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Tough Questions: By John Coombs
Why
Is Jesus the Only Way?
Part I
This is a very complex question that is asked by believers and non-believers.
Believers ask the question mainly because they love and believe in Jesus but are worried about
people they know and care for that may not have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. They look around the world
and see many ‘good’ people who may not be Christians and are concerned. With all of the multitudes of religions
out there, can this be true; that Jesus is the only way?
Non-believers ask the question because
they refuse to believe that they are condemned. They may believe they are good, and do not need God. Or maybe they pursue
a religion or lifestyle that is not compatible with Christ’s statements and certain Christian principles.
In fact, some ‘intellectuals’ will use philosophy, logic and humanics to twist words and
thoughts to create the illusion that Truth itself is a falsehood. They will state that "your
truth is not my truth" and that truth is relative. Why do I start here in answering the question "Why
Is Jesus the Only Way"?
Because without absolute truth: nothing can ever be stated definitively.
Humanist John Dewey declared in 1933, "There is no God and there is no soul. Hence, there are no
needs for the props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried.
There is no room for fixed, natural law or moral absolutes."
If there is no absolute
truth, then facts, physical laws and ultimately ethics fall away. The saying "what is right for you is not necessarily
right for me" becomes a mantra that sounds appealing but taken to its logical extreme would prove disastrous. Without
moral rightness or wrongness society and humankind will ultimately fail.
God was worried about this intellectual
trap. In fact, God in his infinite wisdom prompted Pontius
Pilate 2000 years ago to ask the
question during the trial of Jesus.
Truth itself
is a falsehood. They will state that "your truth is not my truth" and that truth is relative. Why
do I start here in answering the question "Why Is Jesus the Only Way"?
Because without
absolute truth: nothing can ever be stated definitively. Humanist John Dewey declared in 1933, "There
is no God and there is no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded,
then immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or moral absolutes."
If there is no absolute truth, then facts, physical laws and ultimately ethics fall away. The saying
"what is right for you is not necessarily right for me" becomes a mantra that sounds appealing but taken to its
logical extreme would prove disastrous. Without moral rightness or wrongness society and humankind will ultimately fail.
God was worried about this intellectual trap. In fact, God in his infinite wisdom prompted Pontius Pilate 2000 years ago to ask the question during the trial of Jesus.
Pontius Pilate 2000 years ago to ask the question during the trial of Jesus.
John 18:38a: "What is truth?" Pilate asked. Therefore, "Absolute truth" is defined as a fixed,
invariable, and unalterable fact. For example, we can state with confidence the following truth:
There are absolutely no square circles.
Although this is a simplistic example, it shows absolute truth
by the fact that we know, by definition, what a square is and what a circle is. We know that a square can never be a circle
and a circle can never be a square. Understanding that we can have absolute truth allows us to ask and
consider serious questions. In fact, the desire to even ask a question is based on the premise that there must be an answer!
A truth!
Questions like: "What should I be doing?" "Am I an accident or a creation
of God?" are meaningful because we seek a truth, we seek something more. Mankind is driven to ask
questions and seek truth. Throughout history we have looked and studied our surroundings to learn and find the truth that
exists. In fact, every society has been driven to seek something to fulfill them – seeking out God.
Societies may have determined that God is ‘within’, ‘around’ or ‘without’
them, but all have searched for God in some way, shape or form.
Humankind has always been seeking…
Now here comes an important point…
If humankind is somehow driven to seek out
something more, to search the universe, to hunt for truth; then God must
be real.
I
could spend considerable time talking about creationism, evolution, and the many factors that challenge us about God existence,
but I will not go into them at this time.
This is because the very question: "Why
Is Jesus the Only Way?" God must be real.
I could spend considerable time talking about creationism, evolution, and the many factors that challenge
us about God existence, but I will not go into them at this time.
This is because the very
question: "Why Is Jesus the Only Way?" "Why
Is Jesus the Only Way?" Already assumes that you believe in God!
Since you already believe in God, then
the following statement will make all of the sense in the world:
If
there is a God, He knows the absolute truth. God has the power to communicate things to us that are absolutely true. We may not like them all,
they may not appeal to our subjective tastes, but God does know the absolute truth.
If absolute
truth exists, then when two religious teachings disagree, they cannot both be right. At least one, possibly both, are at least
partially mistaken. But when there are severe conflicts in the teachings – something must give. Something must be right.
Next month, in Part II, I will be able to more directly handle the question:
"Why Is Jesus the Only Way?" Why Is Jesus the Only Way?"
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