Tuesday, December 08, 2009

In a 2008 Pew survey, 47% of evangelicals revealed their belief that other religions can lead to eternal life. It was 57% in 2002.

Jesus claimed exclusive access to eternal life. In John 14:6, he said "no one comes to the Father except through me". (NIV) That is perfectly clear with no room for debate. Did Jesus believe other relgions could lead to eternal life? No.

The famous verse of John 3:16 actually contains this same truth. God loved the world in this way: he sent his one and only son so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. God provided one way for salvation. He has one son who is that way. If you believe in him, you have eternal life. Verse 18 states it in the negative: whoever does not believe does not have eternal life but is condemned.

Since Jesus' claims, as set forth in the Bible, clearly are exclusive, what does this say about the 47% of evangelicals who believe otherwise?

Either they do not believe the Bible contains the words of Jesus, in which case they have othing to believe. Or, they do not believe Jesus told the truth, in which case he is not God's son and cannot be their savior. Or, and I think this one is the answer, 47% of evangelicals are not believers, are not Christians.

And this explains a lot of the problems in Evangelicalism.

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