There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
" (Act 4:12 NLT) Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one can come to the Father except through Me.
(Joh 14:6 NLT) These two verses cause a lot of friction in the world religious community.
Think about it: if these verses are true, then all other religions are rendered null and void.
There can be no compromise between Christianity and any other religion.
This makes some people uncomfortable, and understandably so.
No one wants to be guilty of telling an entire group of people (Buddhists, for example) that their religion is false and, despite their sincere devotion, is powerless to save them.
So the question is, why did Jesus say that he was the only way to the Father? Was he creating an exclusive club? Was he guilty of racism? Did he just have an incredible ego? Or could it be that maybe - just maybe - he was telling the truth? You see, that's the entire point of the Gospel.
God is holy and man is sinful.
The Bible likens this difference to darkness and light.
In other words, sinful man can not remain in the presence of a holy God any more than darkness can remain in the presence of light.
Because of this truth, man is separated from God and doomed to spend eternity away from God in hell.
This sin problem is so destructive that there is nothing we can do about it.
All of our best attempts are woefully inadequate, like filthy rags before a holy God.
It is extremely important that we understand this point.
Apart from Christ, we remain condemned before a holy God.
But God loved us and devised a way that we could be reconciled to Him.
By placing man's sin upon Jesus Christ, God's holiness was satisfied at the cross.
Through our faith in Jesus' substitutionary sacrifice, we are reconciled to God.
The point of Christianity is that no other religion deals with man's sin problem.
No other religion can remove man's sin, therefore every other religion leaves man condemned before God.
And for Jesus to say that no one can come to the Father but through him, it's not bigotry; it's truth.
Look at it this way, suppose a scientist came forward and claimed that he had finally discovered the cure for cancer.
He announced before the world that there was no other cure.
Only by applying his treatment could the terminally ill be saved from certain death.
He would not be labeled a closed-minded bigot; he would be lauded as a savior.
Same with Jesus .
.
.