Power...from within or without?

There is much talk these days that we must look within ourselves to find the strength needed to "do life" well. We can't count on anyone else but ourselves. 

Is this true? Does the power to live life well come only from within or also from without? 

It is both, and it is neither. How?

Within

* If by "within" we mean we must find the strength to act solely from within ourselves, independent of God, this is inadequate. It works only short term and eventually leads to burnout and ultimately death. In this sense, it is not inward. 

* If by "within" we mean we must act from the heart, out of love for God and a desire to bring honor to him, then yes, in this sense it is inward. 

Without

* If by "without" we mean, we must look to creation and created things to gain, harness, and use these to derive our sense of value, meaning, and purpose for ourselves, then no, it is not outward.

* If by "without" we mean, we must look outside of ourselves and beyond our resources to God alone for true love, meaning, and purpose, in this sense it is outward. 

More than ever, we must define our terms to be sure we are saying the same thing. Using the same words is no guarantee. We could be saying exactly the opposite of what we are trying to convey with the very same words. 

This appears to be increasingly true the further we get away from an absolute and objective standard of truth, meaning, and morality. This is a by-product - "side effect" - of a postmodern view of the world where the reality of absolute or objective truth is rejected and morality is something we make up. The expression "my truth" is often used to convey this. 

Is there an objective and absolute standard for truth? If so, where do we go to find this standard? 

We can't be the standard ourself because we are not all-knowing, or all-powerful, i.e. we are not the absolute and just enforcer of morality, but we are finite i.e. limited. Therefore, we must go outside of ourselves to find the standard for right and wrong, i.e. morality. 

For a more extensive discussion of the power within Click here

For a discussion on the basis of morality click here. 

For a discussion on how we are designed and the dilemma it causes click here.  

For more on why we all operate by faith click here.

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being righteous, living righteously

Is there a difference between being righteous (our legal status before God) and living righteously i.e. our daily conduct? 

Even though God grants us total righteousness (perfect legal standing) before Him in Christ, he still desires us to ¹live righteously. 

It is only through ¹righteous living we are most aligned and in tune with God ⁵practically. We love others as we are designed to, and best put Him on display - i.e. honor and glorify Him - through loving actions toward others. But these actions do not save us. 

He designed us to be aligned with his will in our everyday conduct, so we might 

1. experience more of Him and His love and 

2. best honor and glorify Him before others. 

3. Advance His ⁵kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

These are the desired outcomes of the good standing He has fully secured for us and assigned to us in Christ. 

God grants us right legal standing, so we might live right. We don't live right to enhance our legal standing with Him (this has already been perfectly settled in and by Christ), but so we might partake of Him more fully in our everyday lives. 

He wants us to live righteously so that we might more fully partake of and participate in His love, life, and joy, and pass it on to others more effectively. This brings more attention (honor) to Him, so others might be drawn to Him through us and thereby also find in Him fullness of life by means of our righteous conduct. This advances and establishes His righteous ⁵reign on earth.

The idea of being made right so we would live right is expressed in several places in scripture, but most often and clearly in Paul's letter to the Romans.

‭‭Romans 6:4 ESV‬‬

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

‭‭Romans 7:4 ESV‬‬

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (i.e. we are perfectly right with God in Christ). For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us..." - Rom ‭8:1‭-‬5‬

Each of the above 3 passages shows that the desired outcome of God making us right with Him (i.e., righteous before Him legally) is that we might live righteously. 

In fact, in several of Paul's letters (Ephesians, Colossians, ³Hebrews and Romans) the first part of these letters lays out what God has done for us regarding our unrighteous status - i.e. He has made us righteous in and through Christ.  The remaining part of each letter addresses how we are to conduct our lives in light of this and in response to it.

This is clearest in the entire book of Romans, where the first 11 chapters elaborate on our alienation from God and what He has done to restore us in Christ - i.e., the explanation of the good news (gospel). Then, from chapter 12 on, it shifts to how we conduct ourselves in light of this good news. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, (i.e. in light of what I have said up to this point regarding our dilemma and God's solution) to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Rom 12:1

The ending phrase "spiritual worship" indicates this is a heartfelt response, not a rigid duty or legal requirement. A response to what? To God providing the righteousness, we must have to be in good standing with the Father, by assigning Christ's perfect standing with the Father to us.

Did only Paul address this? No, Peter, James, and John did as well.

