In Reply to: Re: The Reason Some Christians are Problematic posted by Pastor Don on January 06, 2010 at 11:17:24:
Pastor Don, I remember that you did a paper on the exclusivity of Christ, and I'm not in any way prepared to go head to head with you on that topic beyond a few comments.
First observation: John 14:6-7 does not preclude the possibility of universal reconciliation. This is not something I'm prepared to debate because it's a time-consuming discourse that isn't likely to change your thinking on the necessity of confessing the name of Jesus Christ in order to be reconciled to God the Father.
My second comment is that that you've taken Matt. 7:13-14 out of context to support your point about the value of being narrow-minded, which is not what the text is about, imo. Here's an alternative translation of the text from The Message that provides a nice hermaneutic on a somewhat obscure saying in the original Aramaic:
Being and Doing
13-14"Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention."
Or, to boil it down further: Don't just talk the talk. Walk the walk. Walk = take up the cross and die daily.
Even conservative, Bible-believing Christians fall prey to "surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life" that can be practiced in lieu of the hard work of self-emptying love (kenosis). Here's one such formula that comes immediately to mind: "Stay on the straight and narrow path of orthodox belief and God will bless you."