Mosiah 3

(August 24, 2014)

                There are those, even within the Church, who believe in a sort of ‘universalism,’ or the idea that all paths lead back to God.  In one way, that is true – we know that each nation is given prophets to speak to it according to their own language and understanding.  But the conclusion drawn from this idea (that all paths are equally beneficial to man) are tragic for those who believe them.

                King Benjamin’s words were unambiguous.  There is no other name nor means by which we can be save except for Christ.  Perhaps it is true that being a good, say, Hindu can prepare you for being a good follower of Christ (and I don’t doubt that is true), but it is also true that striving to follow Christ now will better prepare us for becoming what we need to become than being a good Hindu would.

                The flaw in thinking arrives when we take the truth that the Lord teaching all men in their language and understanding and erroneously extrapolate from that to the idea that any path is equally effective and bringing us back to God.  Only one path takes us back to God – that is the path of Christ.  Many paths lead to that, shall we say, strait and narrow gate but once we are through that gate there is only one path.  While we can take comfort that many who wander and taking paths that will eventually lead them back to that gate, these paths are in no way better than actually spending time on that path to begin with.