Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!uw-june!emma From: emma@uw-june.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: exclusive salvation Message-ID: <477@uw-june.UUCP> Date: Sat, 11-Jun-83 19:47:41 EDT Article-I.D.: uw-june.477 Posted: Sat Jun 11 19:47:41 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 13-Jun-83 12:42:11 EDT Lines: 25 Well, since Tim asked.... My own views (note I make no claim for the Church) on salvation are very close to those of C. S. Lewis. Essentially, something we see very clearly in this life is responsibility for your actions. You walk off a cliff, you land on the ground and so forth. My own view is that this extends into the afterlife as well. If in this life you choose to alienate yourself from God, you will find yourself alienated in the next as well, possibly with no better idea of the fact that you alienated at that point than you have now (Lewis spends most of "The Great Divorce" on this topic). I too doubt that God would consign anybody to an eternal weinie roast. As to whether only Christians are saved. I do believe that salvation is through Christ, and only through Christ. However, Paul spends some time in Romans (2:12-16) saying that those who have not heard of the Law are saved according to how they have behaved-- in other words, if you haven't heard of Christ it would hardly be sporting to blame you for not accepting His salvation. If you have heard and have chosen not to accept it, you have chosen alienation. If it has been preached at you but for some reason you don't "really" hear it, as with people who decide that the accounts of Christ's life don't fulfill some standard of historical documentation they choose to apply for example, well I'm not God and I'll just leave that question up to Him. -Joe P.