"When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness i.e. in our everyday conduct..." - 1 Pet 2:23-24

This connection by multiple writers isn't a coincidence. Righteous living must always flow out of our righteous standing with God (because we could never meet the requirements of living a perfectly righteous life unaided) i.e., righteous living will and must always flow out of a righteous standing before God. If it does not - if there is no fruit of righteous living - the scriptures call us to make sure we are truly His child. This is clearly implied and stated explicitly in the above and other passages. So much so that scripture tells us if how we live has not changed since we came to Christ, we need to be sure we truly know Him. 

For a further discussion on being right vs living right click here 

What is the good news? click here

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Footnotes: 

¹What exactly is righteous living or living righteously? When our conduct is perfectly aligned with God's ⁴design and will.

And what is God's design (will) for us and all creation? That in everything we do and say we honor and glorify him. And in doing so, we also experience our greatest significance - glory. 

And how do we best honor and glorify him? By loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. Love (i.e. relationship) is the driving force of righteous conduct. Carrying out these commandments or living righteously - i.e. treating others as we wish to be treated - is the result. 

God's love for us is first, and our responding back to him in love is the result. We will not value or love God above all others until we grasp and experience his value of or love for us. 

God is the initiator and source of love. If we are not plugged into Him and thereby drawing strength from Him, we can never be loving as we were designed to be. When we see and experience his love, we "light up," come to life, bear fruit, and become the true bearers of His image as we were created to be.  

God is the power supply, we are the conduits. He is the treasure, we are jars of clay. He is the vine, we are the branches.

Which comes first, our valuing and loving Him or Him valuing and loving us? We love him because he first loved us.

³There is good reason to believe Paul dictated the book of Hebrews to Luke, who wrote it. The way the letter flows and unfolds - the thorough knowledge of the OT - is characteristic of other letters by Paul (a well-studied Jewish Pharisee), not someone who is a Greek Gentile such as Luke. 

But the style and elegance of the Greek used in the book is indicative of Luke also seen in Acts and Lukes gospel. So some suggest Hebrews was a collaboration between Paul and Luke. 

There are other reasons some believe Paul dictated it. Primarily because, as far as we know, all but one of Paul's letters (including Hebrews) was dictated. Possibly because of poor eyesight from his being blinded by beholding Christ on the road to Damascus.

Also Luke was a highly educated Greek national and medical doctor, fluent in "high" Greek. 

Hebrews was written with grammatical precision, using several words unique to the book of Hebrews. This was uncharacteristic of Paul's other letters but similar to the gospel of Luke. For these reasons, some think Paul didn't write it but dictated it to Luke. Explaining why it has characteristics of both Paul and Luke. The fact that he considered himself the apostle to the Gentile adds even more credibility to this view. 

It is also believed Paul deliberately did not identify as the author since he was considered the apostle to the Gentiles and not looked upon favorably by the Judaizers from Jewish circles within the church. 

Some suggest Paul deliberately left his name off to avoid any resistance to the letters' reception and wide circulation within the Jewish community at large. After all, why would the apostle to the Gentiles be writing a letter to Hebrews?  

But Paul's love for his own people was clearly expressed in Romans chapter 9. Knowing this, it would make perfect sense that he still had an intense desire to reach his people even though God had called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles. 

⁴this is given either as a direct order in writing, verbally, and by Christ's example - all of which are recorded in scripture.

⁵and advance His kingdom most. Our actions matter, either advancing or hindering God's kingdom. 

The essence of relationships

What is the essence of relationships?

All relationships consist of giving and receiving love (value).

However, different types of relationships occur in a variety of ways between various parties.

What makes them unique is the form or manner in which love and value are expressed or exchanged, i.e., what kind of relationship it is and who the persons with whom love and value are shared. 

Is it between God our Creator and His image bearers (you and I), husband and wife, parent and child, siblings, friends, extended family, business partners or associates, fellow believers, etc.?

Each kind of ¹relationship has unique characteristics that the others do not have - i.e., a unique way of showing love and value - while also the same, in that they all share love and value in some form with the other person or object of our love. 

For example, physical intimacy between a husband and wife is unique to that relationship. Love expressed in this way is only legitimately expressed between them and not others or other kinds of relationships.

Physical intimacy makes the marriage union the ²most complete human relationship. Marriage embodies the expression of giving and receiving love in all forms - friendship, companionship, partnership, and physical intimacy - within a single relationship.

