‘Tough truth’ of Christianity offered as honest diagnosis for spiritual sickness

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SAN ANTONIO—Postmodern thinking supposes it unethical for Christians to put forth Jesus as the only way to heaven, but the opposite is true, Mike Licona, apologetics coordinator for the North American Mission Board, told a conference in San Antonio.

“It’s like saying, ‘There is no truth, and that’s the truth.’ … Or, ‘You’re being intolerant, and we’re not going to tolerate it,’” Licona said.

Mike Licona

Those who think no one should make exclusive truth claims are themselves making an exclusive claim of truth, he said. So, when they say it’s unethical to do so, they indict themselves, Licona said.

“In the postmodern culture, you have to not only tolerate another viewpoint, you have to recognize it as equally valid with yours,” Licona said.

“If someone tells me I’m wrong, I can handle that. My skin isn’t that thin.”

Also, to say that an exclusive claim for Christ as Savior is unethical ignores truth, Licona said. He told how his mother had gone to doctors after discovering a lump, and she was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. The doctors told her it was bad news and gave her a bleak outlook for what the next year held as she went through surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

“What they gave her was truth, and it was tough truth, and it’s what a person needs to hear in that situation,” Licona said.

It would have been unethical to follow up that diagnosis with an addendum that some people thought vitamins and positive thinking would effect a cure and perhaps she might want to try that route, he insisted.

“If it would have been unethical for a medical professional to do that with a person when their life is on the line, I submit to you that it is far more unethical when a person’s eternal soul is on the line for us to compromise truth because we are afraid of offending them,” Licona said. “What is being ethical? It’s being truthful, especially when the stakes are high.”


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