Not long ago researchers claimed that the most frequently used word non-Christians use to describe Christians is judgmental. And a Bible verse we’ll hear on Sunday doesn’t help matters.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – says Jesus - and in our increasingly secular society it sounds downright judgmental for us to claim these familiar words. How do contemporary, conscientious believers, who value acceptance, tolerance, and openness deal with an exclusivistic verse like this? Is Jesus really saying that the billions and billions of people who have not known or followed Jesus have no access to God – or the afterlife? Is God’s first nature really as a judge? Then doesn’t it make sense for ours to be as well?

1 John 4:8 has another take, the writer simply says, “God is love.” If God is love and Jesus is God then here’s another way to make sense of this verse:
“Love is the way, love is the truth, Love is the life. No one comes to the Father except through Love.” The implications are worth pondering.

And so is humanity’s primeval attraction to exclusivism as no more than a by-product of our own latent fears and insecurities – rather than a reflection of the central message of the Bible. Let’s leave the judging to God and get on with the more difficult work of the Gospel, loving God, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Reading:
How to Deal with Difficult Behavior – Cindy Hampel
Branded Nation – James Twitchell
How They Did It – Robert Jordan