Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. Mat 7:14 How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!
Parker needs to stick to what she really knows and leave the theology to the Theologians.
If she hasn’t studied the Bible, which she’s indicated by her ignorance of Scripture, well, no use in arguing with the uninformed.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13407a.htm
So tragic that so many people fall into the trap of universalism, or whatever else they may call it, and never even try to learn and understand the Word of God.
As I've stated previously on this forum ...
The sticking point of Christian faith is what theologians call "the scandal of the particular". That is , that there is only one way to God.
Jesus made the same claim - "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father but by me."
I don't think my belief system is at odds with this. I believe that human beings have an eternal soul. I've also come to believe that there are many paths to many "Gods".
If you want to wind up with what Budda had to offer ... walk that path. If you want what the pantheism of the Hindu belief system offers... go right ahead. If you want to march to your own drummer, following as best you can your concept God, knock yourself out.
The "scandal of the particular" though, means that if I want to have relationship with the Being that Jesus referred to as "Father", I have to acknowledge my brokenness and need for forgiveness and entrust Jesus with my life.
The only way to that God and what He offers is through faith in Jesus. The claim of the God that Jesus called "Father" is that He offers eternal life in relationship with Him. The second person of this triune God demonstrated the validity of this offer by laying aside His own diety and becoming a man, offering himself as the sacrifice for my sin and then, as the firstborn from the dead, being raised by the Father to the same eternal life He offers to all. As an added bonus, because I'm forgiven, I can and do have an ongoing, cognitive, emotional relationship with this God right now.
So, at the end of this 70 or 80 year part of the life of your eternal soul, if you've followed the path of a God other than the one Jesus called Father, you may or may not get what your God offered, I can't vouch for their ability to deliver. You won't, however, get what the God that Jesus called Father has offered, in fact, since you wanted something else, you'll be separated from that God forever. What ever the result, look into the mirror for the one responsible for it.
Jesus said to Kathleen Parker, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man or woman comes to the Father, except by me.” John 14:6
She will get a horrible surprise when her time to meet God comes.
Self censored.
LLS
Jesus answered and said unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. - John 14:6
Seems pretty simple to me.
Jesus talked about hell more than anyone else in the Bible. I guess He didn’t know what He was talking about, according to Kathleen.
It is the “philosophy” of our day...and yes, the younger generation has bought that lie in droves. After all, if Oprah says that “all paths lead to God” - it must be more reliable that the Word of God, eh?
Hey, folks.
Dr Mohler’s input on the Parker article which we’ve been discussing.
He would have been in good company had he sat in on our discussion. :>) He echoed most of our points.
Now, about the young evangelicals throwing off the belief that Jesus is the only way to salvation. I say it’s an artifact of the research and that, without seeing the research and the questions as asked, we really shouldn’t be assuming that someone as hostile to Christianity as Kathleen Parker would haven’t distorted something to make her point.
We have also found in the past serious problems with the definitions of “protestant”, “evangelical”, and “faith” as used in opinion research. For example, in my experience, “protestant” is generally held to be anything that is not Roman Catholic or Orthodox.
Jesus is a liar.
- Kathleen Parker
Heck, anyone can go to Heaven, even non-Christians - long as they believe in Jesus.
“God Spot”??????? From an NPR twit no less. Clearly these people are either completely whacked and scientifically illiterate, or they’ve been hitting the crack pipe big time. Aw... it’s probably both.
Aren’t these the same people that believe near death experiences are due to hypoxia or CO2 buildup.
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Case closed. If you believe that there are other ways to heaven than Jesus, then Jesus died in vain.
The odd thing is, I came to this thread today not using my usual browser.
As a result I didn’t know the bookmark labeled “Free Republic” would take me to this old post of mine ( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1964353/posts?page=72#72 ) in a thread titled: “Jesus was an Iconoclast”.
Where that post dovetailed with your OP rather nicely was early on when I wrote: “But this isn’t an age of zealousness in the world. Rather it is an age of apostasy. Can one be too narrow? Certainly! But narrowness isn’t the big issue of the day: it is broadness. We live in a culture here in America, and even more so in other parts of the West, where simply be doctrinally straight is considered being narrow and dogmatic.”