Why is it That Christians Say We Have to Believe Their Way or Miss Heaven?

Q: Why is it that Christians say we have to believe their way or miss Heaven? Isn’t this a little narrow, maybe even arrogant? — S.P.

A: Christians do make up a religion — Christians believe God’s every word. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Who doesn’t want to be saved? Some years ago a man’s plane crashed into the ocean. He survived the crash, but had blood on his forehead which attracted the sharks, and he spent 10 hours kicking at the sharks to survive. Finally he spotted an aircraft and waved his orange life vest. The pilot spotted him and dropped a smoke canister and radioed a Coast Guard cutter that was 12 minutes away, saying: “Hurry! There’s a man down there surrounded by sharks.” The Coast Guard swooped in and rescued him. The man did not need a new swimming technique in order to be saved; he needed outside intervention.

All of mankind needs to be rescued. We all need outside intervention if we are going to live eternally with God in Heaven someday.

It is not arrogant or narrow-minded to claim that there is only one way of salvation or that the way we follow is the right way. After all, do we fault a pilot for being narrow-minded when he or she follows the instrument panel while landing in a rainstorm? No, we want the pilot to remain narrowly focused! Millions of people today want salvation and the hope of Heaven, but on their own terms. Christians do not proclaim salvation in any other but Jesus Christ; “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)

(c)2019 BILLY GRAHAM DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.