One Option Among Many?

1/25/14       Praveen             about 24

The joy of hearing and receiving John 3:16 for the first time, that “God so loved the world…”, - can be relived in our lives as believers when we share it with others who themselves are hearing it for the first time.  That’s what I was privileged to do in this video with Praveen, a graduate student from India.  He had grown up under a traditional belief that good people go to heaven / bad people to hell, and in the ability to communicate with one’s deceased ancestors.  This belief was confirmed to Praveen when he visited a medium through whom he believes his deceased mother spoke to him during a séance.  Being from India with its diverse religious history and cultures, he was very open to hearing an explanation of the Gospel, which I proceeded to do, culminating in my sharing John 3:16 and which Praveen said he had never heard before.  Through it all, I tried to emphasize the uniqueness of Christianity, that it is not just another religion of good works that earn salvation, but that it is based on God’s good work on the cross, not our own.  In the end, he seemed to understand the Gospel.  But he failed to see how Christianity is not just one option among many and that Jesus meant it when He said  “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  (John 14:6) and that “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”  (John 3:18)    See Video