Is this a commonly held view within Christianity?

[ohfook]

I appreciate this post shows my ignorance somewhat, but this is something I've been curious about for years.

My parents raised me as a Christian and would describe themselves as very religious. Their belief system could be summarised as they believe that god is love, we don't need to worry about hell because god forgives and that all religions are just different paths to the same destination and it should be possible for them all to coexist.

I was much older when I realised that other Christian's take a far more bookish/learned approach to the religion. In particular an ex of mine had parents who knew the bible to the letter. They said a lot of things that totally contradicted the belief system that I'd been brought up in. One thing they said really stuck in my mind. They believed that the when the Antichrist came, he'd bring seven years of peace to the Middle East first and people would think he was a hero?

I was just wondering if a lot of people believe this? Mainly because if I was a politician, it would really put me off getting involved because I wouldn't want people to think that about me.

The emphasis on being saved (justified) once and for all time is an evangelical tenet. The RC take on salvation/ justification is that baptism starts you on a journey toward justification/ righteousness, which you can freely choose to take part in or not. Catholics are asked to walk humbly with God.

@mathanxiety & @AlteredStater, it's just God already knows. And if we receive that knowledge by grace through faith then we will we might just have cause to be hopeful.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)

Although of course faith without works is dead so it is not like we are not transformed by faith.

Maybe it's a personal motivation thing. God just knows best how to have us achieve 'expected end',

"11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29:11 KJV)

Some might give up thinking of the possibility of failure and are better motivated thinking they will succeed but that would cause some to slack off and preferring challenges do better thinking about possibility of failure.

Personally, I start to feel very nervous, alienated and fumbly if I concentrate on success being dependent on me taking certain actions/works. I feel much better thinking about willingly letting God take control and work in and through me so that I am motivated and able to take the appropriate actions/do the appropriate works according to His will. So I pray in faith for Him to do this. And I believe it is His will that I do His will in thought and deed.

That sounds like a very sensible approach!

He already knows what?

That sounds like a very sensible approach!

@mathanxiety, thank you.

He already knows what?

All things, including our destination.

That sounds like a very sensible approach!

Sorry, my thanks were due to @AlteredStater.

I would say that being Christian is more than simply trying to live as Jesus lived, it requires a recognition that Jesus is actually God. There might be lots of people that I can look at their life and admire it and maybe try to follow their positive example, but I don't think they're God, or that they died in my place so that I could be in relationship with God.

I don't think I mentioned anything in my post about judging who does/doesn't go to heaven or whatever, but I don't think I fully agree with your ideas about Jesus opposing "in" and "out" crowd. Certainly Jesus welcomed those who were they "outsiders" of his society and opposed social divisions and segregation within society, and calls his followers to do the same. But that's not at all the same thing as actual belief, and there is plenty of scripture that very specifically refers to differences between those who believe and trust in Jesus and those who don't. Jesus mentioned about sorting wheat/chaff and sheep/goats; he talks about the gospel bringing division, and the NT letters talk about when to regard someone as an unbeliever. I'm not at all advocating for the idea that we should think of people who don't believe in Jesus as their saviour as being "less than". But we should definitely think of them as being not Christian!

I'm familiar with the section that you quoted from CS Lewis, I think it's a lovely picture with a good degree of relevance. But the Narnia Chronicles are not scripture so we need to look at which part of actual scripture Lewis was basing that idea on, and weigh the merits of that rather than of what CS Lewis said. I think you've got to do a lot of mental gymnastics and ignoring of lots of scripture to interpret Jesus' words of "no one comes to the father except through me" to mean anything other than the idea that Jesus is the only way to God.

@shrewdasserpentsinnocentasdoves, regarding salvation and coming to the Father through Jesus in terms of hope over people it might be helpful to consider all what Jesus includes. Where we can see Jesus.

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (John: 4:16 NIV)

The nitty gritty is that you’d hope people would recognise Jesus when they come across Him. Viewing love as love and not think they are showing love through actions that are born out of selfish motivations.

Or indeed fail to acknowledge truth shared in love from another because it challenges us to change in some way.

