An Objection to Exclusivity: Response Part 1

Here again is the first part of my friend's objection to the exclusivity of Jesus:

The Bible says that "without faith it is impossible to please God." Since non-Christians have faith (though in something different), they should not be excluded from heaven even according to the statements the Bible makes.

I think this is a good question that deserves an honest answer. So, here it goes...

I see a problem with saying "non-Christians have just as much faith in what they believe as the Christian does in what he believes." The problem I think is that it ignores the object of the faith and assumes that the mere possession of faith is all that is necessary to achieve the goal of faith.

First from a simple philosophical perspective, I think everyone would agree that the object of one's faith (or trust) is VERY important. Take for instance two people racing. One is a teenager who is so psyched up about his new Honda Civic that he thinks he's the hottest stuff on the road. The other is an experienced driver in a Lotus Exige S2. The teenager has never heard of a Lotus S2, nor does he care to find out about one. Both are convinced they will win the race, but everyone that cares to honestly compare the two cars should come to understand the Lotus is most likely to win. So, though the teenager had full faith in his car, he loses - the object of the faith matters.

Second, the Bible says that "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." The meaning would be completely changed if in this sentence “Jesus” was replaced with “anything.” The point is that the Bible here and in many other places claims that the only saving faith is faith that trusts in Jesus Christ as the only means by which a person can be freed from the damnation he deserves because of his sin. So, the claims of the Bible are not that faith is the requirement, but rather that faith in Jesus is the requirement.

A second problem is also apparent to me, and carries what I've said a step further. Without a doubt, all of us respect sincerity, and with the low supply of it these days, we hate to see it not rewarded. So, when we come to the issue of religion, we tend to want to carry that sympathy with us. The religious person who comes to us without pretense or condemnation, expressing genuine concern for what we care about in this world, and being fully convinced of what he/she believes has much more sway with us than the average Joe. After all, that person would make a good neighbor. The problem with this is very similar to what I said above. Nothing I mentioned so far in what that religious person is bringing to us said they have brought us the truth! So, such a person can be ignoring something crucial to the foundations of what gives this life meaning – namely, truth. In other words, the worldview that fails to embrace the truth is incohesive to giving life meaning. See “Why I am a Follower of Jesus” for background on the tests for truth and components needed for meaning. We must bring truth along with sincerity if we are going to transform the world we are in and free mankind from that which binds us. Truth must be real, or we wouldn't be arguing about its existence. Life must have meaning, else my words would not and we are all just “empty bubbles floating on the sea of nothingness.”

So, in conclusion, the object of the faith matters, and that object must be consistent with the truth. I have found (by God's grace) the Bible's claims that Jesus is the proper object of that faith to be not only sincere, but also logically consistent, empirically adequate, and very relevant to my experience. And yes, it still requires faith, but so does any other worldview.

When Missional Dating and Family Traditions Cross with the Crises of this Life

I know I have been slow in providing responses to the previous post I made, but know that it is because I am treating the objections to Christianity with seriousness and want to give them the attention they deserve - plus I've been busy.

But I can't wait to share this: God is doing some really neat stuff in our midst as we simply try to live out the gospel "as we go" (Matt 28:18). There are two ways that God has let us see His working this weekend.

1) Our family has a Saturday morning tradition of going to Waffle House to have breakfast. We have come to know all the employees there and love them, so it feels like home. In addition, we get to enjoy a delicious breakfast and establish some good traditions for the family. We have been praying for our waitresses for months now, usually asking them if we can pray about anything for them before we say our blessing. This not only brings the power of God into their lives when they may not seek it otherwise, but it gives us a point on which to connect with them the following week.

Well, here is the cool part: Saturday, the waitresses (even the ones that were not waiting on us that particular morning) came to us with prayer requests. We also talked about family issues we've been praying with them about for weeks. It was such a blessing to us to see this!

2) Sunday: What do you get when you have a great waitress that you have befriended over many visits, tornado warnings (for twisters in very close proximity to the resturant), and no power in the resturant? Well, my thinking was we had a good opportunity to talk about why we are at peace in the midst of the storm! So, while her other customers were walking out on her, we got a chance to share about the power of our Sovereign God who works all things for our good. Then we walked out too....... just kidding, we paid.

What a wonderful weekend, not to mention a great gathering with our church family this morning! Would it have happened if we didn't get out into the community, but rather waited on them to come to us first? Nope, not like this anyway! God is so gracious to use us.

An Objection to Exclusivity

In a recent conversation with a co-worker, he brought up a common objection to Jesus' claims of being the ONLY way to eternal fellowship with God. He worded the objection something like this: For Christians to claim that believing in Jesus is the only way to go to heaven, and to say that even the little boy whose parents raised him Muslim or Hindu or whatever else, who has never heard of Jesus will spend forever in Hell is rediculous. After all, they have just as much faith as the Christian does and are just as convinced that what they believe is the truth.


I really like this guy that told me this, and I really appreciated him opening up to me with his objections to Jesus' claims of exclusivity. I consider it a great priviledge to have had him share his thoughts, and it has helped me to think through the issue again. I will try to give the most honest assessment of the objection that I can. Note that when I say Jesus claimed exclusivity, I mean that he claimed to be "the way, the truth, and the life" that all men must come to in order to be saved from the condemnation of God and allowed into eternal fellowship with the God who is Love.


So the objection has at least four parts, and I'll restate them:

1) The Bible says that "without faith it is impossible to please God." Since non-Christians have faith (though in something different), they should not be excluded from heaven even according to the statements the Bible makes.

2) If God is Love as the Bible claims, how can he condemn anybody that did not have a snowball's chance in Hell to believe in Jesus?

3) If we're ever going to move toward world peace, we have to quit this "my view is better than your view" stuff and realize we're all moving toward the same goal. In other words, exclusivity is out, and inclusivism is what we really need.

4) [Not stated, but related to my friend's objections] Could the people of God during the times recorded in the Old Testament (B.C) have even believed in Jesus? They could not even be saved if Jesus is the only way, but the New Testament itself says they are in heaven.

It will require quite a bit of space to respond well to these four parts of my friend's comment, so I will do it in subsequent posts. In the meantime, how would you address the issue? Do you struggle with some of the same things my friend dislikes about the claims of Christ? I for one have struggled with these things in the past, and the struggling has been fruitful.