Exclusivity and Inclusivity
That is, Jesus' Own claim to be the only way to God the Father as well as Paul, Peter, John and most of the other Good News and New Testament writers affirming it -along with the Old (or First) Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, the Messiah must be reckoned with if one truly seeks eternal LIFE and relationship with God.
God is not American or any other nationality, He is not a member of any -particular- local church or denomination, He doesn't belong to any political party of any kind and He takes no instruction, teaching or rule from any human being- we who are all created in His image but all quite obviously removed from it in terms of literal perfection or holiness, the way we often think, speak, treat one another. HE is "other" and He bows to no human-constructed rules. He is INclusive (I've written in blog posts on this plenty over the years) but also genuinely EXclusive in that there is simply no other God, no person who matches, rivals or superceeds Him!
"I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me" is about the most exclusive phrase John (14.6) quotes Jesus as saying. He said other things that state the same essential point- but this verse is only the beginning.
This link mentions only the most basic verses but gives a solid overview of what I along with most followers of Jesus through the ages understand as a core, foundational truth clearly threaded throughout the Bible -and likely one reason many wish to do away with the Book itself. It leaves no room for another "god"- including those we manufacture or the worst of them... the false god -our self.
All who seek Him find Him in God-the-Son Christ Jesus. "Whosoever will, let them come!" is the cry of the Lord.
I say understandingly and at the same time, sadly, that many will go to no ends to blow these truths off with countless objections to the "how" of eternal salvation in Jesus -but in the end as we shall all see in His Own perfect timing, one of the things the Jesus Movement got 100 percent correct was what many would rather consider a mere and perhaps wrong and negative "slogan" and not much more when we said and I say now and forever: "One Way"! That WAY is Jesus Christ Himself.
John's amazing, love-and-grace filled quote in John 6.37 is super-important to know and believe regardless of the nay-sayers, liars and accusers of all of us: "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out."
Alleluia: "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved", "For there is no other Name under heaven by which we must be saved" - His Name is JESUS!
As always, thanks for stopping by! -Glenn
Thank you Glenn writing this up. Couple of last months or so Finnish newspapers have had multiple writings where non-Christian politicians have criticized Christian politics using phrases "can this person be real Christian if he/she push forward for example raising taxes" or something alike. Your writing hit's the nail - Christ has nothing to do with political parties, systems or structures. Jesus works in totally different level - he is interested about you and me personally, who we are, how we can be saved and how to have relationship with us. He can't be labeled as socialist, capitalist, nationalist - or environmentalist, industrialist or something between. He is not sole property of one denomination or congregation. People are people and they have different ways…