From: parsons@cis.ksu.edu (Scott S Parish )
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Is Christianity really the ONLY way?
Date: 17 Dec 92 04:19:25 GMT
Organization: Kansas State University

st14@cornell.edu (Stephen Tseng) writes:

>I've been having difficulty trying to understand something. Doesn't Jesus
>say that belief in Him is the only way for salvation, and that we cannot
>be saved through our own efforts? However, this would seem to cut off
>millions of people who have never heard of Jesus, and millions more who 
>died before Jesus even walked the face of the earth. One argument I heard 
>was that God will have mercy on whomever he decides, and that belief in 
>Jesus was the only SURE way. This however, leaves an opening in logic. 
>If God saves even one person who didn't accept Christ, then Jesus really 
>is not the one and only way. 

>There seems to be four ways out of this logical trap.

[Four ways deleted.]

The only real scriptural evidence about people who do not know about
Christ is found in Romans 2, specifically 11-16:

    11  For God shows no partiality.  12  All who have sinned
    without the law will also perish without the law, and all who 
    have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.  13  For 
    it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God,
    but the doers of the law who will be justified.  14  When 
    Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, 
    they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.  
    15  They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, 
    while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting
    thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them  16  on that day when, 
    according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

And also possibly, in Revelation 20:12,15 (The Great White Throne Judgement):

    12  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the 
    throne, and books were opened.  Also another book was opened, 
    which is the book of life.  And the dead were judged by what 
    was written in the books, by what they had done. [...]  15 and 
    if any one's name was not found written in the book of life, 
    he was thrown into the lake of fire.
 
By the time Revelation 20:12-15 rolls around, the only people left to
be judged are the the unrighteous (ie. the really bad people or those
who heard and rejected the Gospel) and those who were good but never 
heard about Christ--at least that is my opinion.

IMO, it is possible that there will be people in heaven who have not
heard of Christ.  Since there is little insight as to how God will
judge these people, we will have to rely on the character of God--
He is just, merciful, and omniscient.  He would not send someone to
hell who does not deserve that punishment, after all He wants all
to come to repentance and that none perish.

Some questions related to this that would shed some light are:  
What standard did Christ fulfill while living here?  How does
faith in Christ save us?  Is it the simple belief that he 
lived, died, and was resurrected?  Or, does the belief in the
person of Christ have significance because of his fulfilment
of the Law?  Has the Law been done away with?  How are OT
saints judged?  By the Law?  Does that mean that there were
people who fulfilled the Law prior to Christ?  If they are 
judged according to the Law, what happens to David whose
offenses include murder and adultery?  Is it possible to
obey the spirit of the Law and yet break the letter of it?

As a more personal, hypothetical question:  Say there is a person who 
had not heard the Gospel or the Law, but who lives their life in accord 
with what is required in the Law.  This person worships God, but does 
not have a complete revelation of Him (we don't either, but we have a 
lot more than this person does).  He does screw-up with a few of the 
commandments of the Law on occasion (let's say this person steals or 
covets a few times) but is sorry for those instances of behavior and 
is repentant.  What would happen to this person?

-- 
Scott Parish                |  The Truth is still the Truth      |  John 14:6
parsons@cygnus.cis.ksu.edu  |  even if you choose to ignore it.  |