Christianity...Exclusive or Inclusive

You will have heard it said that Christianity is an exclusive religion.  Nothing could be further from the truth than that statement.  All Scriptures, for the purpose of this article, are in the Amplified Version which defines the definitions of the Greek terms in brackets.  This will help you better understand what it is saying.  The lie of exclusivity is promoted by skeptics atheists, and fringe organizations who characterise themselves  as Christian but do not recognize nor see the need for "Jesus" or the Word of God and so they remain deceived.  

Many of them will tell you the Jesus is not necessary and the Bible isn't either because they possess a  "special anointing" to "know" what God wants.  I doubt this anointing comes from the God of the Bible who warns that we are not to add or detract from His Word; a thing that many in the church have done over and over to our shame.   

I wish to present here a  case that proves that in His death for our sins and in His Resurrection,our faith is totally inclusive.  The choice remains with person.

1 Peter 3:18-19 (AMP) r
¹⁸ For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body, He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit,
¹⁹ In which He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

Prior to HIs Resurrection, Christ appeared to those in Hades.  Notice in verse 18 that Christ died "only once" and for everyone.  His death covered your sins before you were born and because he spoke to the Spirits in prison (hades), those who had sinned before Christ was born also were forgiven.  So he died for "all" sins.  To those of you who really don't read the Bible, or to those that think they know what it says, don't lay "blame"  at the feet of God for being "unfair" to people who have never heard the Gospel.  God has a one or more provision in Roman's 1 and  has many ways of revealing Himself. In Iran, for instance, in this modern-day and age, people without missionaries are coming to Christ through visions of Him. Therefore, I would think that we would be better occupied with the fact that we have heard and now must make our own decision.

So, why is it that we need such a Savior? Most of us do not think we are guilty, but we have all broken one or more of God's commandments.   This makes us guilty before a Holy God.  

Many of us will say that our "good" will then have to outweigh our bad in order to see heaven. Not so! I believe this illustration will help better understand how God can be just and yet all loving.

Let's say that your child, sister, or mother was brutally raped and the rapist stands to be convicted but says to the judge.  "Hey...yes I raped her, but I've done good in my life too!"  What would you think of a judge who acquitted him on that basis? Like me, I hope, you would want him punished for his crime.  We all have crimes we are guilty of and can't pay them back.  Here is why.

Man died to God spiritually when Adam and Eve chose "godhood" over faith and trust in God. They wanted power, and mainly wanted what we see mankind coveting today... the desire to be our own judge...make our own rules.  figure out our own path.  Pride!.  You can see where that has gotten all of us.  We are separated from God...dead in our sins.  We owe a debt to a Holy God and only perfect sacrifice for our sins will satisfy God's judgment.   You see, God is all-loving and we will look at that in a moment, but He is also just and is concerned about the victims of our crimes...so restitution must be made.

In the first Passover, we see a distinction between Israel and Egypt. Because of one man's faithfulness to God, Abraham, God protects the Israelites from His judgment on the firstborn of Egypt by having them slay a lamb and put the blood over their doorposts. Though the Temple was torn down in 70AD and they do not do animal sacrifices anymore, Jews still celebrate Passover.  So, what made the Angel of Death "pass over" the homes of the Israelites  It was the blood of the perfect sacrifice...a foretelling of what Christ would do.

Exodus 12:5-7 (AMP)
⁵ Your lamb or kid shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; you shall take it from the sheep or the goats.
⁶ And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall [each] kill [his] lamb in the evening.
⁷ They shall take of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel [above the door space] of the houses in which they shall eat [the Passover lamb].

Exodus 12:12-13 (AMP)
¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment [proving their helplessness]. I am the Lord.
¹³ The blood shall be for a token or sign to you upon [the doorposts of] the houses where you are, [that] when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.

Egypt in Biblical Symbolism is "sin".  In His judgment against them for honoring false gods and not trusting or obeying Him, he killed the first-born of all Egypt.  His people, however, were under the blood of the sacrificial lamb.  Even if you were a first-born Israelite and were caught "not under the blood" you would have died.  Conversely,if you were "under the bloody doorpost" even if you were not Jewish, God would have honored your faith.  It is all about faith!  You will notice there are terms used here which seem Christian.  That is because "we" who believe in Christ are spared God's judgment because of the blood covering us from the Sacrificial Lamb...Jesus.

Without Jesus Christ, Christianity is nothing.   The term Christianity means little Christ, so how can you become a "little" Christ when you deny the very Sacrifice that saves you.  Below is a Scripture that lends some understanding when stated in its entirety.  Most of you will recognize John 3:1 6 but it leads to misunderstanding when used alone.   Words in italics are mine.

John 3:16-18 (AMP)
¹⁶ For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.  

(This isn't loving?)

¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

(Notice that he mentions the whole world.  This is not exclusive, but inclusive.  We see here that Christ was on a rescue mission instituted by God)

¹⁸ He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; 

  (Not condemned or rejected...what more could one want. There are no "works" required  here, but an acknowledgment of sin and a turning instead  to Christ which we call "Repentance" and then accepting His Lordship)

but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ's name.]

(Man was already condemned as we discussed at the beginning.  As in the illustration of the Egyptians, they belonged to God and rejected His Lordship and his plan for salvation. So, they were under judgment and remained that way.  Had Pharoah let the people go, it would have been different.  Here, once again,  Christianity is synonymous with "rescue".  So if you reject God, you remain in your former condemned state.  God never sends anyone to hell...they send themselves.  The one thing you need to see in order to understand all this is the humility to say that you are not God and He is.  Then act accordingly.)

Christ was both man and God.  God is the only one who could satisfy His own Judgment, but Jesus was a person like you or I and had to "trust in, cling to and rely on His Father" which He did. The apostle Paul calls him the "firstborn among many brothers" and the "new Adam".  This is because Christians don't just get forgiven, they are made into new eternal creatures who are fit for heaven.   Jesus, unlike us, never retaliated against those who hurt and reviled him and he never committed a sin.  Even the Historians and other religions like Buddism will admit that Christ was the most exemplary example of sinless behavior that the world has ever known. He could have played the God card and come down from the cross and killed His enemies.  He could have unmade us with a thought, but instead, He saved us. 

May you one day learn how much He loves you.