Isn’t it closed
minded to say that
Jesus is the
only way to God?
"Isn’t there a difference between believing in a God who
sends
evil people to Hell and a God who condemns us simply because we
don’t believe in Jesus? Isn’t this an awfully
closed minded
idea?"
At the beginning of any kind of inquiry we should certainly be open to
a wide range of possibilities, but sooner or later, everybody closes
their minds. We remain open only for a while, with the objective of
finding what we are looking for, learning new facts and eventually
closing our minds. Whether or not the world rotates around the sun may
have been an open question cernturies ago, but scientists have long
since drawn their conclusions.
A student at UC Santa Barbara once accused me of being closed minded
and insisted that if I had an open mind I could not possibly believe
that there is only one way to God.
"Let me ask you a question," I said. "Are you open minded enough to
consider the possibility that there is only one way to God?"
"What?"
"You say you have an open mind. All right then, are you open minded
enough to at least ponder the possibility that Jesus may be the only
way?"
"Absolutely not!"
"Really? This is interesting. You can’t even consider it?"
"Never."
"Why can’t you?"
"Because such a belief is closed minded."
"But the consideration of the belief isn’t. An open mind
says,
‘Maybe there are a thousand ways to God. Maybe there are two
ways
to God. Maybe there are no ways to God. Maybe there is only one way to
God.’ That is a truly open mind."
More Questions
|
Have your own question?
questions@bobsiegel.net
This is a brief
excerpt from a larger book.
For a fuller treatment of this subject as well as a better context, see:
I’d Like To
Believe In Jesus, But…
(The harder, less frequently discussed questions)
By Bob Siegel
Published by CSN Books
Copyright © 2007 by Bob Siegel
All Rights Reserved
Published by
Campus Ambassador Press
Copyright © 1999 by Bob Siegel
All Rights Reserved
This article is not to be reproduced without written permission from
the author. |
