Cosponsor Not - Frank Heinsohn
It is a common occurrence when a friend or acquaintance will mention to me that he or she believes in Jesus as their personal Savior, but thinks that there are multiple paths to salvation and other paths are just as viable as theirs is through Jesus. Around Easter of 2021 even two so-called Gospel preachers on the national stage made essentially this statement from their respective pulpits. I suspect that most say this either out of ignorance or because they don’t want to be characterized as non-loving.
This type of statement from someone who claims “I have my means to salvation and you can have yours” fits within the mantra of a post-truth culture where everyone is allowed to have his or her own truth and should be careful not to tread on other’s versions of truth. But the question that has been rattling in my brain is, does this raise issues for that specific person’s salvation and true belief in Jesus Christ as his or her own Lord and Savior? In John’s Gospel the disciples and Jesus are in discourse when Jesus says:
“And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14:4-6, NASB 1995).
In discussing these false proclamations with my pastor, the Reverend Patrick Malphrus, he commented that someone who states these proclamations about multiple ways is calling Jesus a liar. This made me ponder the whole concept of calling Jesus a liar and where had I seen this terminology before?
It is in First John and I had recollections of these verses from my childhood. I grew up in a denomination that utilized a common weekly liturgy. That liturgy quoted much of this language from First John. I have included five verses here as I think the context is important, but the final sentence is probably most critical to the thought process of the question that I have pondered.
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us (1 John 1:5-10).
One thing that I find particularly appealing about the NASB is its use of capitalized letters for the pronouns referring to members of the Trinity. It is very helpful to me in discerning who or Who is speaking in a passage of Scripture. For this posting, the significance of this usage makes the last verse crystal clear. There are repercussions to calling Jesus a liar.
Another verse of Scripture regarding calling God a liar from later in 1st John:
The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son (1 John 5:10).
If Jesus has said, “no one comes to the Father but through Me.” And if Scriptures says,
“the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar.” And it does. And if making Him a liar means that His word is not in us. How can it be loving to say, “I have my means to salvation through Jesus, but they can have their means however they or their religions choose.” That is not expressing love. Instead that is perpetuating and facilitating an eternal damnation for others which is the furthest from true LOVE. The Old Testament gives an account of Solomon that says:
“Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods…So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.”” (1 Kings 11:7-8,11).
It does not say explicitly in these verses that Solomon actually worshipped these idols, but his heart was turned away from the True God. God did not deal lightly with facilitating that false worship by his foreign wives.
Scripture makes it clear that it is sinful to call any Person of the Trinity a liar. Claiming that you have your own means to salvation through Jesus, but others can have just as valid of a means by some other path is calling Jesus a liar. Even if you have said these words at some point in the past, all is not lost. Look back at 1 John 1:5-10. Confess your sins and you can be cleansed from all unrighteousness. True LOVE, and there is only one truth, is the LOVE that was made real and visible to us by Jesus Christ on Calvary. Coexist-yes. Commingle-yes. Construct High Places-NO as that is no LOVE at all and only facilitates Hell and damnation.