Is Jesus the ONLY way to salvation?

[cattyley]

I know, John 14:6 is pretty explicit in the sense that the ONLY way to God is through Jesus Christ. But personally I find that hard to get my head around, it seems to go against a lot of the God that I know, the loving and caring God who loves ALL people, to allow a huge number of them to go to hell. There are so many good people out there who aren't Christians, surely God would welcome them openly into heaven aswell, this is what I want to believe. I want to believe that regardless of religion all people are saved, but is this naive? I suppose nowadays, as a teenager the majority of kids are not Christians or religious at all, and are closed off to the idea entirely; I obviously don't want any of my friends going to hell because they did not follow Christ.

I guess, Faith without Action is worthless. But Action without Faith? Will good non-christian people be saved? Anyone have any views?

 

[itisdeliciouscake]

one thing I think that is important to realize, is that people are more evil than we will ever realize. when the Bible talks about humanity, it never uses nice terms... read romans 3. there's also a verse somewhere in Isaiah that says that if we knew all our sins we would wanna kill ourselves. humanity is in NO way 'primarily good'. our hearts are deceptive above all things. since the Fall, we have been a primarily evil race.

the important thing to remember when wondering about whether or not it is just to only allow for 1 way to salvation, is to remember just how evil we really are. when you start getting into 'is it fair for God to send people to Hell' I think you've lost the perspective of what you are entitled to. we, as sinners, are entitled to one thing, Hell. we don't deserve to live happy lives, we don't deserve to enjoy ourselves, we deserve eternal death. everything good we receive is PURELY from the undeserved grace and mercy of God.

the only reason God didn't strike us dead and send us to Hell the first time we sinned was because he is a patient God.

so i think that's important to realize. there are no good atheists, no good christians, no good buddhists, no good hindus, no good agnostics. we all deserve hell, and the ONLY reason God saved us is to show his glory in salvation and redemption.

 

[tpk]

God loves everyone, but God is also a just God. He cannot be anywhere near sin. He even had to turn his back on his own son, Jesus, when Jesus took all of our sin on him when he was crucified. He showed that he loves us when he sent Jesus to die for our sins. That was his love for us. We, however, are born into sin. So we have to accept his gift of Jesus on the cross. If we don't, we're basically saying either that we are better than we are and don't need his sacrifice, or that we don't believe that he really died for us.

John 14:6 says "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (NIV) He did not say that he is "a" way, but that he is "the" way. How many "the" ways are there? Only one. So yes, he is the only way.

He laid it our clearly in the Bible. If people choose not to accept that Jesus is THE way, then that's their fault and they will not be accepted into heaven. If God accepted just anyone into Heaven, why would there be any religion? Everyone would go to heaven so we would have no need for a religion, especially not multiple ones (islam, buddhism, Christianity, judaism, etc.).

Anyway, great question. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
Also, welcome to CF.
God bless!

 

[Samuel_Rigby]

I think what confuses people about this question is we tend to believe the false notion that humanity has redemptive qualities. . .that we have goodness in and of ourselves absent from God. . .that there is something about humanity worth redeeming.

Redemption is purely a gift. There is nothing about humanity that is good. We are saved by God's GRACE alone through faith alone.

 

[renee09]

Jesus is the Only Way to Heaven. He is the bridge between humans and God. He pay the price with his blood for our sins.

And it is not the Lord that lets so many people go to Hell. It is ourselves and the temptations that we fall into. God would never lead us into any deceit, but the devil himself.

 

[judechild]

One thing we've got to remember, though, is that we don't know what happens to a person in the last moment.

Also some people, who have never heard of God, may be able to obtain salvation because they are what is called "invincibly ingnorant". While we know that the normal means of salvation is through Baptism, God is not bound to that; He may have other methods for communicating grace to, say, the unborn who die. God desires the salvation of all people, and God is Love.

 

[BrokenWanderer]

Cattyley, the best thing I can tell you would be similar to what itisdelicious said, except I'd say read all of Romans, from chapter 1, all the way through 16. I'm certain you'll find the answer.

God bless.

~BrokenW.