A SIX-LANE HIGHWAY, OR A NARROW ROAD WITH TIGHT GATE?
(Click the pic!) We in the West love to think that we have freedom of religion – the right to choose what to believe, as if life is like a six-lane highway where you can get on and off whenever and wherever you want. But is it really like that? Even a six-lane highway has limited access and exit points; just so, freedom isn't unlimited.
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, said: "Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it." Freedom of choice implies the responsibility to make the right choice and live (or die) with the consequences of our choices. Missing an entrance to or exit from a limited-access highway means turning around and going back to that point of wrong decision... if you can! Some can't find their way back, and others can, for example the Old Testament kings Saul and David.
King Saul seemed to have a good start in life: he was tall, handsome, and humble. But after he became king, he grew proud and power-hungry, and finally fell into disobedience to God and His prophet Samuel, then fell into witchcraft. He regretted his sin, but didn't repent and turn his life around. True repentance isn't just regret or feeling sorry. The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, means to turn around 180 degrees and go in a different direction.
On the other hand, after King David committed the terrible sins of adultery and ordering a murder, he deeply repented – read all of Psalm 51 – and turned his life around. Nevertheless, he paid a price for his sins. Forgiveness does not mean there are no consequences. Sexual sin, even if God forgives it, can result in infertility, divorce, or sexually transmitted disease. A victim's spouse or God may forgive a murderer who repents, but the sentence can still be carried out.
Judas felt regret for betraying Christ, but committed suicide. On the other hand, Peter denied Christ three times but repented of his sin, and the Lord restored him. In 1 Corinthians ch. 6, we read about a man who had committed incest by having sex with his father's wife. St. Paul wrote to the church that he should be excommunicated "for the destruction of his flesh" ...but in 2 Corinthians, Paul instructed the church to restore him to fellowship after he had repented.
Back to our starting thoughts: Jesus said – "But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian" (Luke 4: 25-27). There are some who make the Narrow Road too narrow or the Gate too tight, such as the Jewish leaders who got really angry with Jesus when he said this, and wanted to get rid of Him. There will be olive-skinned Gentiles, black Africans, Chinese, Australian Aborigines... believers from all the Nations in the Kingdom of God.
On the other hand, we shouldn't make the Road too wide or the Gate to loose. To believe that all religions lead to God, or that Allah is the same deity as Yahweh, or that all or most of the "Christian" confessions are more or less the same, they all get you into heaven, and that whatever you believe about Jesus is just fine – all such talk is nonsense, a big mistake. It's called "Universalism" which the Church has defined as a heresy. "How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it." How narrow is it? We aren't authorized to make up our own 'private interpretation' of Scripture. Holy men of God moved by the Holy Spirit, the Church, the Body of Christ throughout history, gives us the correct interpretaion of this Scripture (1 Peter 1:20-21).
At the end of each Orthodox Liturgy we sing – "We have seen the true Light, we have received the heavenly Spirit! We have found the True Faith, worshiping the Holy Trinity, Who has saved us!" This doesn't mean, of course, that each one of us Orthodox Christians have 100% of the fullness of the Faith. The fullness does exist in the Church, however, and it's available for all who take the time and effort to strive toward it.
Yes, there are sinners in the Church, that's who the Church is for, it's a hospital for sinners to be made whole. "PBPGOINFWMY" doesn't stand for "Peanut Butter Pie, Grapes In Nougat Fudge, With Marshmallow Yoghurt" or any such nonsense – no, it stands for "Please Be Patient, God Is Not Finished With Me Yet!" Come and See!
You can read our whole newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2026-09-12.htm, and share it!