Each kind of relationship is valuable and designed by God to reveal something about Him (and us) that the other types of relationships don't. The nature and vastness of God are too great to be fully displayed by any one kind of relationship alone.

How does God fit into all this? 

God himself is relationship as Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit, and the basis for all relationships. All relationships reflect something of who He is and what He is like.

Therefore, we find the most joy in relationships with persons other than God when we understand and recognize that ultimately they are all gifts from God designed to reveal something about who He is and what He's like, not only to us but to each other. This adds to and aids our understanding of God and helps us appreciate Him more. This also adds greater fullness and meaning to all ³secondary relationships outside of Him, i.e., they are expressions of His love for us.

The highest form of love (and therefore relationship) is God's love. Why? It is the only love that does not require love to be given in return. It is a kind of love that flows out of the fullness of who God is, not out of something needed or missing within God. It is unique and the highest kind of love. It is giving, never taking.

Because God ⁴is love, relationship for God is the "natural" - i.e. organic - outcome of who He is; a being of relationship between the Father and Son, in, by, and through the Spirit. 

This triune relationship has always been from all eternity past. There has never been a time when God was not in a relationship of giving and receiving love. 

God never requires our love ⁵in order to give us His. His love is overflowing and sacrificial, i.e., always giving (and receiving), never taking. And this is because He doesn't need our love, therefore neither requires it - at least not for His sake. 

One of the most well-known passages in scripture says, "God so loved the world he gave... " What (who) He gave is not something trivial. He gave the most valuable and significant "thing" He could give - the eternal Son of his infinite affection. 

God's love only and always gives and never takes. Not because God doesn't want or enjoy our love in return, He simply doesn't need it (though it is always welcomed and delightfully received when given by us).

Though we occasionally show sacrificial love ourselves - often in "fits and starts" - God always operates this way. He always operates out of fullness, never out of need. He is always overflowing in love and always has from all eternity past between the Father and Son in and through the Spirit, long before we ever came into the picture.

" ...For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich." - 2 Cor 8:9

" ...because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!" - Eph 1:4-5

"...God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. - Rom 5:8‭-‬10

For related discussions, the following links are offered:

Man...saint or sinner

Man's dilemma

God is relationship

AND

God is nonstop love beauty and glory

Is the wrath of God unfair? Click here.

Why are relationships important? Click here

The giving and receiving of glory/love click here.

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Footnotes:

¹Relationships are so much a necessary part of who we are that adults who choose to remain single will often have pets to be in a relationship with another being - even if only on a simple and limited level with a pet. While pets are wonderful gifts from God and provide a kind of companionship, they come nowhere near the level of a God-centered, vibrant, and healthy human relationship.

²Because of this form of love, marriage is the only relationship that produces offspring i.e. another bearer of God's image. This makes marriage the highest form of relationship - closest to the union of Father, Son, and Spirit - and why the fruit of its union - children - is sacred.

³The best marriage or best relationship between a child and parent or siblings is one that is exercised by the love and forgiveness of God.

⁴Love is central to or the core of God's being.

⁵The Father accepts and totally embraces Christ's love on our behalf i.e. as if it were our own love. 

God also poured out the consequences of our rejection of Him and His love onto Christ, as if Christ rejected the Father. 

All this is offered and given as a gift when we place our trust in Christ and what He did on our behalf. 

The only question is, do you believe and receive what Christ did for you? You will never experience the transforming benefit He offers to you otherwise.

Religion. Coming up short

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

Many other religions and non-followers of Jesus acknowledge Christ in some way. They may even greatly respect and admire Him and much - though not all - of what he taught and did.

However, the claim he made above as the only way to God (and other similar claims), when fully understood, may require them to reevaluate their view of Christ and reconsider who He claimed to be and is.

If we take a close look at Christ and all he taught, we will discover we must either fully embrace all he did and said or we must reject all he did and said i.e. if only one thing he did or said was suspicious or outright wrong, should (can) we trust the rest of what he did and said? I think we could say this about anyone.  Especially when they make strong claims like Christ did. 

On the flip side, if Christ taught great things, did great deeds and set a great example, maybe we should pay more attention to the things He said that we disagree with, such as the verse above. Maybe everything he did and said is right, not just the things we prefer or like. 

A person worth trusting, admiring, and following fully is someone we can trust fully i.e. trust all they said and did, not just some of it.

