Truth about God and Eternal Life

For the first time in a long time, I actually mowed the yard twice last week. Praise God for the rain! And we pray, like my first year college roommate Swannie said to the ladies serving at the cafeteria, “Keep it coming!” And for those of you keeping score at home, my lawnmower battery finally gave up the ghost after six-plus years of faithful service. So I shelled out some cash for a new one, and the next time I mowed, and also for the first time in a long time, I was able to fire up the mower and finish the entire yard without a single mechanical incident or operator-induced error. Nice. 

By the way, I don’t know how you mow your yard, but I seem to never mow the same way twice. I have a general pattern I usually follow to start, but I always end up taking a different route. It may not look like the golf course at Pebble Beach, but as long as the grass (and weeds) get cut, it doesn’t really matter how I got there. 

In contrast to that philosophy, however, stands the matter of salvation. Many people say that there are numerous ways to get to heaven. They say that it doesn’t matter what pattern your life takes, which route or religion you follow, or how you live, since all roads lead to heaven. Usually they’ll say something like, “It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe something…as long as you’re sincere…as long as you have faith.” But the object of that “faith” or sincerity of belief doesn’t require definition. Any religious “god” or generic view of a “god” will do. 

I read a survey recently which revealed that 77% of Protestant pastors firmly believe that Christianity alone contained the truth about God and eternal life. The article didn’t specify which pastors identified themselves as “Protestant,” but generally speaking the term refers to non-Roman Catholic varieties of Western Christianity. 77%. That’s a strong majority if you’re talking election results, but that also means that 23% of Protestant pastors do not firmly believe that Christianity offers the only way to heaven. I don’t know about you, but I find that problematic. 

If this survey truly reflects the beliefs of these pastors (for the record, I’m not a big fan of surveys), then on any given Sunday nearly 1 of every 4 pastors preaching in Protestant churches are not convinced that the message of the gospel is the truth. And the survey showed that a significantly less number of church-goers believed in the exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s not a surprise. 

Here’s why, among other things, I find this troubling. If there’s any other way for a person to go to heaven besides through faith in Jesus, then His sacrifice on the cross becomes completely unnecessary. The pain and suffering and humiliation Jesus experienced through the crucifixion becomes a waste if there’s another way to be saved. 

Not only that, but we make Him out to be a liar, because Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Essentially, we invalidate the message of the Bible altogether if Christianity does not offer the only avenue to eternal life. 

Now I realize that truth doesn’t fit in with our culture’s attitude of accommodation toward other religions, including those of Muslim background. Have we not bent over backwards to be sure not to offend our Muslim neighbors? And this in light of the horrific acts of terror committed against this nation eleven years ago? I don’t get it. 

What I’m saying is that we who claim the name of Jesus – especially in the pulpit! – need to stand boldly on the truth of the gospel more than ever before. Without apology. Without compromise. If the message of the cross is offensive, so be it. Better to be hated by the world and remain a friend of God, than to cozy up to the world and lose your soul.