I really enjoyed this article and if I didn't know better I would be inclined to believe an argument like this.
All the other gods that humans have imagined may one day get together and agree that any of them is free to say they created the universe. But there is one God who doesn't play nice with man-made paths to heaven.
Jesus Christ has made it very clear that "No one comes to the Father but by me."
God is a jealous god and nothing peeves him more than humans giving credit to other gods for his magnificent creation. John 3:16 always gets cut off with the loving part of Jesus words. Read the strictness in the verses which follow:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 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. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
A few verses later John the Baptist repeats the message even more bluntly:
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them.
So I would be remiss not to point this out.
Thanks for your comment!
I, too, am a Christian.
My purpose with this article was to build on common beliefs, even with atheists.
I am reminded of a passage in CS Lewis's book, The Last Battle. In it there are followers of Aslan and followers of Tash, who is a demon. There is a man, Emeth, who is devoted to Tash because that is what he was taught, but who did good works and was full of love his whole life. When Emeth finally meets Aslan, he is told, "all the service thou hast done to Tash, I accept as service done to me... no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him."
My point is that while Jesus is the sole source of salvation, it is less important what you call him; even among Christians, His name changes based on language.
Not everyone is ready or willing to submit their lives to Him. However, it is good when people follow his teaching to love one another because love is always good (Paul teaches it is the only thing that matters, but that's a subject of a future article) . Love gets people headed in the right direction and makes the world a good place to live.
I have wondered / hoped that Jesus might do that, but the verses I include above make me hesitant to assert that as a teaching. There is one verse, however, that I might stretch to hint at this:
Still, I'm not recommending taking any chances. :o)
Certainly, take no chances! Follow Jesus with all your heart.
This article is targeted towards atheists, so I had to take a different approach, since they don't care about scriptures. =o)