should focus on the person and on his or her responsibility. What is he or she going to do with Jesus Christ? For a fuller discussion of the moral law inherent in the universe, see Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis.
2. Is Christ the Only Way to God? Neither sincerity nor intensity of faith can create truth. Faith is no more valid than the object in which it is placed. The real issue is the question of truth. For example, Islam and Christianity are very similar in the moral and ethical realms, but the two faiths are diametrically opposed on the crucial question: "Who is Jesus Christ?" Islam denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Both faiths cannot simultaneously be true at this point. One is correct; one is incorrect. If the crux of Christianity is false, our faith is worthless.
This question has some emotional aspects. Christians are not being bigoted, prejudiced, or presumptuous when they say that Christ is the only way to God. Christians have no other option because Jesus Christ Himself has said this. We are dealing with truth that has come to us by revelation, through the invasion into human history of God Himself in Jesus Christ.
Some laws and their penalties are socially determined. For instance, being picked up for speeding means paying a fine. But in some other aspects of life, such as in the physical realms, we find laws that are not socially determined. The law of gravity is one such law. In the moral realm, as in the physical, there are laws that are not socially determined. We discern these laws from what God has revealed about the inherent law of the universe. One such law is that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. Dorothy L. Sayers offers some further helpful thoughts on this subject in The Mind of the Maker.
3. Why Do the Innocent Suffer? "If God is all-good and all-powerful, why do the innocent suffer?" Here we have to admit our partial ignorance. We do not have the full explanation of the origin and problem of evil because God has chosen to reveal only a part to us. God created the universe perfect; mankind, through free will, chose to disobey. Evil came into the universe through man's disobedience. Because mankind disobeyed and broke God's law, evil pervades the universe.
We must not overlook the presence of evil in every one of us. If God executed judgment uniformly, not one of us would survive. Suppose God were to decree, "At midnight tonight all the evil will be stamped out of the universe." Which of us would be here at 1:00 a.m.?