I remember lying awake late at night while wrestling with this question. I was in college and this was a common occurrence during a period of searching for answers to life’s big questions: What is the meaning of my life? Does God exist? What will happen when I die?
Growing up as an under-catechized Catholic, I did not have strong religious convictions. But by the time I was a sophomore in college, I was eagerly looking for ultimate truth. When my spiritual search was leading me towards the faith of my upbringing, I still found myself struggling with this pivotal question, a question many have pondered: Is Jesus really God, and is he really the only way to heaven? If this was true, and if I really believed it and loved others, I knew I would have to commit the rest of my life to telling everyone I know about Jesus. Yet I had many doubts and questions and wasn’t sure I was ready for that. So the question gnawed at me.
While I never got caught in the trap of relativism, the fact that there were many other religions still posed a serious problem. There are billions of people in the world and most of them do not believe in Jesus. Plus, many smarter than I have reached very different conclusions when it comes to religion. This is hard to reconcile. I won’t attempt to resolve all these difficulties here, but in order to provide a basic answer to the question at hand, I first need to respond to the common claim that religions are essentially all the same.
We have all probably heard something like this: “When it comes to religion, we are all on a journey. There are many paths up the mountain of personal spiritual fulfillment, and we’re all free to pick the path that best suits us. No path is better than another; they’re just different routes all leading to the same place.” The problem is, this can’t possibly be true if we take even a cursory look at the claims of the various religions. First, though, let’s acknowledge some similarities between the major religions.
If you strain your eyes a bit, you can find some similarities between the various major religions. Sure Hinduism is polytheistic, where many gods are believed in and worshiped, but Hindus do at least believe in some higher power like adherents of other religions. While Buddhism does not posit belief in an infinite, creator God, Buddhists do seek spiritual growth and enlightenment similar to those of other religions. There is even more similarity between the Abrahamic religions. Unlike the Eastern religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are more closely associated as they profess to belong to a common ancestry rooted in Abraham, who was in a covenantal relationship with God. These three religions are not only monotheistic, but they believe in one God as revealed in the holy texts they share in common.
This is all true.
But to stop there and to conclude that the overlap is all but complete and any remaining differences are irrelevant, as many do, is absurd. This would be like claiming that Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump are all essentially the same since they are all politicians and share some common goals. I don’t think there is a single soul anywhere along the political spectrum that believes this. But when it comes to religion, why do so many make the nonsensical claim that all religions are virtually the same just because religions share some things in common and they all fall into the bucket of religion? There are many reasons for this, including intellectual laziness and indifference, the prevailing winds of relativism which denies objective truth, a desire to think happy thoughts about the fate of oneself and others, and a fear of being seen as judgmental. What I want to focus on now, though, is the most important area of disagreement amongst religions: the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
There is only one religion that claims Jesus is God. If he is God, Christianity is true and all other religions are false. If he is not God, Christianity is false and therefore all Christians should abandon their religion.
Some, though, believe this thinking is too narrow-minded and misses the important agreement amongst the various religions, even concerning the person of Jesus. Most religions believe that Jesus was a good, moral teacher. Maybe he was some sort of prophet, maybe not, but he came and taught people that spirituality must include loving our neighbors as ourselves, and the world and all religions can be grateful for that.
The problem is, Jesus didn’t leave this open as a possibility. The one thing he could not have been was another good, moral teacher like those who went before him and those who have come after him. Why? Because he claimed to be God. And as C.S. Lewis famously articulated, since Jesus claimed to be God, that leaves us with only three options. Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or he was who he claimed to be, the one Lord of heaven and earth.
If Jesus was not God, he was a liar. And not just your average liar, but one on the grandest scale.
Imagine if your uncle gave up his career and committed his life to convincing everyone he knew that he was God. He knew he wasn’t God, but tried to gain a following of those who would worship him as God. That is serious moral depravity. Strike one again Jesus being a good, moral teacher.
