Skip to main content

Jesus Said


Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
            Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:4-7)
 

Once again, Jesus returns to this theme, and this is the theme I return to because so many insist that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you sincerely believe it. “My god,” they declare “would never deny heaven to anyone.” To those who declare such things, I must say that they are calling Jesus a liar. For that matter, they’re calling Mohammed, the Buddha, and the founders (I suspect) almost all other religions liars, too. Except for the Universalists, I know of no religion that promotes the idea that everyone goes to heaven. Many claim that everyone can go to heaven, but they all have their own requirements. For Christianity, the requirement is Jesus Christ. To reject Him is to reject heaven. It’s not what God does to the one who rejects Jesus, it’s what the one who rejects Jesus does to himself. 
         So, Jesus tells Muslims, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” To Jews, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” To Atheists, Buddhists, Taoists and all other people from all other religions, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If they then say, “No thanks, I’ll do it my way,” it is not God’s fault, or Jesus’ if their way does not get them there.
         If a Christian proclaims that what Jesus said is true, that those who do not seek salvation through Jesus do not gain salvation, and you don’t like hearing it, your argument is with Jesus, not the Christian. It’s Jesus you’re calling a liar or an idiot, not the Christian.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more