John Stackhouse Jr. (Author of Humble Apologetics) wrote an article in the May/June edition of Books and Culture entitled a Bigger-and Smaller-View of Mission. While the entire article was engaging, This section on inclusivism especially stood out to me..."This position (Inclusivism) affirms that without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and the he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6). This assertion comes in the great chapter listing examples of faith from the whole sweep of the Bible. Thus it includes lots of people who apparently had never heard of Jesus Christ, but had encountered the true God, believing that he did exist and that he is trustworthy, that he "rewards those who seek him" with what they cannot do for themselves. This is a fundamental posture of faith, and from this passage, as from many others in the Bible, it is obvious that one does not have to know about Jesus to adopt this posture that results in salvation. Does this mean that other religions are salvific? Certainly not. NO religion is salvific: not Hinduism or Shinto or Islam, but also not Christianity. God is salvific... To confine the scope of salvation to those who have heard certain facts about Jesus and who come to accept him on this basis, therefore, is not necessitated by the Bible, and in fact is not even the best way to understand the Bible."
Mini Putt
2 comments:
This is surely provative and I do hope to hear your responses to this book. Is it assigned reading with a review? As you can see I did finally figure out how to get in to respond. There have been so many changes lately that I was bonkers but here I am. GM
Nick, I also read the article and was very pleased. I hope to read the books someday or perhaps you can just give me the scoop.
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