Do You Believe That?

Our American culture says that everyone is good, everyone is headed for heaven and every religion is a way to get there. As a result, the New Testament teaching that non-Christians are lost from God and that Jesus is the only way to salvation, is not very popular.
Jesus said, “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already.”
In 1854 a criminal named Charlie Peace was hung in London. In those days part of the execution ritual was having an Anglican priest read this liturgy as the condemned was led to the gallows: “Those who die without Christ experience hell, which is the pain of forever dying without the release which death itself can bring.”
Charlie Peace shouted at the priest, “Do you believe that?”
Surprised by the unexpected outburst, the priest haltingly replied, “Well...I...suppose I do.”
“Well, I don't,” said the man about to die. “But if I did, I'd get down on my hands and knees and crawl all over Great Britain, even if it were paved with pieces of broken glass, if I could rescue one person from what you just told me.”
If we really believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven and that we can affect a person's eternal destiny by sharing that information, we will tell others.

John 3:16-18

© 2007 Leith Anderson