If God is so loving and merciful, then why is the path to heaven narrow?

“The narrowness lies in the fact that you cannot manufacture your own truth. Jesus says anyone who comes onto him will not be turned away. Anyone. You don’t have to pay money. You don’t have to be born into a certain class. You don’t have to be a certain race or gender. Anyone.” – this was Ravi Zacharias’s answer.

The path certainly doesn’t seem narrow to me. I encourage everyone to watch his Question and Answer segment here. He answers questions like, the aforementioned. As well as ones such as “Why are Christians against racism, but discriminate against homosexuals?” or “Why is the Old Testament God so vengeful, but the New Testament God so loving?” The answer to that last question I loved so much. Because it’s exactly what I thought. Imagine it. You part the Red Sea. You deliver Manna everyday and twice before Sabbath, you demonstrate so many miracles and still they disregard your instructions.