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Dr. Larry Moyer – Are Evangelical Church Attendees Right or Wrong? |
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The Associated Press on Monday, June 23, 2008, released a statement that caught the attention of millions, Christians and non-Christians alike. The statement read, “Among the most startling numbers in the survey conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57% of evangelical church attendees said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching.”
Once again, the issue comes back to a very simple question. Is Jesus Christ the One He said He was? If He was, the evangelical church attendees could not be more wrong. If He wasn’t, anything evangelical church attendees say has as much authority and credibility as what He said.
He declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:26). If He was indeed the Son of God and the only one who can extend eternal life, then there is no other way to God except through Him. If He wasn’t the Son of God, what He said about being the only way to God is of no value whatsoever.
How do we know if He was who He said He was? The issue is bigger than the Bible. It’s the resurrection and the empty tomb the third day. That is the issue on which everything Christ said stand or falls. The Bible declares itself ot be the Word of God, without error or mistake (II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:20, 21). But the proof behind the empty tomb is far wider than the Bible. In fact the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most attested fact of history. Thomas Arnold, who was author of a three volume history of Rome and appointed to the Chair of Modern History of Oxford said, “I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by letter and fuller evidence of every sort to the understanding of a fair inquirer than that Christ died and rose again from the dead.”
Therefore, before anyone, anywhere can say, “There are many religions that can lead to eternal life,” they must disprove the empty tomb of Christ. So far, nobody has. In fact, I personally do know of one person who objectively studied the evidence behind the empty tomb that did not become a believer. That means they came to God as sinners, recognized Jesus Christ paid for their sins on a cross and rose again, and trusted Christ alone as their only way to heaven.
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A bigger, more pressing question that I need answering: how do I know which religion is right?
There are hundreds of different religions around the world, each witht their own versions of gods and for the most part their own holy book, or substitute for the bible. The followers of each all totally and absolutely believe that their religion is the one true faith.
Standing back and observing, they all seem very similar, and Christianity looks to be no different. How can you justify or prove that it is different? (Other than blind faith – cannot just say this as that is the same argument I would get from Islam or Buddism).
Plenty of religions offer a way to heaven. If Jesus claimed to be the latest way to heaven, it wouldn’t be particularly remarkable. Even if he claimed to be the only way to heaven, such a claim indeed “has no value whatsoever” unless he is who he said he is. But Jesus did not say he was the only way to heaven. In fact he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” After which (in John 14) he had to explain to his disciples who the Father is.
Many times he declared who he was. He said, “I and my Father are one.” His disciples understood. John wrote us, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [(but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also].” He also wrote, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”
In light of this, reconsider what Jesus meant when he said he is the way the truth and the life. If Jesus were just a way to “heaven,” even if he were the “only way” to heaven, he would not be the destination but just the means to the end which is greater than him. But what is the true end which Jesus said was greater than him? Not heaven, but his Father — and we ought to know who he is by now.
Jesus did not claim that his religion was the only way to heaven. He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He is not just the way, but he is also the truth, and the life. Still, there be many that change the truth of God into a lie, and worship and serve the creature or creation more than the Creator. The heavens and the earth were made by him, and there was not anything that was made that was not made by him. He said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word shall not pass away.”
Eternal life is not dwelling in the land of the imagination of your heart. Christ is eternal life. He declared it plainly many times and it is written in the scriptures. (John 17:4, 1 John 5:20)
If Jesus were just a way, or even the way, we’d pass him by to get where we were going. But he is not just the way, but also the life. He is the destination (not heaven) and therefore there can be no other way besides him. Even as his disciples asked, “Where would we go?”
If we preach Jesus as a way to get to heaven, or even if we preach Jesus as the only way to get to heaven, our “theory” or doctrine or religion is not plausible. But if we preached that “going to heaven is the only way to get to heaven,” well, I think most people would see our point. Change your destination from “heaven” to Christ and you’ll see why Christ is the only way to get to Christ. Of course there are plenty of people who have absolutely no desire to go to Christ. The truth is they hate him. So they made up another place to go and this is the doctrine they sell to their proselytes. How can they sell Christ?
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Yes, I believe Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father but through Him.
And while the saying goes that “all roads lead to Rome,” not all ways lead to Heaven (“there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Prov. 14:12)
But I also believe the Christ is able to save to the utmost and by ways of which we know nothing. We are told in Zachariah that someday in Heaven, Jesus will be asked by what the wounds on his hands mean, and he will explain “I was wounded in the house of friends.”
It appears obvious that while some have died without knowing Jesus (like the heathen in the jungle) they were true to their conscience and the promptings of the Holy Spirit and followed the principles of heaven without knowing it.
At some point, all the people of the human race are confronted with the decision of whether or not to do what is “right”. I believe that if they are receptive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, even if they don’t fully understand it, there is hope for them.
Just as no one will be lost for believe a lie, but rather for not believing the truth, I believe no one will be lost for not having had the opportunity to know Jesus, but for refusing the little light they did receive.