Thursday, October 13, 2016

A paradox of gigantic proportions

But as soon as one does meet and come to know people or other faiths a paradox of gigantic proportions becomes disturbingly obvious. We say as Christians that God is the God of universal love, that he is the creator and Father of all mankind, and that he wills the ultimate good and salvation of all men. But we also say, traditionally, that the only way to salvation is the Christian way. And yet we know, when we stop to think about it, that the large majority of the human race who have lived and died up to the present moment have lived either before Christ or outside the borders of Christendom. Can we then accept the conclusion that the God of love who seeks to save all mankind has nevertheless ordained that men must be saved in such a way that only a small minority can in fact receive salvation? It is the weight of this moral contradiction that has driven Christian thinkers in modern times to explore other ways of understanding the human religious situation. John Hick, God and the Universe of Faiths (Oneworld Publications, 2nd. ed., 1993), 122-23. 

Rahner, Jerry Walls, John Sanders, Gabriel Fackre, W. L. Craig, religious pluralists, and universalists, all have different strategies to resolve this dilemma. 

So often, freewill theists act as if Calvinism is deeply problematic while freewill theism is unproblematic. But that conceals major tensions in their own position.

1 comment:

  1. And the same could be said about demons. Wouldn't a God who loves everybody give the opportunity to be saved to demons and satan himself? Why would God "restrict" His love to only humans? Jerry Walls also said that once God chose to create the universe and its creatures, that He has the responsibility to love them as parents choose to have children and also have the same responsibility. Aren't demons and satan part of God's creation? Doesn't God have the responsibility to love them? He should be consistent with his own thought.

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