The Bible is so full of very clear statements that Christ is the only way to God and that even Christ Himself posited this as truth, that your comments are, at best, disingenuous, for someone who proclaims to have read the New Testament over and over again.
“I am the way, the truth and the Life, no man cometh to the Father except by Me,” seems like a pretty clear indication of what Christ believed was the way to Heaven. Apprehension of this truth is not something gained by intellectual pursuit, but by a transformative Spirit-generated faith that “sees” God’s truth in His Word. Jesus calls it being “born again” (John chap. 3), and except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Jesus said the consequence of not having that Spirit-generated transformative faith in Him is to remain in your sins, where, ultimately, the person experiences sin’s consequence: death. “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”
The very simple, but life-changing truth is this: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,” (from Acts chapter 16). This is pretty specific, don’t you think? All that are His know this, believe this, acknowledge this, profess this. It is the message of joy this holiday season...that one can be born again by receiving Him whose goings forth were foretold from of old.
Many have read these truths over and over again and have missed their import. Grasping the scriptures on an intellectual level is great. I’m sure Mr. Hitchens was quite good at this. But being, instead, grasped by the scriptures and their spiritual truth is another matter entirely. Jesus, when He was talking about His imminent death on the cross to His disciples said, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” God gives His Spirit so that people can have the scriptures illuminated and made clear. Mr. Hitchens, you, I or anyone else cannot manufacture the kind of illumination (saving faith) that does this. It is God’s spirit which illuminates, which “gives life...the flesh profits nothing,” and His spirit comes to those who are seeking Him.
You make lots of assumptions that I believe are not warranted. For instance, you imply that the Scripture verses you cite are “simple” to grasp. Ever pondered exactly what it means to “cometh to the Father”? Or the meaning of the threefold “way, truth and the Life”, including the subtle distinctions between the three concepts? Ever wondered whether there is more to “cometh to the Father except by me” than simply a statement that one is to believe the literal, historical account of the life of Jesus? And don’t even get me started on “Born Again” ... one of the most abused and misapprehended concepts in the modern Church.
In short, you import or transpose your own extra-Biblical intrepetive technique (one might call the technique “simplification”) onto Scripture. It is not inherent in Scripture itself.
Many of you freepers act like Hitchens was Timothy McVeigh. So sad to see so many Christians assume equal punishment for a nonbeliever to that of murderer.
Me thinks many of you will be on bended knee apologizing for the polarization of people who have differing religious and nonreligious beliefs.
To say your intellectual capacity is infantile, is a mass understatement.