Inclusivism

Back at College today!
It was very nice to be back, catching up on what people have been doing and learning some more. Poor Tim was sick today so he had a day sleeping at home. Please keep him in your prayers- sickness doesn't agree with him and he'd love to be at College.

One of the more fun subjects I've been doing at College (all subjects are good, but you can't for example classify Greek as fun...) is World Religions and the Gospel. The title is pretty self explanitory. Over the next two terms we will be looking at Buddhism and Islam and a Christian response- but over the previous term we've looked more generally at what is the gospel and what kind of framework do we go about thinking about other religions.

Today we were talking about Inclusivism. Perhaps the best way to first define it is to say what it is not. It is not Pluralism, which says that all religions are the same and every Religion leads to God. Inclusivism generally says that Jesus is the way that people are saved. However, it is not necessary to know the gospel to be saved- other people are included. Depending on the line you take, that can be particular subgroups of people- it might be those who haven't heard the gospel, those who are devoted in their own religion, those who are good, or even everyone.

I found this particular lesson facinating because I've always had a secret sympathy for inclusivism. I love it when I see people become Christians but for everyone who accepts the gospel, you usually see a fair few who reject it. It does seem hard that I get access to the Kingdom and others who just happened to be born in a different time/place don't.

But there are a few things that I found particularly helpful today. The first was to do with the usual argument that undercurrents this view- that if God is fair then he must save those who haven't heard. But underpinning that argument is the idea that we have the right to tell God what is fair and what is not. What God does say is that he is just, that people who trust in Jesus are saved and others are not, and it is all under his divine control. To then try to twist God around to say something else that we feel better about is to create our own god. Rather we should pray that God helps us to trust him and his faithfulness and justice and to worship him for who he is not what we want him to be.

The second point that I found helpful is what I need to be reminded always, that as humans, particularly in his time where it is so shoved to the background- we down play the seriousness of sin. Do I deserve to go to hell? Yes. Why won't I go there? Because of Gods mercy and grace and justice in his son. Sin is deserving of judgement. So no one is "lost through no fault of their own". Rather "no one is saved through their own merit".

A hard lesson but a helpful one!