A conservative commentator recently committed a dastardly deed. She was asked what a Jew must do to get to Heaven. She responded by stating that they must believe in Jesus as Savior. Her comments set off a firestorm in the media. She was castigated by multiple media outlets, and it was suggested by many that she should never be allowed to appear on television again.
I am very interested in the intolerance of the liberal media and the intellectual elite who promote tolerance as their cardinal virtue. They are tolerant as long as no one espouses a religious view that is contrary to theirs. Indeed, it seems these people consider the most dangerous and ghastly position a person can take is to stand for conservative religious views and declare biblical truth.
If the commentator made a mistake, it was to be too exclusive. Though the question was posed specifically about Jews, she should have included all of us. She stated that Jews must be perfected in Christ. She is right. But so must every person, Jew or Gentile. There is not a Jewish way, or a Muslim way or a Christian way to Heaven. There is only one way, and that is through Jesus.
I realize the outside world considers the exclusivity of the Gospel as narrow and bigoted. So be it. So did the Jews of Jesus’ day and the Athenians and the Romans. Can you imagine the scandalous offense of declaring in the First Century that salvation was to be found in a man crucified as a criminal on a Roman cross?
Yet, this Gospel spread like wildfire across the Roman world, and was embraced as truth by Jews and Gentiles, intellectuals and commoners. Why? Because the Gospel finds its power in the love of God for sinful man. God has demonstrated His love for sinful man through the death of Jesus. If man could have been saved through some other means, Jesus would not have had to die. Indeed, if man could receive eternal life on his own, God would be a cruel Father to have allowed His Son to die.
There is a growing intolerance to biblical truth. Voices are raised regularly that declare the Christian Gospel and biblical truth as dangers to our society. While this Gospel and the Bible were foundational to our nation, the foundation seems to have a severe fracture. The very truths that our founding fathers saw as self-evident are now at risk of being banned from the public domain. The Gospel is seen as dangerous, intolerant and divisive.
Frankly, I am glad they have gotten the picture. The Gospel is dangerous-so dangerous it can radically change a sinner to a saint. It is intolerant in that it has an exclusive requirement of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone. It is divisive in that when one rejects the love of Christ, there is a great gulf fixed between that person and God.
We should never be mean spirited or unkind. We should always strive to be tolerant of those who have another view or reject the Gospel. At the same time, we cannot be silent. We have a story to tell to the nation and nations. It is the story of a Savior, an old rugged cross and an empty tomb. Here we stand. If that message makes us intolerant in the eyes of others, so be it.
