By Shawn Parker
Executive Director-Treasurer
Mississippi Baptist Convention Board
I’m convinced the theological issue of our generation is the exclusivity of Christ as Lord. Pew Research recently released the results of a survey they conducted that revealed a significant amount of confusion about this issue. Religious pluralism is gaining ground among the popular culture at an unprecedented rate of growth.
According to the survey results, 47% of the general adult population indicated a belief that many religions may be true. An additional 19% said there is little or no truth in any religion, and only 33% expressed the belief that only one religion is true.
These statistics become even more troublesome when the categories are narrowed to those who identify as mainline Protestant. Among this demographic, 57% indicated they believe many religions may be true and only 28% believe in an exclusive view.
Obviously, this runs contrary to the teachings of the New Testament. In John 14.6, Jesus stated clearly that He is the only way to the Father. Regardless of how someone might want to spin this statement, Jesus was teaching exclusivity in terms of spiritual truth.
Simon Peter was obviously listening when Jesus made this statement because he said in Acts 4.12 that there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved than that of Jesus.
The belief that Christ is the only way of eternal truth and life has been a hallmark teaching of the church for thousands of years, but this belief is in jeopardy now as perhaps never before. The reason we believe Christ is the only way is because of His deity. He is the only sinless person who ever lived and the only human ever to resurrect from the dead.
As the resurrected Lord, He is alive today and promises to someday return to consummate His coronation as the Kings of Kings.
While some argue that belief in exclusivity is unreasonable, I’m inclined to say that it is perfectly logical. The truth is that the number of routes to a given destination depends upon the destination and the point of origin.
If we decided to go to New York from Mississippi, we’d have a wealth of options available as to how we might get there. If we wanted to go to Paris, those options would be greatly reduced. If we should want to go to the moon from Mississippi, I can only think of one way to do that and it would require a conversation with NASA.
We aren’t talking about going to New York, Paris, or even the moon. We are talking about going to Heaven, and it shouldn’t surprise us that only one way exists to get there. Actually, we ought to be deeply thankful there is a way. So, in this confused culture where exclusivity is thought to be closed-minded, the simple truth is that our belief in the exclusivity of Christ is very open-minded because getting from where we are to Heaven is no easy task!
The author may be contacted at simpletruth@mbcb.org.
