celebrities for example. In many cases, all that is required is that the celebrity has an opinion about it. It doesn’t really matter that he or she has never been exposed to sound Biblical teaching, or has any other credentials that would qualify him or her to make such statements.
The subject of Heaven and Jesus being the Only Way is just one of those topics which we frequently hear them pontificating on. They will boldly declare that Jesus can’t possibly be the “only way.” And the audience applauds.
I agree that there are “many ways,” but they all need to be asking where those
ways take them. Only one road takes us to Heaven. How do we know this? Because
the Bible says so. And if I believe what the Bible says about that, then I’ve got to believe what it says about my sin and my eternal destination unless I repent and turn to Christ.
Not many audiences, including those in many churches, would applaud if Oprah said, “Jesus is the only way to heaven, and we need to follow Him.”
Sort of reminds me of an old story about a motor cycle mechanic who was removing a
cylinder head from the motor of a Harley motorcycle when he spotted a well-known heart surgeon in his shop. The surgeon had come in so the mechanic could take a look at his bike.
The mechanic shouted across the garage, “Hey, Doc, can I ask you a question?”
The surgeon walked over to the mechanic. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his
hands on a rag and asked, “So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take valves out, fix ‘em, put ‘em back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I get such a small salary and you get the really big bucks, when you and I are doing basically the same work?”
The surgeon paused, smiled and leaned over, and whispered to the mechanic... “Try it with the engine running.”
Just because the mechanic could repair a motorcycle engine did not mean that he
could perform open-heart surgery. The lesson, I believe, is that just because I’ve made a movie, or thrown a few touchdowns, or even won an election, does
not mean that I am qualified to give a definitive word on what the Bible says about Heaven or how to be saved.
I am certainly not saying that the only ones qualified to comment about the Bible
or even have an opinion about it are preachers and Bible scholars. But when it
comes to commenting on spiritual matters, shouldn’t we at least be familiar with what the Scripture says? Shouldn’t we question the source of our information before blindly believing anything that comes across the airwaves or in an email?
We should all be careful what we believe. Not everything we hear is true.
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com