I was talking to a man yesterday with a religious background. He said something along the lines of believing in a more inclusive Christianity than he grew up with. It got me thinking about it, even if I never have another conversation with him to really find out what he meant by it (though I would love to). So don’t take this as an argument or me trying to disprove anything he was or wasn’t saying because it’s not my intent at all and wouldn’t be accurate, but the question on my table right now is this:
Is Christianity inclusive or exclusive?
I would say that the death and resurrection of Christ made it inclusive, more along the lines of opening the door to all of humanity. A carefully planned strike against the evil that had held us down and we were participants in. Would Jesus then close the door that he had opened to us all? My answer is a most emphatic NO! It would cross his purpose in coming and Jesus is not confused about his purpose, even if we are…
But broad is the road that leads to destruction and many are those who find it. Narrow is the path that leads to life. Few find it.
Jesus made alarmingly exclusive statements like “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Conclusion? He opened the door, but you decide if you want to walk through it. Inclusive and exclusive. Fair because it is based on the principle of choice every person was born with. Unfair to Jesus because he paid the ransom for me when I couldn’t.
I am all about questions and having open discussions. Our ignorance has an opportunity to come into the light and be dealt with. So many have simply not had exposure to the gentle love of the Saviour so why would they not have hangups? But once the knowledge of the existence of Jesus is finally on our tables, we are faced with a terrifying reality: we can’t go back the same way we came. We can’t justify claiming ignorance or anger either. We must either accept him the way he himself described we had to, or reject him. There is no third option. Jesus himself doesn’t let us.
But this is what we do: the third option….
I suspect that we mask a very simple problem with complicated arguments that throw the responsibility for the salvation of mankind back onto Jesus.
WE decide there must be many doors because we simply don’t want to walk through the One.
It’s the only way we can sleep at night.
COREY KOPE 