Is Calvinism Too Strict? Do Calvinists Make The Way To Heaven Too Narrow?

Unbelievers are fond of quoting verses from the Bible that they can twist out of context to their own purposes. For example, when they try to defend their sinful ways, they say “The Bible says “Judge not lest ye be judged” and “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” But you don't hear them saying, “The Bible says that Jesus is the only way to have eternal life,” or “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” No, those verses can't be twisted — they are plain, and unbelievers hate them.

Of all the words Jesus spoke, these are among those most hated by the world. If you are a follower of His, and proclaim the truth that Jesus alone is Lord, they will hate you, too.

Your faith, they say, is too narrow. You are so confining, restrictive, and bigoted. "Jesus Christ says He is the only way to heaven? We do not like that. If He says He is A way, we might believe Him."

Ian Murray, in his book "Evangelicalism Divided," notes that this objection — "that our doctrine is too strict, we make the way of heaven too narrow — is in truth the original objection (as it was almost the only one for sometime) and is secretly at the bottom of a thousand more, which appear in various forms."