T’S A POPULAR AND ACCEPTABLE BELIEF IN OUR MULTICULTURAL, pluralistic society that many faith roads lead to heaven. It doesn’t matter, many people say, which belief you choose or whom you follow, because they all guide you to God.
So why does the Christian insist that there’s only one true way that leads to God—and that is through Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son? Why do they emphasize the Bible text that referring to Jesus, reads: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)? Aren’t we being just too exclusive and narrow-minded?
To the questions we have posed there may be many answers. We submit two major considerations.
First, Christianity is the only religion that does not depend on doing good works as a means of salvation. All other religions depend upon human effort to build up a credit system in order to attain access to heaven. Pilgrimages, prayer wheels, flagellations, worship rituals, and strict obedience to a set of rigid rules ?are just a few of the efforts put forth by people to gain “brownie points” with God. Sadly, our very best efforts cannot buy us a ticket to heaven.
The situation is desperate. What to do? For “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6).
Humanity’s work is to accept the work done for us by Another. It’s to hang our helplessness on a task already completed for us in Christ’s death, and to accept by faith the free gift of salvation that is given to us (John 3:16).
Such a gift is called grace—amazing grace! Not the words prayed before a meal nor the fluid movements of a ballerina, but the unmerited favor given freely to one who does not deserve it. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9).
No other prophet or religious leader can offer a plan that does not depend on the works of humans to gain complete acceptance by and access to the divine.
The second major reason why Christ is above all prophets is the fact of His resurrection. There’s no need to visit an ancient shrine, no need to make a pilgrimage to a distant mausoleum housing the supposed remains of a religious guru. Had Christ remained in His grave, His tomb would have meant the death of all our hopes. The victory would have remained with the law of death. But—thank God!—mountains piled upon mountains could not have prevented our Lord from coming forth.
What other prophet can claim a thrilling resurrection morning? “He’s alive! He’s alive!” Such words have echoed and reechoed down through the centuries. They ring out defiantly in an age where the outcry of the majority is “God is dead.”
Alas, Muhammad and Buddha are dead. They cannot claim to be living mediators between God and humans. Because they did not live after death, they cannot be a pledge of our own resurrection, our own eternal future and security.
Christ’s resurrection means glad anticipation of an experience that surpasses all: finding our permanent dwelling place in the presence of Jesus. Such a promise raises our expectations and pumps strong hope into the veins of the future. To what other religious leader can we go for such security?
With deep respect and admiration for the piety of other religious leaders, and with the understanding that everyone is free to choose their own belief system, the Christian must yet uphold the God-man, Jesus Christ, as sovereign Lord of all and the only way of eternal salvation.
__________
Norma O’Hara, a former teacher living in Kewdale, a suburb of Perth in Western Australia, is now a lay preacher and a freelance writer. She has a postgraduate degree in religious studies. This article was published February 11, 2010.
