“Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:10-12
Have you ever heard someone ask, “Aren’t all religions basically the same?”
It’s a relatively common question in our American society, today. Our society values inclusion and tolerance and one of the effects of this has been a growing number of people who want to accept all religions as the same, just different ways of getting to God or into heaven.
You may hear statements like,
“As long as you believe in God, your fine. It doesn’t matter whether you call God Jesus or Allah or the Great Sky Spirit.”
“All religions are essentially the same. As long as you are a good person, you’ll get into heaven.”
You may even hear more negative statements like,
“How arrogant are you that you think your religion is right and everyone else is wrong?”
In the end, though, it doesn’t matter what we think or what others think. It matters what God says. After all, He’s the one who gets to determine this.
The Bible is very clear. There is only one way to God and one way to heaven, Jesus. It is only by faith in Jesus that we are saved.
This can be a hard teaching for us, today. We may feel like we are being exclusionary and people around us may say we are not being loving or kind to insist that Jesus is the only way. However, it is the truth and to share the truth is loving and kind.
Salvation is a gift, but Christianity isn’t easy. We are called to stand in Christ alone and speak His Words, even when they aren’t popular, but we can do so with confidence. We can be confident that it is true and confident we are truly being loving.
Dear Jesus,
You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by You. Help me to believe this. Help me to share this with kindness and gentleness and always in an attitude of love. Help those around me to come to believe this as well.
Amen.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
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