Not All Roads Lead to Heaven: Sharing an Exclusive Jesus in an Inclusive World

Acknowledging that "the single greatest stumbling block for nonbelievers coming to faith in Christ is exclusivity," Jeffress, (When Forgiveness Doesn't Make Sense), Senior Pastor of Dallas's First Baptist Church, and host of daily talk show, Pathway to Victory, offers the conservative Christian rationale for this increasingly unpopular position. Alarmed that "conservative Christians are losing the battle for biblical truth," he acknowledges with dismay that many prominent Christians, such as C.S. Lewis and Joel Osteen, have abandoned this "essential belief." To the question "Who will be in heaven?" Jeffress examines four common contemporary responses: universalism, pluralism, inclusivism, and exclusivism, and suggests that without the doctrine of exclusivity, no logical reason for sharing the Christian faith exists. Reading scripture through a literalist lens ("the Bible teaches"), Jeffress reviews the doctrine's roots in both the Old and New Testaments and addresses commonly raised concerns about what exclusivity means for moral people of other faiths, those who have never heard of Jesus, those born before Jesus, and children who die before "the age of accountability." Contending that the majority of humanity is "destined for hell," Jeffress offers this book to equip conservative Christians in their evangelism. (Feb.)