Christians are often attacked for saying and believing that Jesus Christ is the one and only right way.  But could they be right, after all?

To be a Christian in any orthodox or historical sense is to believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God who came to earth to save us.  To be a Christian is to believe that the life of God is only offered in and through Jesus Christ.

Now I can understand and appreciate the desire people might have for a more "inclusive" faith.  I certainly want all human beings on this planet to know that there is a God who truly knows and cares about them.  And the Bible makes it very clear that God is no respecter of persons.

But I must be counted as one of the "narrow-minded" Christian believers.  I do believe that Jesus Christ is the only true expression of God on this planet, and the only way to obtain eternal life. 

I know that such a stand makes us seem narrow, intolerant.  But Christians are not the ones who keep people from a relationship with God.  No mere religion or religious expression can keep human beings from knowing God.  Each and every soul is free and able to respond to God.  The problem is, we don't always want God.  We often choose to go our own way.

God has never restricted Himself to operating within the walls of a temple or church building, or a group of people.  Even when in the days of the tabernacle and the temple, God worked in the lives of people like Naaman, as well as others who were not even of Israel.

God is God, and He's at work in every single human life on this planet.  All people are responding to Him in one way or another, and all who will be saved must respond to Him in faith.

To know God is to have eternal life.  Specifically, Jesus Christ said in His prayer to the Father, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

I have no doubt that the Spirit of God speaks to every human heart, calling us to Himself from the very moment of conception to the moment we take our final breath.  Our reactions to all ideas and expressions of faith, including the message of Jesus Christ, are an indication of our heart's response to God's Spirit.  If we are busy rejecting God in our hearts, we will certainly reject God in our choices in life.  And to the extent that we accept God's leadership within, to that extent we will make right and sound choices in all areas of our lives.

All human beings have two roads before them.  One is the way of their own choosing.  The other is the way of following God in whatever way He has shown Himself to them.  When we are young, we seldom know that God is speaking to us at all, or offering to lead us or teach us.  We may simply know that "something" offers us another idea, another way than the one most visible to our eyes, or most appealing to our senses.

If we follow God, He leads us to Himself.  He directs us to His life and truth.

And to be fully honest, even if we do not follow God consciously or willingly, the Lord is still often directing us back to Himself.  He would have all people come to the knowledge of His truth.  He would have all people to be rescued from the hell we all deserve.

Religion is never -- as in never, ever -- the way to eternal life, to truth, or to genuine freedom.  Only the Lord Himself sets us free as we receive His truth and embrace it with all our hearts.  We need Him.  We need His life.  We need His grace and strength and help.

We can see evidences of our inner response to God in the choices we make, and in the "loves" that we allow to rule our hearts.  The older we get, the harder it may be for us to simply trust and follow God.  When we see that He's not leading us in the direction we want to go (toward self-gratification), we are tempted to switch paths and to switch our allegiance inside.

Jesus Christ makes it clear that anyone who listens to God the Father and learns from Him will turn to follow Him.  (You can see this for yourself in John 6:44 & 45.)  So while the Christian message may not be proclaimed in every place, God Himself is speaking to people in every place.

But how can we know that what we "hear" in our hearts is the truth of God?  How can we even know that God has been calling to us?  For one thing, God always speaks the same message.  And He has never left a generation of human beings without a witness to Himself.

It is often pointed out that Christianity is less than two thousand years old.  And it's true that the specific gospel of Jesus Christ is only that old.  But the message of God's salvation -- and all that Jesus taught and preached -- is much, much older, going all the way back to Adam and Eve. 

The Scriptures are the faithful record of what God has spoken and what He calls us all to believe.  The Bible is a tangible witness to God's truth, and the Bible declares Jesus Christ to be the one and only Savior of the world.

No religion takes us to heaven.  No theology saves us.  No set of rules will make us God's children.

Religions do not hold life.  Religion is a somewhat fixed expression of human beings and what they believe.  It is a code of life and faith.  Most religions are built on human desires, human fears, human needs for order.  In the case of theistic religions, religion also describes a manner of worship. 

But no religion contains life anymore than a piece of lumber contains its own life.  If you want to reach the life that was once in the wood, you must find a living tree.  The crafted wood may be very beautiful.  It may be very strong.  But only the tree has life in itself.

God is the living tree that we all need.  We must draw our spiritual life from Him  It is a waste of our time to try to draw life out of dead wood that has already been cut apart and shaped by human hands.  Specifically, Jesus Christ is the living tree, or as He said it, the living vine.  His own roots are eternally in the Father, and if we want life, we must be living branches that remain alive in Him.

So the question of eternal life is never answered by religion.  The real issue is the life of God, the truth that flows out from the true and living God.  The test of real faith is not how well it tolerates other views, but is it based in the reality of God Himself? 

When is it ok to be narrow-minded?  When there is only one way to go.  The way of life is often narrow, even here on earth. 

When a fireman finally breaks through a raging fire to save a group of children trapped in a burning room, they must give up their own ideas of escape and follow him.  They may think that they still have lots of options.  They may even choose to think that there is no fire.  We all make silly mistakes.  But to be saved from the destruction, they must trust the savior who has came to give them life. 

The people of planet earth are like those children.  The whole planet is under judgment because of our sins -- sins that go all the way back to the first generation on earth.  Jesus is the fireman who came to planet earth to give us the way out.  He Himself is that way.  He is the eternal truth of God.  He is the life we all need.

Jim