Are There Many Ways to Heaven? (Sermon: Luke 23:32-43)

Do you believe there are ways to get to heaven other than Jesus? If so, you may be comforted to know that many people, perhaps even most people, agree with you. But there some other facts you may not find so comforting. Did you know that Jesus Himself explicitly claimed to be the only way to heaven? Jesus said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me"(John 14:6). C. S. Lewis has pointed out that Jesus' statement leaves you with three options.

First, you may conclude that Jesus was liar. In other words, He claimed to be the only way to heaven, but He was lying. However, if you cannot accept that Jesus was a liar, then you could instead conclude that He was a lunatic. In other words, He thought He was telling the truth, but He was insane. He simply didn't know what He was talking about. Comfortable yet?

Well, if you can't conclude that Jesus was a liar (He was telling the truth), and you can't conclude that He was a lunatic (He knew what He said was true), then your only other option is to conclude that Jesus is Lord, that He really is the only way to heaven!

Yet the claim made by Jesus is also made by the Bible: "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). I suppose you could conclude that the Bible is wrong at least at this point, but where does that leave the Christian? If you conclude that Jesus is either a liar or a lunatic, or if you conclude that part or all of the Bible is wrong, how could you even believe that Jesus is a way to heaven. If I didn't trust either the words of Jesus or the Bible, or perhaps both, I would look for salvation some other way.

So I ask you this question again: "Do you believe there are ways to get to heaven other than Jesus?" Some readers may answer yes, but if you are a Christian, how can you answer yes without dismissing either the words of Jesus or the Bible? If you think it is possible to be a Christian and still believe there are other ways to get to heaven, I would like to encourage you to post your explanation here. I can't imagine that anyone will be able to articulate a rationale response, but I dare you to prove me wrong.