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.

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.