Christianity is, by definition, exclusive. This simply means that when Jesus taught us that he is the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through him, that is exactly what that means. One cannot be an active Buddhist and inherit eternal life. One cannot be an self conscious, functioning Muslim and be part of the body of Christ.
I believe it is pretty well understood and embraced that one is either a Christian or they are not. There is no middle ground.
There is caveat though. God sends no one to hell. When one is striving to serve God, to love neighbor and to purify the soul, God happily, joyfully and passionately helps us and embraces us. This is not to say that "once saved, always saved", our salvation is synergistic, in other words, we are responsible to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And God is faithful to help us.
This caveat is all about the love of God, working with people, where they are. The ten year old child growing up in communist China, who had never heard the gospel, could still be seeking after God with his inherent "made in the image of God" soul. And God will accept that faithfulness.
It is the person who, though they may be nice, is deliberately rejecting the grace of God and only seeks to be their own God is the one who goes to hell, on their own choice. The one who hates/ignores God during life will not want to be with him for eternity.
I believe it is pretty well understood and embraced that one is either a Christian or they are not. There is no middle ground.
There is caveat though. God sends no one to hell. When one is striving to serve God, to love neighbor and to purify the soul, God happily, joyfully and passionately helps us and embraces us. This is not to say that "once saved, always saved", our salvation is synergistic, in other words, we are responsible to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And God is faithful to help us.
This caveat is all about the love of God, working with people, where they are. The ten year old child growing up in communist China, who had never heard the gospel, could still be seeking after God with his inherent "made in the image of God" soul. And God will accept that faithfulness.
It is the person who, though they may be nice, is deliberately rejecting the grace of God and only seeks to be their own God is the one who goes to hell, on their own choice. The one who hates/ignores God during life will not want to be with him for eternity.
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