On a Wednesday Night fifteen years ago, July 30 2017, a bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed. 13 people died and 145 were injured. Amazingly, in 2005, engineers rated the I-35 bridge in Minnesota as "structurally deficient" and possibly in need of replacement. After that announcement, millions of people continued to cross that bridge... until that Wednesday evening. We should find that, at least I do, unbelievable. Many crossed the bridge because they did not know. Many crossed in denial. The simple truth is that the bridge was "structurally deficient".
All over the world today, preachers, including this one, are telling people that the worldview that they have is "structurally deficient." We will tell people that the religion they are using to try to reach God is "structurally deficient." And amazingly, they will continue to use the same "structurally deficient" route.
People tell me that I am closed-minded, intolerant, and politically incorrect because I believe in the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means that I believe that the Jesus of the Bible is the only way to have a relationship with God. He is the only way to go to Heaven. And that every other way is "structurally deficient" and will not work.
Does that make me a mean and evil person? Because I believe that without Jesus, people will spend eternity in hell? ....I believe in that place too.
I believe that many are proclaiming a savior that is not the Savior presented in Scripture. They present a God who gives a wink and a nod to their favorite sins while condemning others. They present a false gospel that says you can believe whatever you want to believe, and still get to heaven. That is not the gospel, the good news, presented in the Bible. The Bible says,
"11 This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”"
⸺ (Acts 4:11–12, CSB)
Am I mean, evil, closed-minded, and intolerant because I truly believe what I say that I believe? Would I be a better person if I was a liar about what I believe? Would it make me better to alter God's Word to make people feel better about how they live and what they believe? What kind of thought process is that?
"You will be a better person if you are liar and a hypocrite."
"You will be a better person if you deny your faith."
I profess and confess to believe in Jesus as He is revealed the Bible. If you say you believe in Jesus but not the BIble, I must ask; "What do you know of Jesus that is not in the Bible?" You cannot just pick and choose.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6 CSB)
If that is not true, then Jesus is the liar and who wants to believe in Him anyway? But, I believe that it is true. That does not make me a bad person... it makes me a Christian. And I cannot understand why anyone who thinks Jesus is a liar would want to call themselves a Christian anyway.
Here is my point: I am not forcing anyone to believe what I believe. I am simply believing what I say I believe. I believe that if you do not place your faith in Jesus Christ, turn from sin and turn to God, and then live your life as evidence (believing what you believe); then you will spend eternity separated from God in a place created for the devil and his angels being forever in torment and anguish.
It is your choice.
And besides, if believing in anything is alright, then I am OK... I believe in something.
But, if what I believe is true and you do not believe exclusively in Jesus for salvation, then you have everything to lose. What bridge are you using to get to God?