Thursday, April 14, 2005

Universalism

In answer to a comment about McLaren's apparent toying with Universalism and Inclusivism here is a quote from Lesslie Newbigin which we would do well to read and be informed by:
"exclusive in the sense of affirming the unique truth of the revelation in Jesus Christ, but not in the sense of denying the possibility of salvation to those outside the Christian faith; inclusive in the sense of refusing to limit the saving grace of God to Christians, but not in the sense of viewing other religions as salvific; pluralist in the sense of acknowledging the gracious work of God in the lives of all human beings, but not in the sense of denying the unique and decisive nature of what God has done in Jesus Christ."
(Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989, 182-3)

I think that this expresses the tension people could feel when given the opportunity to choose between universalism, inclusivism and exclusivism.
This thinking also leads to a deeper conversation. If McLaren were to say, THIS IS THE WAY IT IS, as he is prompted by both liberals and conservatives, the conversation could be effectively over. I'm not exactly what happens to people when they die. Maybe McLaren is there with me.

2 comments:

Daniel said...

Levi, check these sermons out.

Go to www.sermonaudio.com/
And search for Scott Hafemann
You'll find four sermons that he delivered at a missions conference in Indiana.

They are by Scott Hafemann, a professor at Wheaton.

Daniel said...

By the way, I ran across some interesting concerning the emergent church.

http://jesuscreed.blogspot.com/

http://theologica.blogspot.com/

http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/