From: cprice@treehut.waffle.atl.ga.us (Clyde Price)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Dislike of Christianity
Date: 17 Apr 92 02:20:19 GMT
Organization: Clyde's TreeHut BBS

HSUSA00@ricevm1.rice.edu (Susarla, H. Krishna) writes:

> 
>       I have a question for any Christian who thinks he or she can answer it:
> 
> What is the Christian/Biblical position on other nonChristian religions?
> 
> [I trust it will come as no shock to you to know that there are
> several positions.  I think essentially all Christians believe that
> salvation comes only through Christ.  However there are a substantial
> number of Christians who believe that there are cases in which Christ
> can speak in someone's heart without their explicitly knowing that it
> is Christ.
> common.    ...
> 
> Despite the fact that this is commonly discussed, I still don't have a
> good FAQ to give people who ask this.  I'll try to collect information
> this time.
> 
> --clh]

        Here are some articles I wrote in my ARROWS collection ("Arrows
for Your Quiver" designed for church bulletins and evangelistic
advertising) that address this question:


          ONLY ONE WAY

     "Oh, I believe there are many ways to God.  Don't you
believe that there will be people from all religions in
heaven?"

     No, that's not what the Bible teaches.  Peter
proclaimed to the city leaders of Jerusalem,
     "Salvation is to be found through him (Jesus of
Nazareth) alone; in all the world there is no one else whom
God has given who can save us." (Acts 4:12 GNB)

     Jesus Christ is God's ONLY answer to the sin-problem.
He is the only one who ever died as a substitute for
sinners and rose again victorious from the dead.  He has
the right to say, "I am the Way,...no one comes to the
Father but through Me" (John 14:6), because He is the only
One who opened that way with the blood-sacrifice of
Himself.

     The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is the
pre-existent God the Son, the creator and sustainer of the
universe, the virgin-born Lamb of God, the Crucified and
Risen Lord.  Any religion which fails to recognize Jesus of
Nazareth as all this is a false religion. (This includes
apostate forms of historic "churchianity".)

     If you are in a group or under a pastor that
disbelieves in Jesus, GET OUT!  There are many religions in
this world, but there is only one way to heaven.  His name
is Jesus.  Trust Him today, the Christ of the Scriptures;
trust Him alone, and not in combination with your own works
or anything else.

     We challenge you to read the Bible for yourself,
beginning in the 4th book in the New Testament, the Gospel
of John.  We urge you to find a local church that holds to
the Bible as the inerrant rule for faith and practice, and
which is seeking to share the Good News and make disciples
at home and all over the world.

     We invite you to come visit us.  We'd like to meet
you.
                                    [Clyde Price, Arrows21]


          CHILDREN OF GOD

     Some churches which claim to be Christian talk about
the "Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all Mankind",
and speak of this as a central truth of Christianity.  If
you are one who believes in this notion, here is a shock
for you:  That idea is not taught in the Bible.

     The apostle Paul wrote, "For you are all sons of God
through faith in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26 NKJ)
     It is only through faith in Jesus Christ that a person
becomes a "son" of God.
     We read in the Gospel of John that the Word, the
Creator, "became flesh and dwelt among us" (1:14) as Jesus
of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel, and that "as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become children
of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were
born...of God." (1:12-13)  This God-birth is spoken of in
John 3.

     There is ONE VERSE, quoting Paul in Acts 17:28,
speaking of people in general as "offspring" (Greek: GENOS)
of God, and it is followed by Paul's statement that God
"now commands all people everywhere to repent."

     It would take only several hours to read through Luke,
John and Acts for yourself, to see for yourself that we are
telling you just what the Bible says.  Ask God to show you
the Truth as you read.

     If you want to be a REAL child of God, repent of your
sins, put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and
Lord, and you will be born into the Forever Family.  Don't
delay; do it NOW.
                                   [Clyde Price,  Arrows29]

          "WHAT ABOUT THE HEATHEN?"

     "You say I've got to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior.
Well, what about the heathen who've never heard?"

     This is usually a smokescreen question thrown up by
people who want to shift attention away from themselves.
But here is a Scriptural answer to it:
     God has given each human being a conscience, and has
put us in a universe which testifies to His power and glory
and wisdom and order.

     The apostle Paul observed, "For since the creation of
the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal
power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse..."
(Romans 1:20 NKJ).

     Although neither conscience nor creation can inform of
the redemption provided for believers in Christ, Paul makes
the point in Romans 1 and 2 that "they are without excuse"
for their SIN.

     People will be judged and condemned for their SINS,
whether they have ever heard the Good News about Jesus
Christ or not.  Certainly, it is a very serious sin to hear
this "good news" and reject it, but this is just another
sin, and "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

     The rest of the letter to the Romans explains that the
Law of God was given to show the need of a Savior.  Trying
to follow conscience or trying to keep the Law will never
save anybody.  The point is that people who have Bibles of
their own as well as people who have never heard of Jesus
of Nazareth all need a Savior.  Otherwise, we can only
receive what we deserve: eternal DEATH in Hell for our
sins.

     If you are genuinely concerned about the "heathen
who've never heard", you should take Jesus Christ as your
Lord and Savior, and GO TELL THEM!

     But if you have not yet received the Lord Jesus, we
would ask, what about YOU? You HAVE heard.  What about the
"heathen" holding this paper?
                                   [Clyde Price, Arrows24]

============================================================
Obviously these articles are incomplete without the name, address, phone
and meeting times of an evangelical church.  Available collections are
ARROWS, SHOTS and SCRAPS, as well as several uncopyrighted Christian
"classics".  I'd like to feed them out into this group incrementally,
but would like to have some feedback before dumping my load on the
moderator.
=============================================================

        Liberal churches softpedal the exclusive claims of the gospel,
but if there's really only ONE WAY to the Father as the Lord Jesus and
the apostles claimed, then we're under _great_obligation_ to get out
into all the world and TELL PEOPLE!  I take these statements by the Lord
Jesus at face value, and whatever else I do with my life, I want to GET
THE GOSPEL TO PEOPLE.  There's nothing more important in this world than
leading people to Jesus.


=======================================================================



Clyde C. Price, Jr.  CIS# 76616,3452   CLYDE'S TREEHUT BBS 404/767-1632
P.O.Box 667, Red Oak, GA 30272 USA voc:404/761-2327 /I'm a "whosoever"!
Atl.Christian Tech Society (3rd Tues)/ cprice@treehut.waffle.atl.ga.us