Humility vital in holding to the one true way
Narrow-minded. Judgmental. Arrogant. Bigots. These are familiar pejoratives applied to Christians, especially those who take the teachings of the Bible seriously.
Sometimes this is fair criticism. Sadly, we professing Christians have sometimes been our own worst enemy by coming across in a harsh or “holier than thou” manner in how we communicate.
This is ironic given that Jesus taught and modelled humility, compassion and love.
If you have been hurt or offended by overly aggressive “communication” in the name of Christ, I can only say sorry and encourage you to look beyond the messenger to the Biblical message and especially to the person of
Jesus. A great way to learn about him is to read the gospel of Mark or John in the Bible.
Sometimes offence is taken to the content of the Christian message even when it is communicated with appropriate sensitivity and care.
Jesus warned that his message would divide people (see Matthew 10:34-36). A big reason for this lies in the claims that Jesus made. He did not present himself and his message as one option out of many for people to add to other religious or lifestyle options, a bit like a “pick ’n’ mix” from the confectionary aisle at the supermarket.
He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).
Our pluralist, relativistic age does not like exclusive truth claims.
However, if you think about it, if something is true, other alternatives that contradict it must be wrong. If 1+1 = 2 is true, then asserting that 1 + 7 = 2 must be wrong. If Jesus is who he claimed to be, then he is the unique fully human and fully divine saviour and Lord and the only way to God. That rules out other options for finding ultimate meaning in life and peace with God.
The following memorable words about Jesus, written by C S Lewis, still ring true today: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. “That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
"Sometimes offence is taken to the content of the Christian message even when it is communicated with appropriate sensitivity and care. "
“You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”