Universalist???

Me???  No way.  I mean, for no other reason than believing what Jesus said in John 10: "I am the way, the truth and the life.  NO MAN comes to the Father but by me."  I do NOT believe there are multiple paths to God .. I beleive salvation comes solely by Christ's redeeming work on the cross ... no Jesus AND works, etc.  No Jesus OR ... just Jesus. 

But today, after my latest installment in Radical ... I sadly agree with David Platt that most all of us are universalists ... either by theology or by practice. 

Those by theology have come to accept the "many paths to ONE God" idea.  I'm not there.

BUT ... I do find myself far too close to those who claim Christ is necessary for salvation, yet live in silence, as if people in the world will be ok without Jesus.  Whew ... yep.

We forget that in our PC oriented, don't offend anyone mindset  ... our silence speaks volumes.  Catholics may be good people, but they do not believe that Jesus alone is the way to salvation.  We do not follow the same God of the Muslims.  But we've tried sooooo hard to outline our similarities that we've neglected the bottom line of Scripture.

David walked us through seven truths from Romans that have reminded me of the urgency of the gospel  ... especially to those who have never heard.

1. ALL people have knowledge of God.
2. ALL people reject God.
3. ALL people are guilty before God.
4. ALL people are condemned for rejecting God.
5. God has made a way of salvation for the lost.
6. People cannot come to God apart from faith in Christ.
7. Christ commands the church to make the gospel known to all peoples.

Sounds just like it has for my whole life.  No new truth.  BUT ... we have somehow wormed some "buts" into those statements ... at least in our head and heart ... if not with our mouth. For instance, we've somehow tried to comfort ourselves with the idea that since all people have knowledge of God that whatever knowledge they have is "enough" for salvation.  Nope.  Doesn't say that anywhere.  Knoweldge of God is not enough for salvation.  We also want people who haven't had an opporutnity to hear the gospel to be "ok" ... but they still stand condemned for rejecting GOD ... regardless of their understanding of Jesus.  We want to say that the "innocents" have a free ride to Heaven.  They DO, infact, but there is NO innocence anywhere.  ALL people are guilty.  We are ALL sinners. 

Hard pill to swallow that it's not only what we SAY, but what we DON'T SAY that betrays our heart.  Time for a lot of us to open our mouths in grace and love with undiluted TRUTH.