If there is one thing that really seems to get under the skin of non-believers, it is the exclusive claims of Christianity, that there is only one road and one way, and all other ways are wrong.

People push back on the exclusive claims of Christ, but we must be unashamed of Jesus' claims. When people are troubled by the exclusive nature of Heaven and who gets to inherit it, as Jesus did with Satan in the desert, we need not use our own logic, but rely on the Word of God. Jesus clearly stated in Matthew 7:14, "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Jesus knowing what must be done said in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:39, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." If there was any other way for eternal salvation, why would God offer up His only Son, to die for us? The apostles, being eyewitnesses, to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, knew that Jesus was the only way to heaven, as we read the words of Peter in Acts 4:12, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Was Jesus upset by what He was asked to endure for us? No, as we read in Hebrews 12:2, "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Though many like to state that this exclusive stance of Jesus is not fair and not just, Jesus states otherwise in John 15:22-23, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also."

Jesus does not allow for ambivalence in our stance. There is no other way or all-inclusive option available. We must all ask ourselves who we are attempting to be relevant to? Do we believe that we should minimize or explain away the actual words in the Bible to soften the message to a world full of non-believers, whose destiny is not heaven unless they accept what Jesus did for them? Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." We are not to go out of our way to put our fingers in the chest of another, but we should also never compromise the gospel message for the sake of our own popularity. Love is not necessarily saying the easy and popular thing, but holding out the only true message of true hope and true love that exists.