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| “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “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.” |
| —John 14:1-7 |
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive!”
Have you ever heard such a conversation? Or, maybe you’ve participated in such a conversation yourself. In any case, we find ourselves in a very topsy-turvy world these days. It doesn’t seem as if we can consider much as “definite.”
Among the many things seemingly up for grabs, some grapple with whether or not we humans have more than one way to connect with God.
“Come on! Religions are all the same! They all offer a pathway to diety. They all offer a way of salvation. Who’s to say one religion trumps another? Take Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, for example. All three religions worship God, don’t they? So, why can’t Jews, Christians, and Muslims simply get along?”
Now, I happen to believe that strong evidence exists that the God of the Bible and the Hebrew Scriptures—that is to say, the God of Jews and Christians—is not the same as Allah, the god of Islam. But, a blogsite like this one, with limited space and limited time on the part of the blogger, cannot possibly deal with a subject as complex as a comparison of world religions. However, I can offer some thoughtful commentary on one of the most important tenets of the Christian faith.
In the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, Jesus declares that He is the one and only pathway to God, the Father. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” On its face, this represents a most significant and strong statement. Jesus declares, quite clearly, that He stands alone as the One who gives us access to God. Jesus insists that we can only come to God through Him!
One key aspect of this assertion rests with Jesus’ use of the definite article. As you know, in the English language we have the definite article “the” and we also have the indefinite articles “a” and “an.” You might be surprised to learn that the definite article exists in the Koine Greek language of the New Testament, as well. The use of the definite article translates perfectly from New Testament Greek to English.
So, when Jesus asserts that He offers the way to God, He makes it quite clear that He offers “the one and only way” to His Father. Could Jesus have made it any clearer? Why, then, do some people—even some Christians, even some members of the clergy—want to disregard Jesus’ statement in favor of a belief that He didn’t really mean exactly what He said? Here’s some possibilities:
- They have loved ones, maybe family members, who have abandoned the Christian faith to pursue some other religion.
- They fear that holding tightly to the truth that Jesus offers the only way to God will set them up to receive ridicule from their friends.
- They want to believe that there’s no real need to evangelize—to tell others the good news about Jesus—because they don’t have the courage to confront others about their need of a Savior.
- They want to get along as peacefully as possible with everyone and, thus, believe that all humans will find their way to God by whatever means they choose.
- They don’t want to follow everything that Jesus has said. So, they pick and choose what they want to implement from His teachings. By discounting that Jesus offers the only way to God, they release themselves from following all His teachings.
When it comes to members of the clergy who do not accept the truth that Jesus provides the one and only pathway to God, I suspect that this last item offers the best explanation.
An obvious question remains: What do we believe? Do we take Jesus at His word and believe that He offers the one and only pathway to God? Or, do we believe that each of the world’s religions offers an equally efficacious pathway to the Creator of the Universe?
It will likely not surprise you that I’m chosing to believe exactly what Jesus said. In fact, the very foundation of every aspect of my faith rests on the absolute veracity of this truth. And, if you think about it, it’s a “win-win” proposition for me. If I’m right, I win! If those who believe in multiple pathways to God have a stranglehold on the truth, since I’m on one of those pathways, I also win.
The next time you hear someone declare that all religions provide an equally effective pathway to God, I urge you to remember the definite article. Whether that definite article appears in English or in New Testament Koine Greek, it speaks with a singular and unmistakeable voice:
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
