January 12 – Absolute Truth

        John 14:6 – "Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

        That statement is the most exclusive statement that any religious figure could ever make. C.S. Lewis said that there are three possible conclusions from this statement: 1) that Jesus was lying; 2) that Jesus was a lunatic; or 3) that Jesus was truthful, and therefore, he really was the Son of God – the 2^nd person of the Triune God in the flesh. If Jesus was truthful, then Christianity is a very exclusive belief system. Thirty years after Jesus ascended into Heaven, the apostle Paul makes another bold statement about the story of Jesus. Galatians 1:8 – "Even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim a gospel other than the one we proclaimed to you, let him be eternally condemned!"

        From these verses and others, is where we get the idea that the Bible is God's recording of manifested truth for all of mankind – absolute truth. Even though God chose a timeline of hundreds of years to reveal more and more of himself, there always existed an absolute truth – one for all people, at all times of history, in every place on the earth. Jesus became the ultimate revelation of God himself and the final word in the unfolding of God's truth to mankind (Hebrews 1:2,3; Romans 16:25f).

        This sets Christianity apart from Hinduism and Buddhism, which would perhaps be inclusive of some Christian beliefs. Islam claims a direct revelation of God to Mohammed, some 500+ years after Jesus lived on the earth. Jesus, in Islam, is relegated as just a prophet, not God in the flesh. And Islam would certainly not agree with our opening scripture. Therefore, Christianity is at odds with Islam, also. Add into the mix, the myriad of other religions not followed by a billion people, as the other big three are. All would be at odds with our beginning scripture. Absolute truth has to be this way, or it would not be absolute, and therefore not truthful or trustworthy at all. It would be arbitrary at worst, as in all the minor belief systems that just make up their own doctrine, or hopeless and uncertain, at best, of a happy future, as in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Only Christianity brings the free grace of God, the free gift of salvation, for anyone who would understand it and take it.

        There can only be one belief system that is true in this world for everyone, everywhere, at all times. It has to be exclusive to have any validity of claim to truth. If it is not exclusive, it is worthless to put one's trust in, as eternal truth.