With this recap, I will suggest another reason why some people don't believe in God (or more accurately, choose not to believe in God). Some people simply get upset by how Jesus claims to be the only way to know and come to God. Jesus explained it this way:
"I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me." (Capitalization added for emphasis.) -- John 14:6The hornets' nest is stirred up even more when they read claims like:
"The one who has seen Me [Jesus] has seen the Father [God]." -- John 14:9Jesus equates Himself with God even more blatantly in the following passage:
"The Father [God] and I are one." -- John 10:30As you can imagine, most Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and followers of other religions and cults who don't use the Bible as the scriptural basis for their beliefs are upset - and some even completely outraged - by such statements. They accuse the Christian of being "exclusive" and "narrow-minded", among other things. They accuse Jesus of being a fraud and of being delusional. Such statements also fly in the face of modern spiritual thinking that there are "many ways" to God instead of "the way" that Jesus Christ claims to be.
So who's right: Is Jesus the only way to God, or is He not?
There are so many ways that this question can be explored. One can look at the mountains of archaeological evidence that give credibility to biblical names and places and use this to conclude that the Bible and whatever is written therein must be true. One can look at the extra-biblical accounts of Roman concern over the unrest caused by the ministry and teachings of Jesus and use this for evidence in His existence and in biblical credibility and teachings. One can look at the number of biblical prophecies fulfilled by Jesus and the infinitesimally small possibility of them being fulfilled by one man alone and use this to form the basis of their faith in Jesus. (Here's a great article about the odds of Jesus being this man.)
But rather than going on a search for evidence at this point - something that you can embark on if you wish - let me instead suggest that you first consider the following:
What if Jesus was right?
What if He was actually for real and was actually in the presence of His Father God in heaven, since before the dawn of time, before being placed into the womb of a Jewish teenager and living on earth as simultaneously the Son of God and the Son of Man for 33 years before being crucified on a Roman cross (according to God's plan and purpose) then bodily rising from death from a guarded tomb and appearing to 500 of His disciples at one time - and also His apostles, including one who actually touched one of Jesus' crucifixion wounds - and others over a 40-day period, then taken up into a cloud into heaven in the presence of several people and even two angels? (Whew!!)
Is it possible that all other religions of the world and the cults have gotten it all wrong? Is it possible that all of their attempts to worship and please their gods are totally in vain because their gods do not even exist? Well, according to the Bible and the words of Jesus, these things are the case!
The saying "Pride comes before a fall" is taken from the book of Proverbs, chapter 16 verse 18 (Proverbs 16:18). Humans love to acquire wealth and power and prestige and self-achievement and so on, and the root and result of these things is none other than pride. Pride likes to thumb its nose at others - and God - and say, "Look at what I have done. Look who I am. Look at what I have accomplished." Pride makes dependence upon anyone else - especially God - impossible. Pride also never wants us to admit that we might actually be wrong.
The reason why so many people throughout history have been insulted, angry, and even enraged to the point of murder about the claims of Jesus is not so much because they fear Him being right, but more so because they fear being wrong. They simply don't want their pride to be dragged through the mud of truth. In the case of people who have risen to religious prominence apart from the teachings that Jesus is God and the only way to come to God and that the Bible is infallible, they also risk the loss of wealth and power and prestige if Jesus is proven correct. The hyper-religious Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus' time are prime examples, and they stopped at nothing to kill Jesus (or so they thought) and his followers. Modern-day Pharisees live on in the form of the non-Christian religions and cults of this day.
Before you decide to protest or complain about what you have just read, just remember that it's no use shooting the messenger, me in this case. I'm only re-stating what Jesus said and what the Bible records. Your real issue is not actually with me or with this blog, it's with God. Your anger is actually anger towards God, whether you believe in Him or another god or not.
And you need to ask yourself why, exactly, you are mad at God: Are you mad at a Christian or someone else who claims to know God who wronged you at some time in the past? Are you mad at the suggestion that you might actually be wrong, whether you're an atheist or a member of another religious group? Or are you mad at the possibility that God actually did make Jesus the only means by which we can come to Him and know Him?
If you disagree with the claims of Jesus, what I suggest you do from here is really start to ask some serious questions about your current beliefs. If you decide to close your mind and live and die on your current assumptions that you're right and God/Jesus/the Bible is wrong, then the consequences for you as outlined in the Bible will be eternal, and I wouldn't wish these on anyone.
Please don't assume these claims aren't for real without giving them a serious look. Please don't let your pride lead to a fall that will last for an eternity.
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