Is Christianity an exclusive religion?

One reason that people object to the claim that Christianity is the one path to God is that it makes it so exclusive. What about the many Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and non-religious? Is it only Christians that have a right to God? Today, more than ever, this objection is greatly amplified in intensity because our culuture so highly values diversity and inclusion.


The first thing to address is what Christians and Christianity is not claiming. First, it is not claiming that Christianity is the one path to God because Christians are inherently better than others. Christians do not make the claim out of a self-inflated image of superiority. Sometimes the perception of Christians by those outside the faith is that of a high school clique where our way is best because we say it is, so that the exclusive claim of the Christian faith is one of overgrown ego. Not to say that Christians, and some more than others, are not subject to the sin of egotism like everyone else.

In the big scope of the Church across ages and culture, the claim is based of Jesus' claim that he is the only way to God and those who come to God must come through him. And Jesus claimed to speak on behalf of God His Father. So that merely moves the pointing of the finger from Christians to God Himself. So is God being exlcusive?

When we think of the basis on which exclusive groups discriminate, things that come to are money, position, fame, gender, age, culture. For the most part, these are features that we have little or no influence over. One's beliefs, on the other hand, is something the person decides to adopt. God says that eternal life is offered open-handed to anyone who will believe on Jesus Christ as the Son of God. The offer is regardless of race, culture, language, gender, age, position, economic status.

But why does not God accept people of other faiths if they believe in him?

The answer is simply that non-biblical religions present a false view of reality--of man, of the world, of right/wrong and most importantly, God. The claim of the Bible is that they distort the dignity of God, teaching what is non-pleasing to him. But it goes beyond this. The claim is that mankind created other religions as a replacement for true religion. They did this because they rejected the true religion that God has revealed. In rejecting God's truth, they are rejecting the true God himself and replacing him with a false god. This breaks the greatest commandments that God has given to man: to love Him, the true God, with all our heart and soul and mind, to have no other god before him, and to not create an idol of worship.

A very common world view of our day is pluralism. It is the view that the various religions are a smorgusboard. They are all basically valid and pretty much teach the same thing. That is why the exclusive claims of Christianity are offensive. This world view presupposes that God has not supernaturally revealed true religion. So mankind is left to himself to come up with various ways to worship through various religions. To hold to pluralism, one must positively deny the history of God revealing himself to man from Abraham, through Moses and the prophets and culminating with the coming of Jesus Christ.

The claim of Christian Scripture is that mankind is in rebellion against God, refusing to honor him as God, avoiding him at all costs, supressing the truth and exchanging it for a lie.

But it gets worse! Humanity's rejection of God comes even in response to his great blessing and goodness upon us. God, being sovereign, is the source of all and everything that is good in our lives. Our ability to make a living, our health, friends, family, abundance, happiness--it all is given by God. Evil is propagated not by God but by man and fallen angelic beings. So God loves us and cares for us and in return we hate, reject and accuse Him of all the evil we are responsible for.

But it gets worse! Give all our injustice toward the true God, instead of destroying us and being done with it, He sent his eternal Son, born of a virgin, into the world to reconcile us to God. And God even allowed Him to give his life as the payment for all our evil and injustice toward Him. Given all that He has forbeared, then humanity still holds a grudge against God for only having one way to him!

Yet he still hold out the offer of forgiveness and eternal life to any who will come to Him through Christ that He may show His great patience and goodness. Each person is given one life to receive this gift. After that comes the judgment for what we end up doing--accepting it or rejecting it.

John

The Audacity of One Way

If you are not a Christian, what do you think of the claim that Christianity is the only true path to God? Maybe it makes you angry. Perhaps it seems arrogant. But do you understand why Christians make this allegation? Even if you disagree, can you see our rationale?

We hold this view because of our high view of Jesus. The apostle John in his account of Jesus' life includes this quote of Jesus: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He said this at the last supper before he was crucified. He was celebrating the passover feast with his twelve apostles. You've probably seen this portrayed in Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting. After Jesus had got up during the meal and washed his disciples feet as an example of how they are to love and serve others, he told them that one of them was going to betray him and that He was returning to the Father where he had originally come from. One of his disciples wanted to know how they could follow him to the Father. This is when Jesus claimed that it was only through him.

What did Jesus mean when he said this? Throughout his time on earth, he always claimed a unique relationship with God the Father. First, he claimed that he was with the Father before the world began. He claimed the He was one with the Father. He claimed he was set apart and was sent into the world by the Father. He claimed that the Father had given him alone all things and that he had the authority to give eternal life, forgive sins, raise the dead, judge all creation. In short he claimed to be God's own eternal Son. He claimed that his whole mission in coming to earth was to give his life as a sin offering, perfectly holy and unblemished, for the sins of the world and that no one who believed and trusted him would ever be condemned. The numerous miracles that he performed, including rising from the dead, was his proof that he spoke the truth.

So, if Jesus is indeed telling the truth, then it is easy to understand why he is the one way. If he was indeed sent into the world with the purpose of reconciling the world, then God must have meant that this was the way to enter into eternal life. After all, there is no one else who has come close to comparing with the amazing Christ--No religious person, no spiritual leader, no earthly ruler. Who can compare to him? Who made the claims he made? Who performed the multitude of miracles he did? Who was ever born of a virgin? Who ever overcame death? Whoever had the pure moral character he did?

We believe Jesus is the one way to God, because we believe Jesus. We believe what he said. We believe what he did. We believe he spoke the truth. We believe he was not dishonest or confused or derragned. The life he lived doesn't even hint at this. We believe the testimony of Christ handed down to us. History confirms it. How could he not be the only way?