Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: CONS.ELF@AIDA.CSD.UU.SE (Ake Eldberg (William de Corbie)) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: A Question... Message-ID: Date: 19 Mar 90 06:35:46 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 29 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Dave Mielke argues that since there is no salvation except through Jesus Christ, people who never heard of him cannot be saved. Since God decides who will be saved, He will see to it that all He wants to save will hear the Word and become Christians. This reflects a form of Christianity which I find it very hard to embrace. What is the purpose of passing such a sentence on those who never heard of Christ? The only one I can see is a desire to make your own theological system watertight and all-encompassing. And what about all of those who have had Christ preached to them with force and hate? What of the poor people who have come to hate Christ because of the faults of those who claimed to be His servants? You resort to determinism, always a bad mistake. The important thing about salvation through Christ is the personal confrontation with the love of God as manifested in His Son. When we meet this love, we have no choice but to receive it, and it is in that situation where it is true to say that there is no other way to salvation. The statement belongs there. It is not an attempt to say anything about what will become of gentiles who were never reached by Christian preaching and never had a chance to believe. There is no need to say anything about what happens to them. Leave that to God, and trust Him to do it right. It is enough for us that we are certain that Christ is the Way and the only way. Ake Eldberg cons.elf@aida.csd.uu.se