Why does Christ say he is the way (not a way) to the Father (God), the truth (not a truth) about the Father, and is life Himself? Christ wasn't saying this only about what he did but who he was and is.

How do we understand this in light of all the different paths/religions out there?

Christ didn't make these claims because there is no value in all the various religions or traditions, but because these paths (⁴particularly adulterated versions of Christianity) never get us to the destination we seek. The problem isn't simply a philosophical or theological one but a very practical "rubber meets the road" one.

That doesn't mean the various religions don't also move us along in a good and helpful way. Much can be gleaned from them (contrary to the views of many within the "Christian" tradition). The problem is they never fully get us to where we ultimately hope, desire, and need to be. They come up short. Every one of them.

Why? Because they are based on attempts to reach the Creator through our efforts instead of being connected to God by and through Christ's efforts - whose efforts alone are good enough to please, restore, and unite us to the Father; the Creator, and Source of life and all things.

What is the ultimate destination that all paths seek? Some religions call it Nirvana (or moksha). Jesus called it eternal life (vs ongoing pain and eventual death and separation from our Creator, the source of life, love, and all things). It goes by different names in different religions. 

Whatever it is called, there is a universal sense expressed within all religions that something is incomplete, missing - "off" - that we all seek to find - i.e. we need to obtain something or arrive at a certain place - to be complete.

What do we seek? Wholeness, release (relief) from our state of pain, meaninglessness, insignificance - deliverance, restoration, reconciliation, rest, peace, completeness, paradise; in a word, home - a place where we feel completely safe, welcomed, and loved even when we are at our worst.

Jesus alone extends this to us. Actually, he guarantees complete and perfect love, joy, and fullness that is found only in God. He alone offers us the way to enter a state of perfect belonging, of bliss in union with God and who He is in spite of our greatest weaknesses or worst moments - in contrast to our best efforts, which are never enough.

Christ described it the following way...

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.

God is love, joy, beauty, fullness, bliss, etc. To be fully united with Him is to have and partake of all these. God is the "home" we long for and seek that is missing. He is - as the loving community of Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit - the paradise we were created for, had, and lost. He is that place where we can be who we truly are (good, bad, ugly, and everywhere in between) and never be rejected but fully embraced and accepted - i.e. loved - even with all our shortcomings.

However we can not fully enter and participate in this until we are perfectly and fully aligned and connected to the Source of complete love, joy, and fullness; the very same blissful fullness that the Father and Son experience in, through, and by the Spirit.

How can we be aligned with the most perfectly loving being when we ourselves are not perfectly loving? 

This isn't simply a moral question or problem but a practical one. It is similar to asking how water and oil mix. They don't. For something to blend perfectly they must be the same. I think everyone would agree that we're not perfectly loving but very much about taking care of ourselves before we care about others.

This is not the way God is. God is other-oriented; an overflowing fountain of love within the loving community of Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. God always has been this way (long before we came along) and will be this way, with or without us.

And the Spirit of God - i.e. God himself - is not some mysterious undefinable apparition but the very Spirit/passion/breath of God who is endless overflowing love and life flowing back and forth between the Father and Son in, by, and through His Spirit of passion and love. 

This alignment and harmony with God is not something we can obtain by our efforts but is offered to us as a ¹gift. This is why Christ can guarantee it and said the following...

John 4:7 
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

John 4:9-10
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

John 4:13-15
Everyone who drinks of this water (from the physical well) will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I  will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

The following are additional analogies Christ used to convey who he is and what he offers...

John 6:35

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 7:37-38

Rivers of Living Water

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

This overflow of love and life is the very essence of God as Spirit. God is love, life, and Spirit and He calls us to enter into and partake of this Union of perfect glory, love, joy, and celebration between the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. A glory he has always had (and is) in perfect completeness and fullness from all eternity past. 

Christ offers and invites us to partake of Him by His Spirit in the same way He partakes of the Father... to become a part of this triune God of joy, bliss, and glory. But to do so - to fully partake of and experience this - we must be perfectly singular in our affections and focus on Him in the same way as the Father and Son i.e. in, by, and through the Spirit. Otherwise, we will never experience fullness of life we were created for and can only find in Him.

All this can only be done in and through Christ for he alone is and was perfectly focused, lived perfectly - walked (and completed) the perfect path to God and fully partook of God.

".. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son ²except the Father, and no one knows the Father ²except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him..." - Mat 11:27

And out of love for us, He offers to assign and credit to ³us His perfect life (the only life perfectly lived, approved, and accepted by the Father), so we might enter into the divine dance of love and life that is God as if we lived that perfect life ourselves. 

This is the only way we can experience what all religions seek (including and maybe ⁴especially adulterated performance-based "Christianity") but can never obtain or give us since they are based on our efforts, not on God's in and through Christ. 

Christ wasn't arrogantly boasting about Himself when he said He is the way, he was simply pointing out the reality of who and what truth life is and how it is found. 

And this is true only of Christ and no one else. He alone perfectly loved the Father with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and others as himself, even to the point of dying i.e. giving up His life for the Father's honor but also for ours. We haven't, and never will, nor has any religious leader loved in this way. This is why he alone is the way to the Father, the truth about the Father and life himself from the Father and was sent to us by the Father, who offered himself in sacrifice so we too could be fully reconciled to and united with the Father.

For a further discussion and what it means to be righteous click here

For a further discussion and what it means to be righteous click here

For a further discussion on why Christ is our only way to be in right standing with God click here

For a further discussion on our alienation from God and the solution, click here. 

For a further discussion on the difference between religion and Christ, click here. 

For a discussion on the meaning of the "broad and narrow way" click here. 

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¹Why a gift. Because we can not do or be enough on our own to enter this Union of bliss. What is needed to enter must be obtained for us and offered to us as a gift. It is now up to us to receive this gift.

²This is not saying we know nothing about the Father and Son but that we do not know them fully as they truly are or in the same way they know each other.

The good news is we don't have to in order to be united with God and fully accepted and embraced by him because Christ already did and does this and extends to us the benefits of this as a gift.

³because we cannot and never will live it. And this is our dilemma. We refuse to believe we are too broken to live it. We think we can somehow save ourselves - obtain salvation on our own, given enough time and effort, even if it takes us several attempts (e. g. reincarnation). If we are to ever obtain what other religions promise but cannot deliver, we must receive Christ and abandon our notion of self-deliverance. We must trust Him, not ourselves, and recognize we never can perfectly align ourselves with our Creator by our efforts. That he alone did for us what we can't and now offers perfection and wholeness to us as a gift - if we will receive it.

⁴I say it this way because of all the proposed alternate paths to God, adulterated versions of Christianity are the most destructive because they most appear to be what Jesus taught in how we are to unite and be aligned with God when in fact they are the exact opposite and only another religion that is a performance-based (vs Spirit, grace, love based) approach to God.

"And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed...

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world." John 17:5‭, ‬24

https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.17.5-24.ESV

Why Christ must be the only way

"By the works of the law (living by God’s moral standards) no one will be justified"—that is, declared righteous, whole, and in right standing with God; accepted, approved, and fully embraced by Him, while also being in tune with ourselves, others, and the rest of creation.

