who will stop trying to earn their way to heaven and simply turn back to God and accept by faith what they could not achieve by their own efforts. The chasm has been bridged from God's side to us and the way is open for us to 'come home' to God.
Not only does God do all this, He empowers us to live a new life between now and when we finally get to heaven. And the word that describes this wonderful news is, itself, unique and exclusive to Christianity. It is the word GRACE - God's empowering presence to be all that He has called us to be and to do all that He has called us to do.
This is the one way to heaven that works. We are saved by God's grace by exercising faith in all that Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. So there are two ways to heaven. One way is the way of religion i.e. by perfectly fulfilling the whole law of God all the time - no exceptions, no excuses. Mother Theresa never claimed to do that. Billy Graham never claimed to do that. The Apostle Paul never claimed to do that.
The fact is that all of us intuitively know that we are far less than perfect. We know our hearts and minds too well to deny our self-centred bias expressed in word, deed, thought and attitude. In fact there is only one person in the history of the world who can legitimately claim to have kept the law of God perfectly and thus was worthy to go to heaven. If I want to try and get to heaven through my own effort, that man, Jesus Christ, is the standard to which I must to attain.
For my part, I don't want to try to get to heaven that way. No chance. The only other way to heaven is to find forgiveness and be offered a new start. It involves entering into a relationship with the living God. This is not religion. This is relationship or revelation. For those who believe that the Bible is God's truth and is, therefore, a trustworthy witness to the truth, the following references should be pondered seriously because the issue at stake here is more than just a matter of life and death. It is a matter of life, death and eternity.
The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us (Rom 8:3-4 NLT)
And yet we Jewish Christians know that we become right with God, not by doing what the law commands, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be accepted by God because of our faith in Christ — and not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be saved by obeying the law."(Gal 2:16 NLT)
I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die. (Gal 2:21 NLT)
Consequently, it is clear that no one can ever be right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." How different from this way of faith is the way of law, which says, "If you wish to find life by obeying the law, you must obey all of its commands." (Gal. 3:11-12 NLT)
If the law could have given us new life, we could have been made right with God by obeying it. But the Scriptures have declared that we are all prisoners of sin, so the only way to receive God's promise is to believe in Jesus Christ. (Gal 3:21-22 NLT)
We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us. Yet I could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What's more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault. I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.(Phil 3:3-9 NLT)
Christianity is unique because, by definition, it is a relationship, not a religion. It is a relationship made possible by God's grace and not by human effort. No other religion is based on grace. All other religions require human effort. "What must I do to be accepted by God?" In response to that fundamental question, all religious belief and behaviour systems produce a list of rules and regulations that must be obeyed. Christianity, on the other hand, simply responds with, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved".
This is not to suggest for one moment that Christianity has no standards or very low standards. Surely the significance of the Ten Commandments challenges that proposition. What Christianity claims is that Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled God's Law and His obedience is now "credited to our account" so that a full and free pardon is now offered to us. No wonder Jesus Christ says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me".(John 14/6)
This is what makes Christianity exclusive. It is not a matter of pride and arrogance. It is simply that Jesus Christ provides the one way to acceptance with God that actually works!
