This question raises two related issues. First, is it true that the Christian faith maintains that the only way of salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ? Yes, but it is not arbitrary: there are important reasons. The first reason is that the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, taught this Himself. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6). On another occasion He taught that “no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27, NIV). Furthermore, those who received their instruction in the faith from Jesus Himself also taught this. The apostles Peter and John said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NIV). [Read more…]

Polls in the United States consistently reveal that about 95% of us believe in the existence of God or a higher power. Does this mean that 95% of Americans are in right relationship with God? Not according to Jesus. He said that no one can come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). His own, personally-trained disciples stated that a right relationship with God (salvation) is found only through Jesus (Acts 4:12). [Read more…]

The Holocaust and the attack on the World Trade Center are just two of many atrocities which have been witnessed in history. Car accidents, murder, AIDS and genocide, all can be found by scanning one day’s news. “Why?” is the most-frequently asked question. In fact, when the pollster George Barna asked Americans, “If you could ask God one question and knew He would give you an answer, what would you ask?”—the top response (17%) was, “Why is there so much pain and suffering?” The answer to this question is found at two levels of human experience. [Read more…]

No one will go to Hell because they have never heard of Jesus. People go to Hell because the sin in their life separates them from God. Similarly, people do not die because they have never heard of the cure for a disease. They die from the causative agents of the disease, such as a virus, or bacteria, some trauma to the body, or a genetic defect. This is not an attempt to be evasive or facetious—the distinction is critical to understanding this issue. In the case of spiritual death the causative agent is sin. Is there a cure? Yes, God has already made it available, completely free to each individual, through the substitutionary and atoning death of Jesus Christ, and our embracing that cure through a confession of faith. [Read more…]

First, the Christian faith is not invalidated by the actions of some Christians in history—or by how they may act today. The truth of Christianity stands or falls on the genuineness of the person of Jesus Christ, which is demonstrated in the book Surprised by Faith. Since He was not a hypocrite, we are not excused from becoming His follower just because we can find someone whose behavior is inconsistent or turns us off. [Read more…]

Take, for example, an atheist who is a good citizen, kind to people and gives to charity: Would he/she still go to hell and be separated from God forever?

 Everyone who contemplates that someone would be separated from God and spend eternity in Hell ought to do so with tears in their eyes. It is not a thought which a Christian can enjoy or feel smug about. Emotionally, everyone wants to believe that a loving God would place everyone in Heaven. However, our feelings are usually quite subjective and are not the way to arrive at objective truth. What are the biblical facts? [Read more…]