When we truly grasp what Paul means here, we see that our only hope of God's acceptance and our wholeness lies in Christ—His perfect efforts done on our behalf and ¹assigned to us as a gift. There is no other way to be restored to God. Living perfectly according to God's standards (or any other moral code) simply won't work because no one can do it. Everyone falls short.
Every alternative approach—including religion, even some distorted versions of Christianity—involves trying to make ourselves acceptable to God through our own efforts: being good enough or doing enough good deeds. Paul states clearly that this is impossible. ¹No efforts, good works, or spiritual paths of any kind can cause God to receive and accept us.
Christ being the only way isn't about exclusion; it's about necessity.
Christ alone offers restoration and alignment with God as a gift received by faith through recognizing our need for it and accepting the promise of perfect righteousness freely given. There are no exceptions.
Why?
Because only Christ did what was necessary to restore us back to God. No one else—neither we ourselves nor any religious leader—has done or could ever do what He accomplished. Though wisdom can be found in various religions, none provides a complete and perfect restoration to our Creator.
Christ alone perfectly honored God by loving Him with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength, even unto death. He then raised Himself back to life as proof of the Father's approval and the Son's accomplishment and His claim to be the way, the truth, and the life. Name another person—religious founder or otherwise—who has done this. No one else ever has or ever will. He alone lived His entire life carrying out His Father's will and desires perfectly.
The good news is that He offers to assign this perfectly lived righteousness to us as a gift. We haven't earned it, lived it, or deserve it—and never could or will. For these reasons, Christ is our only solution and only hope i.e. the only way back to the Father.
Without Him doing this for us, we could never be restored to right standing with God. All of us miss the mark of loving and honoring God with all we are and have, as He rightly deserves. We all come up short, without exception. Restoring ourselves to God by being good enough is simply impossible.
To acknowledge this doesn't sit well with our rebellious independence - our desire to be our own god, deliverer, and provider. Pursuing life apart from God began with Adam and continues today; we all do it.
Those who object to Christ's claim (not simply our claim) of being the only way often fail to understand—or refuse to accept—that outside of Him, there is simply no path to God. Only Christ did what no other religious founder, philosophy,  or ethical system could ever do. 
We are mere creatures, not the Creator; we are not the source of life and love—God alone is. And He has extended His life and love to us solely in and through Christ. This is a gift, not something deserved or earned.
In essence, alternative "ways" reject justification by faith and instead assume we can justify ourselves by finding a path that forces God (or the universe, karma, or whatever) to accept us or make life flourish. They claim the path doesn't matter, only how faithfully you follow it—and if you're faithful enough, you'll eventually achieve acceptance, perhaps through reincarnation until you reach perfection or nirvana.
The problem with this approach is that it's not about how well you walk a path; it's about recognizing you never will walk any path well enough to align yourself with and honor God as He deserves. Only Christ did this, and only He has the right to bestow His achievements on us as a gift. Only Christ can justify us and align us with God - we can never do it ourselves. Through and in Christ is the only way to be restored to the Father.
This is profoundly good news, because the offer is for anyone who humbly recognizes their need and receives His offer. In that moment, they are immediately and perfectly restored to God. He has made a way (the only way) for all of us to be perfect in His eyes and fully embraced by Him.
Yet it's bad news for those who arrogantly insist they can save themselves, gaining God's approval by being good enough or following their chosen path diligently enough. To hear that no path works forces them to admit they (and their efforts) can never be sufficient—something few are willing to face.
This is the real objection to Christ being our only option. Christ's claim of being the only way is not the core issue. The issue is they refuse to admit that they can never do or be good enough to reach God or divinity etc. This is the underlying reason why people are offended by Christs claim to be only the way to God.
This cuts to the heart of our arrogance and stubborn belief that with enough time and effort, we can make ourselves acceptable to and right with God, and outweigh the bad with good, or achieve self-salvation through rituals or striving. 
Our deepest problem isn't that Christ is the only way—it's that we refuse to admit restoration must be done for us, not by us. God must do it because we cannot. We resist being told we aren't the captains of our own spiritual fate; that we aren't our own god but must depend on the true Creator and Sustainer of life, love, and all things.
We are not that person—and never will be—no matter what path we take or how fiercely we pursue it - including God's law laid out in the Bible itself.
If Christ were merely another way to God through good conduct, it might make sense to see Him as one option among many. But that's not what He claims or offers. He said He is the way to God. Or, in Paul's words: "By the works of the law no one will be justified." Christ is the only way.
For a discussion of what it means to be righteous, click here

For a further discussion on why Christ is our only way to be right with God, click here.

For a discussion on the unique claims of Christ click here

For a discussion on our alienation from God and the solution, click here. 

For a further discussion on the difference between religion and Christ, click here. 

For a discussion of the meaning of the "broad and narrow way" click here. 

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Footnotes:

¹The honor He rightfully deserves as the Creator, Giver and Sustainer of life, love, and all things.  

²We are assuming that there is absolute right and wrong. For those who believe everything is relative, you may find the following two links helpful. 

The internal dynamics of our dilemma and God's amazing solution/offer!

The basis for morality

³When we accept Christ's free offer of restoration to God, we are acknowledging that the need for restoration exists, and we cannot restore ourselves. This is a posture of humility.

⁴Or at least if I do more good than bad things, it will be enough to offset the bad things. Christ didn't do more good things than bad; he lived for God's honor and glory perfectly. This perfection is what God's perfection calls for and requires to be aligned and right with Him. And thanks to Christ, it has been lived out and fulfilled for us by Christ and offered to us as a gift. In Christ, we are now perfectly righteous (acceptable to our Creator) if and when we receive this gift.

⁵Technically, he is aligned with us as far as his disposition towards us. He now sees and loves us perfectly because he sees us in Christ i.e. fully "clothed" in his perfection.