Is Jesus The Only Way To Heaven?

This question is usually asked by Christians who are having a hard time believing that most people in the world are going to hell, or they can’t accept the arrogance of the statement that Jesus could possibly be the only way. In our world of pluralism and multiple truths, it just doesn’t seem socially polite to evangelize or to insist that Jesus is IT.

There is also the idea that all religions basically teach the same thing. If by that one means that they all teach “do unto others as you would have them do to you”, that is basically right. Most philosophies and religions teach that moral principle. But does this mean that they are the same in all aspects of their religion?

But we have to realize that if we say that Jesus is one of many ways to heaven, then we are not only putting words in Jesus’ mouth, but also in the mouths’ of all other religions and belief systems. This is assuming that all other belief systems want to be right with God, or that they want to go to heaven. To know this, we have to not just guess at what they want, but we have to look at it.

Now I would recommend each one of us looking at the major religions themselves and finding out what each one says is the salvation they are looking for and how to get there. But, honestly, I doubt many of us would even take the effort to look up Islam, Hinduism, etc on Wikipedia to read each article, let alone reading each holy book or the philosophy of the thousand forms of beliefs. So, to make it easy, I have listed a number of significant worldviews below, their main goals and a general statement of the means to reach that goal. If you belong to one of these belief systems, I apologize for my brevity, but this IS a short tract.

Jesus’ goals – forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, security on judgment day, preparation for living in God’s future utopia
Jesus’ means—a life of trust, dependence and faithfulness to God, setting aside that which would be good for you in this life

Buddha’s goal—To escape the endless cycle of recurring death and suffering
Buddha’s means—Separation from desire through various disciplines

Hinduism’s goals—To live at peace with the spirit world; to release oneself from the system of karma
Hinduism’s means—To live part of one’s life as detached from the world, in accordance to the basic rules of life.

Islam’s goals—To live among God’s people in submission to God; to live among God’s people in paradise after one dies.
Isalm’s means—To establish communities in submission to God in which his people can live and thrive.

Judaism’s goals—To live as a people chosen by God, separated to Him; to hasten the coming of God to earth.
Judaism’s means—To live according to the Torah, as understood by the rabbis.

Psychoanalysis’ goal—To live a life that is contented and at peace.
Psychoanalysis’ means—Therapy toward living a self-actualized life

The American Dream—To live a life of comfort, security and health in this life.
The American means—To have education, a good job and a secure government.

The moralist’s goals (e.g. Henry David Thourau)-- To live life at peace with oneself, others and creation.
The moralist’s means—To do well to all things, so they will do well to you.

The scientist’s goals—To discover all that the human mind can discover on its own.
The scientist’s means—Discovery by objective, repeatable experiments.

Christianity’s goals-To have our sins forgiven; to live in heaven after we die.
Christianity’s means—To believe in Jesus and to live with Jesus’ people.

Here are some observations I have made in looking at these, and other, belief systems:

1. Looking at these different paths, we can see that they don’t all go to the same place. Some want a better life now, some want a better life later, some want to be a people, some want to be individuals. If they don’t have the same goals, how could we expect them to have the same goals?

2. We can also see that they have radically different means. This only makes sense, if they have different goals. If one wants to be detached, it makes sense to surrender all desire for things. But if one desires to live with God, then one must be faithful or submitted to God.

3. Jesus’ path is unique. First of all, it is counter-intuitive. He insisted that suffering is necessary to obtain peace in the long run, for in this way God would see our sorry state and give us what we do not have. All other ways basically are insisting that whatever life you pursue, that is what you will obtain. Jesus doesn’t disagree with this (he who lives by the sword will die by the sword”), but he says that if one wants to obtain God’s fullest, best blessing, in this life and the next, one must surrender oneself now. To lose is to win. This is unique, and unheard of among religions and philosophies.

