The Exclusiveness of the Gospel

How can you claim that there is only one way to heaven?
1. Do you agree that most people rank religions qualitatively, even if outwardly they insist that all religions
are equal? Discuss your responses
2. People say that since there are so many ways to find God, Christianity is only one among many valid
ones. The other religions of the world have millions of adherents, producing much wisdom, character
and happiness, so Christians should not claim to have the best faith or the only true faith. Do you
agree? Why or why not?
3. Efforts to craft a public square from which religious conversation is absent, no matter how
thoughtfully worked out, will always, in the end, say to those of organized religion that they alone,
unlike everyone else, must enter public dialogue only after leaving behind that part of themselves that
they may consider the most vital (Stephen Carter). Do you think it is possible to keep all religious views
privateaway from the public square?
4. What should be done about the divisiveness of religion?
5. Does claiming to have the exclusive hold on truth, does this lead to self-righteousness and intolerance?

Is Hell real and would a loving God really send people there?
1. Hell is ones freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into infinity. In other words, those
who end up in hell chose that destination by rejecting God. How do you respond to such an assertion?
2. What is wrath? Is there anything that makes you full of wrath?
3. Do you think it is possible to be full of love and wrath at the same time? Explain. What do you think
might make God full of wrath?
4. Why do people think God will simply forgive them and not judge them?
5. One way in which the Bible describes hell is as: shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the
majesty of his power 2 Thessalonians 1:9. Assuming this description is true, why would this be hell?
6. Why do we it would be good to believe in judgment day? Can you remember some of their answers to
this question? Add your own response.
7. What does it cost God to love you? Why is this important?

Isnt the Bible just a collection of stories?
1. The Bible is said to defend violence, to mandate puritanical sexual morality, and to maintain an
antiscientific bias. Why, then, would anyone in the 21st century take it seriously?
2. Do you agree that we should expect God in that he is not a mere human to take stands and
enforce rules that run counter to our sense of how things should be done? Why or why not?
3. People say that there are many good things in the Bible, but you should not take it literally; you must
not insist that it is entirely trustworthy and completely authoritative because some parts of the Bible
are wrong, historically unreliable, and culturally regressive. Would you agree? Why or why not?
4. In John 7:17, Jesus is saying that if you want to know in your own experience whether or not the Bible
really is true, then put its teachings into practice. What would it take for you to take up this challenge?