Why would Jesus be the only way to God?

  

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This is a common question that comes up when talking Christianity and how to "get to" heaven. There are many different faiths and many different ideas on what to expect after we shuffle off this mortal coil. Many people believe that all roads lead to "heaven" (whatever that means for each individual). So, why should Christians believe that Jesus is the one and only way to get to heaven?

Obviously, the short answer is because Jesus said so. Unfortunately this may not be a particularly compelling answer for someone who does not see the Bible or Jesus as an authoritative source. Authority is a fairly significant issue and is beyond the scope of what I want to cover here, but will certainly attempt to address that at another time.

For now, assuming that the Bible is actually authoritative, let's take a look at how this remains a very important doctrine from within the Christian faith. For many, the fact that Jesus said so is sufficient. But how and why is that the case?

How Could a Loving God Condemn Good People to Hell?

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It is a common question that arises from people who have lost their faith, are losing their faith or never had faith to begin with. If Hell is such a terrible place, as Christians have always said, why would a loving God allow good people to be there? It just doesn't make sense, does it? How can this be?

Does God's Foreknowledge Destroy Free Will?

Recently, I was listening to The Bible Answer Man and a caller had asked a question about whether or not we could have free will in light of God's foreknowledge of what we would do. The caller spent a few minutes on the air with Hank going back and forth about whether this was an issue and whether God's knowing a future event without the ability to be wrong about it means that the event is pre-determined and could not be any other way.

For Hank's response, I would invite you to listen to the show from 5/26/2016. For my part, I would like to spend a few minutes taking a slightly different approach to this question. As is usually the case, this response is not solely made up of my own brilliant ideas, but is derived from responses I have heard from others in the past on this subject.

Does God condone slavery?

A common indictment against God (or the Bible) is that He condones slavery. There have been a number of responses to this sort of accusation. Most of the responses that I have heard or read about are typically quite similar. For most who level this challenge against God, the rebuttal is found lacking.

Most commonly, the rebuttal is that the slavery indicated in the Bible is not the sort of slavery that we currently think of in a post-19th Century Colonial America. While this line of argumentation seems to be true, as far as it goes, I don't believe it gets us very far in the conversation.

Do atheists lack a belief in God?

A common rebuttal from atheists regarding their responsibility to defend their own view is to say that they simply do not have a belief. This, according to their view, absolves them from any obligation to shoulder a burden of proof. They claim that not believing God exists is substantially different from saying God does not exist.

One such atheist once explained this by using the illustration of a jar of jellybeans. He said if someone told him there were 500 jellybeans in the jar, he might not believe them. But that does not mean that he believes there are not 500 jellybeans in the jar. Therefore, this is an example of a lack of belief and is parallel to the atheist's lack of belief in God.

The problem with this illustration is, it is not parallel. The number of jellybeans in the jar does not have any implications in how a person lives his or her life. How I treat other people is not impacted by whether or not I believe there are 500 jellybeans. Even taking and eating a handful of the jellybeans is not affected by whether or not I believe there are 500 of them in the jar.

Do Christians decide if God is real?

A while back, I wrote about whether it is appropriate for Christians put reason above God's Word when it
comes to belief in Christ. You might think I'm repeating myself, here. I assure you, this is a different thing. The other post had to do with prioritizing reason above God's revelation. This one has to do with our role in belief.

In other words, while the previous post discussed whether or not reason should be prioritized over God's Word when it comes to understanding what is true and what is not, today I want to look at whether God's existence is dependent on our own personal beliefs about Him. It is an important distinction to make and hopefully it is one which can be understood properly. It essentially comes down to the question, "Do we create God by believing in Him?"

Can God be both Just and Merciful?

Is God a God of justice? Or is He a God of mercy? Are those two things mutually exclusive? It seems that whichever direction we go with this, God is accused of doing wrong.

Many have claimed that the God of the Old Testament was mean, capricious, vindictive, petty, unjust and much, much more. This usually stems from passages having to do with the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cleansing of the Promised Land of other nations and tribes, etc.

People will refer to these parts of the Bible and claim that God is a horrible, mean, violent deity. So much so that some people will claim that, even if they were convinced that this God exists, they would not follow such a being. They simply don't like Him. They don't believe such a God exists, but hate Him anyway.

Can we prove that God exists?

A common question posed to Christians, indeed to theists of any stripe, today is whether or not one can "prove" that God exists. While this is a legitimate question to ask, some precautions and clarifications are necessary in responding to theses inquiries.

The first thing to point out is that the term "prove" must be clarified. Technically, to prove something is to show that it is the case with mathematical certainty. In other words, proving something is like showing that we can be as certain of a claim as we are that 2 + 2 = 4. Often, however, that is not what many people mean by "proof" while many others may mean precisely that. This can cause a breakdown in communication.

The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us

I know that this really isn't a question. For some people, it may be questionable, but for the sake of today, I am going to simply assume that it is true rather than address the question. Mainly, this is because of what day it is and what the Church at large comes together to celebrate every year at this time.


Greg Koukl has said, multiple times, that he believes John 1:14 is perhaps the most important verse in the entire Bible. It speaks of a moment in human history when the almighty Creator of the entire universe - the One who made time, space and matter - humbled Himself by taking on a human nature for the express purpose of living a sinless life and dying a violent death in order to restore the broken relationship with His creatures.

Does God Exist? The Kalam Cosmological Argument

While the Kalam Cosmological Argument has been around for centuries, it is primarily through the work and efforts of Dr. William Lane Craig that it has become one of the most powerful arguments for the existence of God in recent years. The argument does not prove the Christian God of the Bible, but is often used in a cumulative case for the existence of God by starting with the idea of showing the existence of a First Cause.

This argument gives us a good deal of insight into the nature and attributes of this First Cause. Today, I will cover the basic syllogism of the argument, discuss the premises individually and finally talk about how this argument can give us information about what sort of First Cause the argument shows to exist.

Is it Arrogant for God to Demand Our Love and Obedience?

The God of the Bible is a self-absorbed, narcissistic egomaniac. That's what some accuse Him of. I suppose I can see why. He wants us to worship nothing but Him. He says He's a jealous God. He gets very angry when people put anything in a higher place than Him.

Does this really make God arrogant, though? Does it actually make Him an egomaniac? If you or I were to be that way, these things would certainly be true of us. Why? Because we are not the ultimate things! We are not the ultimate anything!

What exactly ARE miracles?

Are miracles just things that we can't explain? Are they violations of natural law? Are they figments of our imagination? Are they really acts of God?

The concept of miracles, how to describe what they are (and by extension, what they are not) and how to identify when one has occurred is a very tricky thing, indeed. The very idea of a miracle is difficult to get our minds around. Popular culture and bad rhetoric from non-believers just make it all the more challenging.