Unbound

Folks have been all in an uproar over Rob Bell's book, Love Wins, in which he suggests that salvation may be possible for non-Christians. I have begun, but not finished the book. What I have read so far, I have found refreshing, thought-provoking, and resonating deeply with questions I have had for years.


Are we Christians allowed to question and wonder? Are we as Christians allowed to consider the possibility of salvation for God-seekers who do not seek God through Jesus? Are we left seeking God through Jesus out of fear of hell?

This is a primary concern for me.  Why am I a Christian or why would I offer Christianity to anyone else?  Do I love God, find connection to God through Jesus and therefore follow him?  If so, then that is a beautiful faith that brings life, peace, and love.  Am I, on the other hand, afraid of this place called hell, convinced of my destiny to that place after I die, and therefore following Jesus as a way of avoiding a terrible place?  Such a faith is one based on fear and self-loathing.  Even if such a faith leads to love of God and neighbor, the foundations of the faith are terrible things.

Further, such a faith necessarily leads to exclusive claims of salvation, leading to further negative effects.  Believing first that I (and all humans) are going to hell unless we believe in Jesus, I must then believe that all non-Christians are necessarily going to hell (deathbed conversions not withstanding).  Hooray for me and all Christians, and too bad for everyone else. 

Now, if I cared about people in this heaven/hell system, then I would want to get them to believe as I do in order to avoid this place called hell.  That seems like a fairly kind thing to do.  We might call it opening people's eyes to the reality of their rather unfortunate situation.  If true, such eye opening certainly is the kindest thing to do, but doing so is also extremely belittling, is it not?  To get someone to follow Jesus in the heaven / hell system, I need to get that person to believe that he or she is a terrible sinner, a terrible person, and destined for eternal torment.  As unsolicited advice goes (something rarely accepted), such aspersions on one's character are not likely to go over especially well. 

Look at such a system on an individual level.  A person is born through no fault of his or her own.  Two people (completely unknown to the soon to be born) decide to have sex (having asked no consent from the soon to be born), and then, 9ish months later, this brand new person is thrust, unasked, into the world and immediately destined for hell.  Then, this person is told that he or she can avoid this place called hell by following Jesus, the son of the very God who has sentenced this person to hell. 

How could anyone not want to follow God?

If we must believe the exclusive claims of salvation for Christians only, then we have a faith with the foundations of fear and self-loathing.  We are therefore adding fear and self-loathing to the world.  We have the further problems that such exclusive claims in the heaven / hell system lead to division.  In this life, if the Christiansonlygotoheavenallothersgotohell system is how I operate, then I would want to stay away from non-Christians and keep those I love away from non-Christians, lest we be infected by their non-belief and risk going to hell.  The one exception would be that I would want to be around non-Christians in order to Christianize them, but that would lead to belittling others or to friendship with ulterior motives, rather than simply loving people. 

At it's worst, the division and attempts to Christianize others would lead to anger and violence (as it often has in the past).  So now we have fear, self-loathing, division, belittling, ulterior motives, anger, and violence as the effects of the Christiansonlygotoheavenallothersgotohell system.  I realize we have all of these problems even without such a system, but I can't think of any good effects in this life for such an exclusive system, and I can think of all of the above-mentioned negative effects.  Judging truth by effects, I wonder if such an exclusive system might not be particularly true.  Jesus said in John 14:11, "Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves."  His works were works of healing and love.

Perhaps we Christians can let go of the exclusive claims of salvation.  We Christians have found / been given a way to God through Jesus (whom we believe to be God). We Christians have found / been given a beautiful way of life in which we love God, love others, seek justice and mercy, live in hope and faith, pray and work for the restoration of the world. Must we claim more than that? Can we not be grateful for what we have found / been given without insisting that others believe as we do? Can we not be joyful for salvation found / given to us without denying the possiblity of salvation for others? We are saved through Jesus. Must the flip side of that coin be true?

I don't know the answers, and I won't know the answers in this life. Further, I don't have to know the answers for salvation belongs to God, not to any of God's followers. Paul tells members of the Church in Rome not to ask who will ascend into heaven or who will descend into the abyss. (Romans 10:6-7) While part of a longer discourse, we would do well to heed such advice. We have found / been given salvation through Jesus. We needn't hold the flip side of that coin to be true.

I at least no longer do.  I have been unbound by the fear that I held for so long.  It is still there in small amounts, but I refuse to operate out of it.  I still believe in Jesus because of the works he did, because of his teachings, and because I love the idea that God became human and lived as one of us so that we might know God, trust God, and be with God.  That, to me, is salvation:  to know, trust, love and be with God, and to live the life of love that flows naturally from dwelling with God in trust and love. 

The Lord bless you and keep you,

Brad