This whole subject of Theology is definitely fascinating. I doubt that anyone, outside of a seminary has any real idea of the number and variety of understandings of God and our relationship with God which exists. You may remember last fall how I was lamenting that I was hammered very hard for my theology, which is far from fundamentalist, but on the other hand I did have the “audacity” to imply that there will be an ultimate judgment. Most of my seminary colleagues apparently don’t believe that.
I have a pretty good understanding of the way that the people in my congregations view God, which is pretty consistent with most of the people that I know. But then again, there are the views of what I believe are the majority of my seminary colleagues which I must admit, are not based very firmly in United Methodist Doctrine. Now with that being said, you might argue that a lot of my colleagues are not United Methodist, which is true, but what brought me to write my blog this morning was something that happened in my Ministry of Evangelism class which is a United Methodist Course.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. The professor asked us to discuss this statement:
“The proclamation of Jesus as ‘the Savior of the world’ is not an affirmation that all are automatically saved but rather an invitation to all to put their trust in the one who gave his life for the sin of the world.”
Ok, now it would be my assertion that this statement is a pretty middle road theological statement. It isn’t radical, it isn’t over the top, for me it is pretty foundational to what we believe, right in line with all of our creedal statements, in line with our doctrine, in line with our Confessional Statement, and our Articles of Religion. (Yes, my United Methodist friends, believe it or not, we have all of those things) All in all it is pretty much, I believe to be, mainline United Methodist theology.
In class yesterday, many of my colleagues took issue with this statement, complaining essentially that if Jesus is the Savior of the world, then that means that Jesus is the Savior of all, and that all will ultimately be saved. I listened to the discussion, which is my custom, usually in a large class, I don’t say very much, but if you get me in a small class, it seems like I can’t shut up. LOL.
Anyway, I listened, but I kept coming back to one question, If there is this thing called universal salvation, and it doesn’t matter what you believe or who you believe in, if there is no judgment, and so it doesn’t matter what you do, if we are all “saved” then what is the purpose for evangelism? What is the purpose for church? Why would anyone need, or desire, to spend years of their life and $100,000 in seminary? Wouldn’t it be easier to stay home on Sunday, kick back with a beer (not my choice of beverage) and watch television? And what about people like Hitler, do they get the same pass that everyone else does? What does this say about God’s justice? Is there such a thing? Is the only justice that is available, social justice?
I have a pretty good understanding of the way that the people in my congregations view God, which is pretty consistent with most of the people that I know. But then again, there are the views of what I believe are the majority of my seminary colleagues which I must admit, are not based very firmly in United Methodist Doctrine. Now with that being said, you might argue that a lot of my colleagues are not United Methodist, which is true, but what brought me to write my blog this morning was something that happened in my Ministry of Evangelism class which is a United Methodist Course.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. The professor asked us to discuss this statement:
“The proclamation of Jesus as ‘the Savior of the world’ is not an affirmation that all are automatically saved but rather an invitation to all to put their trust in the one who gave his life for the sin of the world.”
Ok, now it would be my assertion that this statement is a pretty middle road theological statement. It isn’t radical, it isn’t over the top, for me it is pretty foundational to what we believe, right in line with all of our creedal statements, in line with our doctrine, in line with our Confessional Statement, and our Articles of Religion. (Yes, my United Methodist friends, believe it or not, we have all of those things) All in all it is pretty much, I believe to be, mainline United Methodist theology.
In class yesterday, many of my colleagues took issue with this statement, complaining essentially that if Jesus is the Savior of the world, then that means that Jesus is the Savior of all, and that all will ultimately be saved. I listened to the discussion, which is my custom, usually in a large class, I don’t say very much, but if you get me in a small class, it seems like I can’t shut up. LOL.
Anyway, I listened, but I kept coming back to one question, If there is this thing called universal salvation, and it doesn’t matter what you believe or who you believe in, if there is no judgment, and so it doesn’t matter what you do, if we are all “saved” then what is the purpose for evangelism? What is the purpose for church? Why would anyone need, or desire, to spend years of their life and $100,000 in seminary? Wouldn’t it be easier to stay home on Sunday, kick back with a beer (not my choice of beverage) and watch television? And what about people like Hitler, do they get the same pass that everyone else does? What does this say about God’s justice? Is there such a thing? Is the only justice that is available, social justice?
Oh, and yes I did ask the question in class, not necessarily all of these questions, but I did ask that if we believe in universal salvation, why do we need evangelism, which the professor smiled and said, if that were the case, he would be out of a job. (the class may not have agreed with me, but I think perhaps the professor did)
These are the questions that I simply can’t wrap my head around. One of our favorite scriptures as Christians is of course John 3:16 which says "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. As much as I would love to believe that everyone will be saved, as much as I would like for that to be true, I keep being drawn back to those words, that whoever believes in him. For me, those words are very important to this conversation, it doesn’t say, so that everyone will have eternal life, it says that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life.
Now don’t get me wrong, I will be the first to say that God’s grace is so much bigger than we can ever imagine, and God’s love is far more wonderful and profound than we can possibly fathom. It should also be said that our job is absolutely not to judge. God’s heavenly plan is not up to you or me, we have been assigned the task of loving one another as God has loved us. And I think that if we can keep this job in mind, the rest of our theology will take care of itself.
Blessings
2 comments:
Well, Dad, I think that quoting John 3:16 should be the end of the discussion for your class... God sent his son to save the world, the WHOLE world, true... but it also says that you have to believe in him to have everlasting life. therefor everyone (including hitler) can be saved... they just have to believe in jesus to do so. And that is why evangelism is so important.
Well Terri, you sound like a good United Methodist to me:) But, I have learned over these past few years that just because someone says that they are a United Methodist, doesn't mean that they put a great deal of stock in our traditional United Methodist Doctrines:(
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