4. Interestingly enough, in both goals and means the closest pair is Jesus’ way and Islam. Muslims, in looking clear-eyed at Jesus, often says, “This is too hard, and unnecessarily so, as well!” But this is the disagreement between Muhammad and Jesus. Muhammad sought a middle way, such as the medieval Roman church, a way easy enough to include everyone who chose or were born into their society. Jesus, however, made it clear that the way to God’s fullest blessing isn’t easy, nor could be. The goals are similar, but the means of obtaining these goals are different. So this is a basic question of who is right—Muhammad or Jesus? From this Christian’s perspective, it is only Jesus who was resurrected from the dead…

5. One might note that I placed Christianity and Jesus in separate categories. For the most part, most Christians agree with the Muslims that Jesus’ stated way is too difficult. So they build communities, nationalities, theologies and philosophies that transform Jesus’ gospel into something more palatable. Perhaps they claim that his salvation is simply “going to heaven” instead of being resurrected into the kingdom of God. Perhaps they see the means of salvation as “easy believism” or simple acceptance of a church’s teachings instead of Jesus’ way of life. But this is the reason that Jesus said—and continues to say—that the way to life is narrow, despite that there are more Christians in the world today than any other belief system. Because, ultimately, even Christians have a hard time believing what Jesus said.

What is the answer?
If you are looking for the salvation that Jesus’ offers—
An escape from karma through God’s grace
The Holy Spirit—God himself—to assist current living
A good life in God’s kingdom
-- Then Jesus is the only means to obtain that salvation.

If you want something else—
A good life in the here-and-now;
A way of escaping reincarnation;
A general spirituality without a real life in God
-- Then perhaps Jesus isn’t the one you are looking for.

Lewis' Classic "Poached Egg" Argument, Part 1

“I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” -C.S. Lewis

In looking at this paragraph, we must first of all realize what Lewis was not saying: He was not using this argument to convince anyone that Jesus is God. He is simply saying it is hard to have a good opinion about a man who claims to be God Almighty unless he really WAS God Almighty. Either we have to take him deadly serious, or we need to ignore all he said. Lewis isn’t saying which one we should choose, simply that we have to make the choice. So Campus Crusade’s use of this passage as a proof for Jesus’ divinity doesn’t really work.

The only weakness of Lewis’ argument is what if Jesus didn’t claim to be God. Certainly a couple of Jesus’ first century disciples claimed this for him. John (or John’s student) says right off the bat that Jesus is God (John 1:1). Paul says that Jesus created all things, is before all things and sustains all things (Col. 1:16-17).

But did Jesus himself claim to be God? He said, “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30), but we can see later in John that Jesus’ idea of “oneness” also includes all of Jesus’ disciples (John 17:11), so it can’t be the sharing of the Father’s essence that is often described in Christian theology. Thomas proclaimed Jesus his God, and Jesus didn’t stop him, but that’s a little less than the “man who claims he is a poached egg.”

Jesus did claim to be the Son of God (John 11:4), but we can see that the Son of God really just meant the Messiah, or Christ, or king of Jerusalem (John 1:49; 11:27). Jesus did proclaim himself the King of Jerusalem, clearly, as he rode into Jerusalem on a fowl, which fulfilled the prophecy of Jerusalem’s king (Matthew 21:1-9). It is interesting that when Peter made his bold, but private, proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah, that while Jesus approved of this, he also told his disciples not to tell anyone (Matthew 16:16-20). During Jesus’ ministry, it wasn’t clearly stated that he was the Christ, which would explain the confusion of all who listened to him as to his identity, and in John it says he only pointed to the miracles to explain who he was (John 10:24-25). Only to the Sanhedrin, which was a court, but it was only semi-public, did he finally make a clear statement that he was the Christ (Matthew 26:63-64) and that is only clear if you know and have understood Daniel’s prophecy (Daniel 7:13). Jesus’ statements about himself were an enigma wrapped in a controversy.

But even then, his statements were about him being king, certainly not clearly about being God. That was left to His disciples. I am not denying it’s truth, I am speaking about Lewis’ argument. His argument is that Jesus clearly called himself God, which means it is either true or he was insane. (It’s frankly not likely that Jesus was a liar, since it would be a very ineffective lie in first century Judaism, as well as pretty much any other monotheistic culture). But if Jesus was only hinting at his divinity, not stating it clearly, then that makes him neither here nor there. Jesus was smart enough—sane enough—not to come down clearly on his divinity, let alone his messiahship. If he is sane enough to dance around these subjects, surely he is sane enough to be a good moral teacher.

Why Jesus Came: In His Own Words

John 6:38-39
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”

Matthew 5:17
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill”

Mark 1:38-39
He said to them, "Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for." And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons

Mark 2:15-17
And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?" And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house." And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."


Luke 9:51-56
When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

John 12:46-47
"I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”

Luke 12:49-53
"I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

Mark 10:42-45
Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

John 12:23-27
And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour '? But for this purpose I came to this hour.”

John 17:1
Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.”

John 18:37
Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth."