After the recent death of Reverend Jerry Falwell I listened to an interview that a radio talk show “personality” had aired with Dr. Falwell years earlier. The talk show host had obviously never accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and from his comments had never heard of the concept. Dr. Falwell continually tried to explain through many quoted Scriptures the plan of salvation to this man. The host’s single retort was always that if that was the only way to heaven, he just couldn’t accept it because that would mean that Jews, Muslims, Catholics, and others who were good people would be excluded. After getting the talk show host to agree that he believed the Bible to be the word of God, Dr. Falwell quoted numerous passages which plainly said that the only way to heaven is through the Son. Again, the talk show host went back to his one “way out” saying if that was the only way to heaven, good people would be excluded. Other than the common blindness of the unsaved, what was this man’s problem? He simply could not separate religion from the Bible. I’ve said it many times to my students: the Bible is not about religion; it is about God and how to spend eternity with Him. If you are talking to someone like this talk show host who cannot get past the idea that what you are quoting only applies to your religion, be sure to point out to them that anyone of any religion can go to heaven as long as he accepts Jesus as his personal Savior. You might try using this example to help that person get away from connecting the act of salvation with any particular religion: if you want to fly to any given destination, you will need a passenger ticket, no matter what brand of airline you are flying. Salvation is your passenger ticket. Without it, you won’t get on the plane and you won’t reach your destination. With younger children, you can act out this simple concept. Divide the group into several named air carriers (Delta, United, etc.). If a child can quote the salvation verses like John 3:16, he receives a ticket and is allowed to get on the plane. Plant some students who deliberately gives the wrong answers (“I’ve been very good”) and ask the others if they should receive a ticket.
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