Published: September 20, 2008 12:17 am         

Some call it arrogance; Jesus calls it the truth

Pastor's Pen

By The Rev. Andrew Wollman, Prince of Peace Lutheran



Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Pretty bold statement. Especially the “way” and the “truth” bit. For Jesus to say he was the only way to heaven, meant that he was God come in the flesh. Which further meant that all other “ways” were bogus; all other gods were false. To trust in Roman rulers who claimed to be gods was not the way. To believe in the make-believe Greek gods and goddesses like Zeus and Aphrodite was not the way. Jesus was claiming to have the corner on the market of faith. There was no other formula but that which he taught and espoused. No other God than that which he enfleshed.



People didn’t like to be told this. In fact, they hated Jesus and his “way” so much they had him crucified. Crucifixion was considered a way of dealing with a curse.

“Cursed is everyone who is hangs upon a tree” (Gal.3:10). That’s what Jesus and his “way” was for them: a curse. And how true! Jesus and his way is a curse for those who reject him. Always has been; always will be.

And because Jesus is “the same yesterday, today, and forever”(Heb.13:8), his message remains the same: “I am still the way, the only way,” says our Lord. But that sermon doesn’t sit well at all with too many people in the 21st century. In this world of cultural relativism, we desperately want to believe that there are many roads to heaven.

I suppose it seems much more loving to allow many paths to heaven. If Buddha gets you there, but Christ gets me there, isn’t God just happy that we all found our own way? If it’s Islam for you, and Hinduism for another, aren’t we each just trying to find heaven in our own way? Won’t God honor that earnestness and sincerity? Very prominent and well-loved people have espoused such heresy in public.

No, the truth is, striving for heaven in any way other than through Christ who IS the way, is tantamount to the difference between God taking us there, or we getting ourselves there. I’m sure God would be very pleased if we could each find our own path to him. Unfortunately, the almighty triune God of the universe has declared that we are incapable of accomplishing such a task (Gen.8:21, 1Cor.2:14, Rom.8:7).



Therefore, it’s not loving to silently tolerate the beliefs of others as our world teaches us today, but it is hateful! Only hate allows another to go to hell with no warning; love never does such a thing, not even for the sake of “peace in the family.” Who would not warn someone of a bridge being out up around the corner because we might offend someone who is determined to go that way? It’s ludicrous to think it more loving to just let them fall to their death rather than stir up trouble by warning them.

And not only are most people offended that Christ claims to be the only Way, but also the only Truth. What a gutsy thing to say! First of all, he’s claiming that there really is an absolute Truth. Secondly, he’s saying that he is the embodiment of that Truth. Everything He has taught and done is an extension of that Truth. Nothing else can be included. Not only that, but EVERYTHING ELSE is EXCLUDED.



These are fiery hot words for ears in the 21st century! They burn in and deeply anger those who reject them. Today’s philosophy says to embrace all beliefs, to accept all truths, and to love sin as a right of the sinner. In other words, we must deny that Christ is THE TRUTH, because in doing so, we can eliminate truth from existence. You can have your truth and I can have mine, which essentially means there is no truth, only freedom to sin and live selfishly and believe as we wish. And, if we cushion such foolishness with enough Biblical lingo, we can convince ourselves that this is not only right, but the holy thing to do.

This attitude has even crept in the church as Christians become offended when one’s understanding of the Bible differs from another’s. It is more acceptable today to accept that we simply cannot know God’s Truth, so we must embrace each other with one arm of relativism and the other arm of subjectivism. We stand their hugging in warm diversity and false equity as if God tolerates several versions of His Word.



Who of us would stand for this with our own words? Can you imagine if you said, “I believe Mom is dying” and it is interpreted and spread as YOUR WORD as “I believe the best thing for Mom is that she just die? “You would be furious at such an interpretation! But somehow we believe that it’s okay if we screw up God’s Word to mean several different things. We call it more loving to just accept that “That’s their way of believing, and we have ours. No one’s wrong, we just have different interpretations.”

Indeed, what do I have to offer to the world if I take this stand? As a pastor, I would have to end every sermon, “That’s what I think the Lord is saying, but I really have no way of knowing, so I hope that what is said here today was uplifting and helpful; but please don’t rely on any of it too much, because the guy down the road might be right in preaching something 180 degrees differently than me.



God has not enabled any of us to understand and know his truth, so we can only wish we might go to heaven because of what we hope might be true. Because don’t forget, they could be right too. Now, go in peace. Amen.”

Ha! If this is peace, what is war? The problem is that those who embrace this “tolerance” approach to Theology deem the opposite to be one of arrogance. To claim one has the only truth is sinful arrogance they would say. Really? Our own Lord claimed this very thing: “I am the way; I am the Truth.” The “I am’s” not only claimed he was God, but they claimed that there was only one way and only one truth. And he didn’t come to teach that way believing we could never possibly understand it. In fact, he warned us that others might change his Word so that their itching ears would be scratched they way they liked it! (2Tim.4:3).



And he certainly didn’t tolerate any teaching that differed from His own. Our Lord is very exclusive that way. He’s inclusive in that he died and rose for ALL people, so that ALL could be saved. But he’s quite exclusive when it comes to accepting multiple truths when there is but one: Him, and His.

Where God has spoken, he has done so in such a way that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all ways of truth. He promised this to the disciples in John 6:13, and in turn, they gave us what He guided them to give. All Scripture is inspired by God, or more literally, “God-breathed” (2Tim.3:16). So there is one Truth, and he is Jesus. We can know him and we can know it. And we have the privilege and responsibility to proclaim both! Even at the risk of being called arrogant. If the Lord can risk his life to give me the Truth, I can risk a little name-calling for his sake.

And in doing so, I can take comfort in being blessed, for that is what Christ calls being persecuted for his name’s sake. May God enable all of us to endure what it takes to stand for the one and only Truth, namely, Jesus Christ.



The Pastor’s Pen was created by the Rev. Andrew Wollman from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Goshen. Other pastors are welcome to write a column for the Pastor’s Pen. For more information, call religion editor Monica Joseph at 533-2151, ext. 319. Wollman would like to hear from readers about what subjects they are interested in and may want to read a column about. He may be reached via e-mail at pop7705@juno.com.