The following 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.

“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.”

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