From: marlatt@spot.Colorado.EDU (Stuart W. Marlatt)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Salvation and the purpose of evangelization
Date: 9 Sep 92 07:32:40 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder

>hp-col!smithw@kd4nc.ampr.org (Walter Smith) writes:
>> If a missionary
>> goes and teaches someone the principles that Jesus taught, but
>> doesn't actually impose "Christianity" as a religion on him, do
>> you feel he has done anything?  
>
>>If a person lives by those principles,
>> but never even hears of the religion "Christianity" or the name
>> Jesus, is God going to cast him away?  Or, does he, by his actions,
>> show that he knew Christ in his heart without knowing the Name?

I get the feeling from this discussion that much of the point of
evangelism is being missed. Granted, the question of ultimate salvation
is crucial. Whether the unreached will be damned by their ignorance
is always brought up as a question...I think Romans 2 pretty well answers
this (check 2.12-16). But the question of salvation as the sole goal
of evangelism completely ignores the privledge of living in relationship
with Christ.

As another response to this post noted, a missionary who only goes and
teaches someone the principles which Jesus taught has completely failed
in his mission. These are hard teachings - but Christianity is _not_
living a life by a set of principles. It is living a life supernaturally
in communion with the Creator, who has also lived as a man and died to
make this union possible. It is relationship, communication, comfort -
basically, all the things which characterize human relationships. The
great benefit of coming to know Christ is not so much avoiding eternal
damnation, though that is of course to be desired. The real joy is in 
living each day walking with Christ.

An illustration may be of use. Suppose, for the sake of argument, that
some agency decried that all people must at some point marry - failure
to do so would result in eternal punishment. You might remain single
your entire life, and recite the wedding vows (with some willing 'mate')
at the last moment, as you lay upon your deathbed. Or you might marry
earlier, and share your life loving someone who becomes closer to you
than any friend or any brother or sister. But marriage has its costs.
Your life is no longer your own, you will find times when your spouse
interfers with your own desires and goals. But it also has its rewards,
which may greatly outweigh the costs. (Please - this is only an 
illustration. I am not suggesting that marriage is the ultimate purpose
for everyone...but I do think that the comparison to marriage as an
allegory for Christ and the Church is pretty useful.)

The benefits of our being saved are not just in the sweet by-and-bye,
they are in the gritty here-and-now. That is the big falacy of deathbed
conversion plans (besides the obvious difficulty in accurately planning
one's own final minutes). If we only give the world a set of rules,
we have done them a disservice; if we introduce them to their loving
Creator, we have offered them a life far richer than any they could
hope for.

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Here am I, an old man in a dry month,                                     
Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain.                                 
  --T.S. Eliot,  Gerontion                                                
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s.w. marlatt, <><  &  *(:-)
University of Colorado:                   marlatt@spot.Colorado.edu  492-3939
National Center for Atmospheric Research: marlatt@neit.cgd.ucar.edu  497-1669
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