There's Nothing New

There’s nothing new. I was just reading a blog post by a man leaning in his faith to Universalism. The idea that there are many paths to God. That if one leads a Christ like life, you have embraced Christ, whether you acknowledge Him as Savior or not.

 I remember wondering  50 years ago “How could it be possible for someone who had never heard of Christ through an accident of geography and birth, yet lived a good life, go to hell?” Or asking myself the question, “Do I really believe that Gandhi and Hitler ended up in the same place?” So really, there’s nothing new, each generation of believers has to struggle with the same questions their forbears grappled with.

It doesn’t help that, contrary to what my fundamentalist friends believe, on issue after issue the Bible is ambiguous, not black and white. Or that many fine Christians disagree on the purpose and relevance of many passages in the Bible for today’s culture. Not many would say that stoning adulterers to death is an appropriate penalty for adultery in today's society. Jesus said take care of the poor, Paul said unless they can work. So what’s the point? I’ve come to believe that scripture is the total revealed mind of God, that you cannot contain an infinite God in a finite text. So there’s going to be some lack of clarity and unanimity among believers.

Here’s how I feel about Universalism. I believe that Jesus meant it when He said that “No man comes to the Father except by me.”  That’s how I choose to witness. Many times I find people reject that teaching while embracing Christ, so I’ll leave it to God to decide if that’s good enough.  In the meantime if someone embraces the teachings of Christ as they would a great philosopher, the worlds a better place. So I settle for that.

All Jesus asked of me was to carry the message. I do that, albeit poorly, and know that all will be revealed, just not here on earth.