February 16, 2010
Pollsters
I just read where the Presbyterian Church USA has taken yet another poll, this time on the church’s statement of faith. The poll, according to the AP, says that one in three members think there is some wiggle room for non-Christians to get into heaven. I can’t imagine believers taking a poll on the clearly stated issue of salvation. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 4:16 ESV) Jesus has a warning for individuals, but I think it’s also applicable for churches and denominations. “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man [or denomination] through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:7 NIV) Emphasis added mine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----I suppose I should go, “Ouch!” since I attend a Presbyterian Church still in the PCUSA. But I don’t. I am no more a Presbyterian than I am anything else. I have told them, as I told the XYZ Church, that my membership will never be in “a church”. It is in the body of the Lord. And my fellowship is with all who believe on His name, whether or not they accept me as a brother. So I am always aware of possibly being labeled a “Unitarian” and being called a non-Christian myself. People really wind up tight in the semantics game.
-----Jesus is the Way provided by the Father. Man can dream up all the ways he wants, and he has dreamed up multitudes of them. But God dreamed up only one. Being knowledgeable and reasonable, God made this Way known to man. To get into heaven, a person must be found approaching God in the way He provided. Is that way a word, spelled J, E, S, U, S in English or iota, eta, sigma, omicron, upsilon, sigma in Greek? No. Bearing those letters alone is the same as wearing a shirt - it slightly changes how you appear. It is the relentless search for and acceptance of truth that entails walking the way. My search led me to the Bible, and yes the proclamation of that five letter word, because it occurred in a time and place where that information was available. But what if I had been born to an Anasazi family around 1000AD? Would I have searched for the truth, and could there have been any truth about the Way available in the canyons of Southwest Colorado? There could definitely be doubts about the ancestor-worship, or whatever they did. Simple logic supplies the possibility that some suspected existence after death would certainly be taken care of by the supreme loving one in charge of everything. That’s what God did, isn’t it? He must be loving since it is love that binds the family and the tribe into a system of mutual survival. So, would there not be the opportunity to accept such a simple truth to be freed for a truthful exploration of the attitudes and practices of love? That’s what Christ asks, isn’t it? And would not the person so doing be walking in truth, even though he would not have available to him all the nomenclature and informational details about it? I believe the opportunity would be there. I believe anyone who might walk in such truth would be walking in the Lord. I don’t know if it ever happened. But Jesus is the life because He is the truth, and all who walk in the truth find Him. I suppose such an Anasazi would also have to be called a Christian. So then again, maybe no non-Christian can get into heaven.
-----The problem is not who can or can’t get into heaven. God has that base covered. He knows the paths of each heart and whether or not they engage the Truth. The problem is with the poll taking. How can someone acknowledge salvation to be God’s decision, and yet make the decision himself to answer a poll? Maybe I am too simple-minded, but it just seems to me one must either abandon his quest for truth or lay down duplicity. God knows those who walk in the Way. We can only guess about them. Since the Way has a name and I know it, I must speak it in whatever detail I know to anyone who will hear, or be found a liar. The rest is up to Jesus’ Father.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment