Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: unisoft!lynn@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Lynn Klein) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Christians abetting Satan? (Was: gulf crisis, spiritual help...) Message-ID: Date: 26 Sep 90 08:12:41 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 46 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Sigh. I am so tired of this discussion. And I imagine I'm a part of the silent majority. I think that when my life ends, God is not going to give *one hoot* about what I believed, but will instead ask me, "Did you love? Whom did you love? How did you express it? Did you share the gifts I gave you with the poor? Did you do the works of mercy?" Lynn [In fact I have not been accepting new postings on the original question of whether it is proper to pray with non-Christians. I think we've done all we can with that issue. However this posting raises a somewhat broader issue. Before commenting on what you say, let me clarify what I mean by "belief" and "faith". Generally what the NT considers essential is faith. Belief may be a necessary precondition (or may not -- we can talk about that). But faith is more than just belief. Faith in God includes trust and obedience. At least in the Reformed tradition, faith is seen as essential. Actions take on religious significance when they are done in response to God -- in response to his love for us and in obedience to his call. The same action done in an attempt to build up a righteousness independent of God has a very different signifiance. I'm willing to listen to arguments that non-Christians can be saved, which is what you seem to be saying. But I'm very nervous when I see that argument being made by opposing belief to practice, as you seem to have done. Because of the common confusion of belief with faith, I have the nagging feeling that people who play off belief and action end up thinking that faith is not necessary. I'm willing to listen to arguments that say it is possible for someone to have an "anonymous faith" in God, i.e. even though they haven't heard or don't believe in God, somehow God manages to come to them, and they respond to him without realizing who they are responding to. But I'm worried that what I see in your posting is that it doens't matter whether they are responding to God at all: all that matters is that they do good things. Of course many Christians will go one step farther, and say that anonymous faith is impossible: there is no way to respond to God except through Christ, and there's no way to trust in Christ if you don't believe in him. --clh]