 I
used to be put off by Christians saying that Christ is the only way to God.
It seemed so narrow-minded to me. What I later learned though is that
this isn't something Christians say out pride or close-mindedness. This is simply what Jesus Christ said
about himself. The same Jesus who changed the world, and my life, with words such
as "do to others what you would have them do to you"
and "love your enemies" also said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Once
I came to know God through Christ, to understand his truth and to
experience his love, I found no reason to
think that Christ is not the way to God and no reason to trust my life to some of
his words while rejecting others.
For those of other religions, however, or those who do not believe in God at
all, I know that Christian beliefs seem totally inconsistent with their own beliefs and even
with logic. How could there be only one way to God? What seems to be an irreconcilable conflict on the
surface, however, has consistency, if we understand it from God's
view rather than our own. God talks to mankind in many ways. He
responds to us individually in prayer. He directs
the course of human history, speaking to mankind on a grander scale
through prophets such as Arjuna, Confucius, Buddha, Moses, Isaiah and
Mohammed.
The words given to the prophets are still God's words to mankind, but one time in history we have a record of God not just
speaking through men and women, but actually coming to be with us in Jesus Christ.
This event was foretold by prophets centuries before it happened and
proven by the many miracles He performed and the countless lives changed
since. If in human form He
in essence says to
us, "Look! It's me, God in your presence! The same
one who spoke to you through the prophets" and tells
us that we can only get to Him through Him, we find a
message that should make sense to all mankind: We can only know our
God through His act of making Himself known to us and through the way
He
offers to us,  not through our rituals, doctrines, sacrifices, magic crystals, idols, etc.
If Jesus Christ
is none other
than God incarnate, then He is quite right in saying that He is
the only way to God. How could there be any other way? And
while man's religions teach complex doctrines and practices, He teaches
that all that is required of any of us is faith in Him, offering all we know of
ourselves to all we know of Him in a relationship of love.
Investigate the lives of these prophets and you'll find
they were ordinary men who sought something greater, had a mountaintop
experience and returned with rules on how to live, such as the Ten
Commandments and laws of Moses or the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddha.
Christ alone claimed oneness with God with authority, to be the Messiah and said "I
am the truth, the way, the light of life, the bread of life, the
resurrection and the life." He alone drew people to himself in a
personal relationship to have life, then and now, rather than just
pointing them to his teachings. And while all the others prophets
died a normal death, Christ alone was resurrected and reappeared to his
followers.
If we don't recognize and accept God when He appears
before us, have we really come to know Him through the words He gave to His
prophets we follow? If we reject Him when He comes to us in person, yet claim
to worship Him through our own individualized religious beliefs and practices, do we really know the
God we worship? From God's view, is it Christ's followers who are being prideful and closed-minded or is it those who choose their own ways over His
way? It's not about a single organized religion being the only way,
for organized religion isn't the way to God. The same God who
revealed himself in Christ revealed himself to Abraham, from whom Judaism
and Islam both came forth. He reveals Himself to us on a personal
level. No matter what religion you are a part of, the only thing
that makes it meaningful is getting past the religion ABOUT God and on to
a relationship WITH God that changes the way you view and live your life,
following His will rather than your own ego.
God gives us choice out of
love, because our love for Him must be given freely to Him by our own
choice. Christianity in its simplest, purest and truest form isn't a religion at all, but a
personal relationship with God through Christ, making Him Lord of your
life. The key is thus accepting God when we experience Him and
wanting more than anything to have a personal relationship with Him.
 The key is knowing, understanding and loving Him for who He is rather than
clinging to the beliefs
we hold about
who we think He should be and how we think we should get to Him.
Submitting our will to His is the gateway to worship and love. Putting our will before His is the
road of pride that takes us to a spiritual dead end. Our God undoubtedly touches
the hearts and lives of those who turn to Him without
having them having first heard the message of Christ, but if He appeared to us
in
Christ and we then reject Him, what does it say
of our understanding of who He is, and what does it say of our heart and our motives? The way to God must
be His way, not the ways invented by mankind. What does your heart
say is the way that God has most clearly and directly revealed Himself to
us?
"In the past God
spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various
ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he
appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe."
Hebrews 1:1-2 "I am the bread of
life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me
will never be thirsty."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 6:35
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 8:12
"You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would
die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be,
you will indeed die in your sins."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 8:23-24
"When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the
one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the
Father has taught me."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 8:28
"While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 9:5
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even
though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never
die."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 11:25-26
"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."
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
Words of Jesus Christ in John 14:6-11 "These people honor me with their lips, but their
hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are
but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and
are holding on to the traditions of men." And he said to them:
"You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to
observe your own traditions!"
Words of Jesus Christ in
Mark 7:6-9
"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you
possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet
you refuse to come to me to have life."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 5:39-40 "When
pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."
Proverbs 11:2 "You have never
heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you
do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures
because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the
Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have
life."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 5:37-40 "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the
dead."
Words of Jesus Christ in Luke 16:31 "When
a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who
sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 12:44-45 "If
God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am
here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 8:42 And
what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to
walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 Then
they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he
has sent."
Words of Jesus Christ in John 6:28-29 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
Words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 22:37-38 |