If Jesus wasn’t a liar, maybe he was a lunatic. Maybe he honestly believed he was God but he was mistaken. We’re all mistaken about some things, but do you know anyone who honestly believed he was God? If you ran into a nutcase like this, you would certainly keep your distance and hide your kids. Insanity—a non-starter for a good, moral teacher.
That leaves us with Lord. By his miracles, especially by his rising from the dead, Jesus proved he was who he claimed to be. Jesus is Lord. Not just a moral preacher of sorts, and not a liar or a lunatic. He is God, and he became man, died, and rose from the dead to save us from our sins. Christianity is not just one of many options—it is the only option if you desire to spend eternity in heaven.
Just prior to Jesus’s death and resurrection, Jesus prayed to the Father saying, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:1-3).
John’s gospel doesn’t only say that eternal life requires knowing the only true God. Jesus says that eternal life is knowing the only true God, who is a triune God. Knowing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the entire point and purpose of heaven. To think that heaven is simply a place of clouds, harps, and no more stubbed toes is to inexcusably sell short the glory that is to come for those who know and embrace the love of God who loved us from all eternity past and desires to be united with us for all eternity future.
Heaven is not for people that are generally pretty good, those who are at least better than average and who haven’t killed anyone. The Bible says heaven is for sinners who realize the depravity of their ways and cry out to God to save them. God hears their cries and offers a sure path to heaven, the cross of Jesus. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is good news! We were dead in our sin, and God didn’t leave us there but stooped down to save us by sending his Son to give up his life for us, offering us hope of eternal life if only we believe in him. What a good and gentle God we have.
God didn’t create multiple ways for us to get to heaven because his one path, through faith in Jesus Christ, is perfect. He didn’t create a backup plan in case this whole Jesus thing didn’t work out. Jesus is the only way to heaven. Anyone who makes it to heaven makes it because of the grace offered to us through Jesus Christ. As St. Peter said after being a witness to Jesus’s resurrection, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The Catholic Church, of course, affirms the teaching of the Bible that belief in Jesus is necessary for salvation. The Catechism puts it this way: “Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. … ‘without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life ‘but he who endures to the end’” (CCC 161). Jesus is not one of many options including Muhammed, Buddha, or yourself as your own spiritual guide to spiritual fulfillment. Heaven is real, there is a real God there who really wants us there, and he tells us how to get there. Believe in Jesus and follow him. That’s the simple message, and that’s the one way to heaven.
The Catechism also explains that “faith is not an isolated act” (CCC 166), which means we come to faith in community and must remain a part of that community to maintain our relationship with God. Faith is a gift, and we receive it through the community Jesus established, the Catholic Church, which has been spreading the gospel across the world, one relationship, one conversation at a time, for 2,000 years. Following Jesus includes entering his Church where he abides and teaches us and pours his life into us through the Sacraments.
Our loving God went to extreme lengths to save us because of his great mercy. We can’t create our own path to heaven, and God’s path is not flawed. The only way to heaven is to repent, turn to Jesus, and place all our trust in him. This is what the Bible teaches and this is what the Church teaches and always will. It may not be popular, it may be difficult and you may need to wrestle with it, but it is the truth. And what an amazing and grace-filled truth it is. If you have never done so before, I would encourage you to read through the gospels and encounter the captivating person of Jesus Christ. What you will find will not disappoint and may prove to be the answer to your deep spiritual longing and search for truth.
A final note. Some readers may have noticed that several related and important questions are not directly addressed here. Questions such as, “What if someone dies before ever hearing the gospel, will he be damned even though he never had a chance to believe?” and “Does this mean all non-Christians, or all non-Catholics, are going to hell?” I intentionally avoided these questions for three reasons. First, too few people, including Catholics, know the basic and correct answer to the question “Is Jesus the only way to heaven?” is a resounding “Yes!” Second, I didn’t want to shortchange these questions with an all-too-brief response that would likely be unhelpful without further explanation. Third, because I intend to write a future article diving deeper into what the Church teaches on the topic of the possibility of salvation for those outside the Church.
