To call yourself a Christian means to answer yes to this question

I used to be part of a three-person team who contributed to a Christian blog together. We each wrote articles and rotated the schedule for posting our pieces. We worked well together and I enjoyed the team approach. However, two of us decided to dissolve the partnership when we learned the third person — who claimed to be a Christian — believed there was more than one way to get to heaven.

I thought all Christians believed Jesus to be the one and only way to God. Isn’t that the very definition of a Christian?

Christians are followers of Christ. We believe Jesus is the Messiah. We believe He was fully man, but He was also fully God in human flesh.

He was fully man

But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus (Matthew 1:25, NIV).

He was fully God

Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory (1 Timothy 3:16, NIV).

As a believer, I trust what Jesus said.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6, NIV).

I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins (John 8:24, NIV).

But there are some people — who claim to be Christian — who say they don’t believe what He said.

But whether they believe it or not doesn’t make it untrue. It’s a spiritual law, similar to a physical law, that doesn’t change regardless of whether one believes it or not.

David Jeremiah, the founder and host of Turning Point for God, gave a metaphor I found helpful. He compared the physical law of birth with spiritual birth. God provided only one way to have physical birth and only one way to have spiritual birth.

We may not like the way a baby begins, grows, and develops. We may not believe a baby gets everything it needs from the mother through the umbilical cord. We may not agree with how a baby enters the world.

But it’s a physical law (just like the physical law of gravity) that doesn’t change just because one does not believe it.

God gave us the precious gift of babies. It’s a special part of His design. He also gave us the precious gift of His own Son. It’s all part of His plan of redemption for humanity.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16, NIV).

Such an exclusive statement may confuse and offend some. But it’s true nonetheless. And considering Jesus is God, He has the authority to claim to be the only Way to God.

I and the Father are one. (John 10:30, NIV)

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12, KJV).