How Can I Know Christianity Is the Right Religion?

The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
—Matthew 7:13

A significant number of Christians today no longer accept the proposition that there is only one “right” religion. The implications of rejecting that faith in Jesus Christ offers the only hope for eternal life are obvious. How do I know which god we should be worshiping and what that god requires of us? When we pray, are we addressing Allah of Islam, Jehovah of the Bible, or one of the many gods in Hinduism? And which path do we follow in order to experience eternal life: the four yogas of Hinduism, the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism, the Mosaic code of Judaism, or the laws of Allah in the Qur’an? If it doesn’t really matter which path we take, then Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism are all wrong belief systems since they each claim an exclusive way to eternal life.

The consequences of embracing inclusivism (the belief that all religions lead to God) extend to our relationships with other people. Why risk offending someone of a different faith by sharing your beliefs about Jesus Christ if that person is going to the same heaven as you? Why support mission efforts around the world if all religions are equally valid?

Ultimately, inclusivism affects your view of Jesus Christ. The Christian who believes that all people will be in heaven regardless of their religious faith must reject some of Jesus’ clearest teachings about the exclusive nature of His message.

• Was Jesus wrong when He spoke of a narrow path that leads to eternal life and a broad path that leads to eternal destruction? (Matthew 7:13-14)
• Was Jesus being intolerant by declaring that no person could come to God except through Him? (John 14:6)
• Was Jesus demonstrating hatred toward others when He taught regularly about the reality of a hell that will be populated with people who had rejected His message? (John 3:18)

If Jesus was in error about the key issue of salvation, how can we trust anything He said?

The belief that there are many ways to God diminishes—and ultimately extinguishes—any thinking person’s “Christian commitment” because it destroys the credibility of the Founder of the Christian faith, Jesus Christ.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “How Can I Know Christianity Is the Right Religion?” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2012.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.