One Way In

A newly-released survey [PDF] from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life gives me pause. It finds 70 percent of Americans with a religious faith believe there are several paths to everlasting life, and Jesus isn't the only way there.

However, as CBS News and the AP report,

• 92 percent believe in God


• 74 percent believe in life after death


• 63 percent say their respective scriptures are the word of God

Taking that last stat into mind with the 70 percent who believe in several paths, I have a hard time figuring out how Christians can rectify an open mind about salvation when Jesus makes it clear in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

The CBS & AP article gives a hint:

Others emphasize the wideness of God's grace.

The Catholic church teaches that the "one church of Christ ... subsists in the Catholic Church" alone and that Protestant churches, while defective, can be "instruments of salvation."

I believe in God's grace, but I also believe that grace is expressed in His ultimate gift to us in Christ The Savior. I believe we can't have God's grace unless we admit our sins and accept Christ's sacrifice for us.

That being said, I know God sometimes uses people of little or no faith to do His will. In Joshua 2, the pagan prostitute Rahab gave shelter and protection to a pair of spies sent into Jericho. However, she had heard of God's mighty deeds, as Joshua 2:8-11 (NIV) points out:

Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, "I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

So, she at least had the Fear of God in her... or respect for Him.

What worries me is that many Christians don't have either this fear or respect. God gives us free will and latitude in many things, and we are all commanded to love our neighbors and our enemies. However, how is this love defined? Is it defined as unconditional acceptance of what others do, or caring enough about somebody to straighten them out if they're on the wrong path?

Christ had a famous moment of righteous indignation as recounted in Matthew 21:12-13 (NIV):

Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'"

Jesus wasn't subtle with people who had a reputation for ripping off the faithful. We shouldn't let others spiritually rip us off by watering down our obedience for God in the name of tolerance -- especially if they are believers.

1 John 2:3-6 (NIV):

We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, "I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.

It looks like we have a lot of work to do as believers. And as I've learned in the year since my baptism, being a devoted Christian isn't easy. I'm far from perfect, and please don't ever let me give you the impression of being the proverbial holier-than-thou person. A fellow believer gave me this verse to commit to memory -- 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV):

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.