Is Christ the only way?

 
         One of the more awkward questions for an evangelical believer to answer in a secular setting is something like, “Do you really think that accepting Christ is the only way to get to heaven?” It sounds so narrow minded, It would mean that one’s neighbors who either have no religious affiliations or belong to a different religion, are going to end up in “the unquenchable fires of hell” (Mark 9:43). But you know that they are like most people; they don’t have wild parties, they are friendly, they keep their lawn mowed, and . . . well . . . they’re just good people. The obvious question is, “What kind of a god would put people like that in hell?”
         Acts 4 tells the story of Peter healing a lame beggar and the religious authorities throwing him into prison for it. Now he stands before them, and in answer to their question as to what power or name he had used, he answered, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (v. 12). No other name! That is pretty clear is it not? It means exactly what it says.
         How does a person handle a statement like that since it seems so contrary to what so many people think? There are a number of quick explanations. One has already been suggested: Any god worth following would never do a thing like that. In short, they simply don’t believe what Peter said. The argument against that “explanation” is that a Creator, by definition, doesn’t have to live by the rules of those he created.
          A second approach would be that the statement doesn’t mean what it seems to say. This would be raised by someone in the “what-does-“is”-mean?” group. So if words don’t say what you want them to say, then simply say that they don’t really say what they seem to say.
         Yet another way to handle the problem would be to pretend it doesn’t exist. When you build your own world it contains only what you want it to.
         Okay, let’s take the statement in its obvious sense. Faith in Christ is the only way to get to heaven. Historic Christianity believes that Peter was speaking under the control of the Holy Spirit and that Mark faithfully recorded what Peter said. It is inspired scripture, so we accept it as true in the same way that we accept John 3:16 as pointing out God’s redemptive work in Christ Jesus. People go to heaven by believing in Christ and there is no other way. That’s what Peter is telling those who wanted to know how he managed to heal the lame beggar.
         One more point needs to be made and that is — the God of the Judeo-Christian religion is a God of redemptive love. That theme runs throughout scripture. If his decision to limit heaven to those who come by faith in his Son seems harsh, remember that he was the One who, by an act of unmatched love, made heaven possible in the first place and salvation a reality. So when Peter says that the name of Jesus is the only name leading to salvation, we accept it. We leave any problem of supposed “injustice” with the God of love who lives in a realm far above ours. Eternity is in his hands and we honor him not only for the little we now know, but for all we will come to know when we “start school” in the endless span of what we once called “time.”