“But the Narnia Chronicles are not scripture so we need to look at which part of actual scripture Lewis was basing that idea on, and weigh the merits of that rather than of what CS Lewis said.”

I’m so in agreement with this. And as much as I enjoy and admire the works of my countryman CS Lewis we dare not elevate his writings to anything comparable to the stature of the Holy Spirit inspired scriptures.

I thoroughly recommend anyone who wonders what it means to be a Christian, not to place their conclusions on isolated verses, but to read each of the Gospels first in their totality, then Acts and then the various letters. If reading isn’t your thing you can listen to them being read on YouTube.

Even a cursory read (or listen) through John chapter 3 (our Lord’s teaching to the learned Pharisee Nicodemus, and John the Baptist’s response to Jesus’ growing ministry) will reveal a great deal about what being a Christian is and what it is not.

Here’s a link to John 3 being read by David Suchet. It will take 5 minutes to listen to it.

@LeaningOnTheEverlastingArms, indeed! A great passage. This line is one that always stands out for me:

“8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”d]” (John 3: 8 NIV)

It speaks to me of the mystery of God and how we do not know it all. How we all have to exercise faith, that is hoping in something we have not seen for ourselves, in person, (yet). Humbling.

My take, above all else, from Jesus’ teaching to Nicodemus, is the absolute necessity of being born again, born of the Spirit. I think He’s unequivocal on that.

and also arguably the best known verse in the Bible, John 3 :16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

and John the Baptist’s stark statement at the close of the chapter
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

@LeaningOnTheEverlastingArms, we are in agreement upon that!🙂

But since my hope is in God, not my understanding or any other person’s, I think we should be open to a deeper understanding regarding what being born again, accepting and believing in the Son, could possibly look like for different people coming from different backgrounds.

In response to the OP and subsequent posts I'm going to repost something I put on another thread. I'm very concerned that as Christians we can be very arrogant in our belief that we alone have got it right and that every other expression of faith that has existed since man walked the earth has it wrong.

The God I believe in and follow is not exclusively a Christian God. He is the creator and loves all his creation. He has been in existence for all of time. He was God to prehistoric man and from then on to peoples of all nations. I believe that God has revealed himself in many ways and to many peoples across the centuries, including in the person of Jesus. Religion is a man made construct which tries to make sense of the divine, but how can we understand God? He is beyond the understanding of even the wisest and most learned.
I was born in a century and country where Christianity was predominant so this is the 'religion' that I have learned and still adhere to. Had I been born elsewhere I would likely have been Muslim or Hindu. I don't consider my religion to be the correct one, just an expression of my faith in God.
IMHO everybody has a different faith journey but ultimately we are seeking communion with the creator God.

There is just the one God.

The problem with holding this position is that the teachings of Jesus make such an assertion impossible.

If we believe what Jesus said we cannot believe that there are other ways to God.

He was either deluded or lying or telling us the truth- and we must choose which.

As CS Lewis famously said
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

@LeaningOnTheEverlastingArms, I believe Jesus is the only way to God too. People from diverse and different backgrounds might be in complete agreement with and believing in all the things of Jesus and recognise Him in the world around them. However I think we might miss this if they use different language to us when describing their experiences. I think we, as Christians, need to be aware of this and not put limits on God. It’s good to keep reminding ourselves that,

“25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19: 25-26 NIV)

Taking verses out of context proves nothing, however much one might wish it did.

The necessity of faith in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ is reiterated throughout the New Testament, time after time.

As Peter stated, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4 :12

@LeaningOnTheEverlastingArms, I think you misunderstand me. I’m not disagreeing with you on this point merely trying to say we should not have too narrow a view concerning who might be saved. Otherwise we can start erroneously putting all sorts of stipulations on salvation. God is the judge, not us.

And is it acting in love to believe someone damned? Or is it acting in love to exercise hope that God can reach them?

I believe in universal salvation, sounds like your parents do/did too. But theories of atonement vary and Christianity is very broad. My brother is a CofE vicar and we disagree on a lot (eg he believe in complentarianism). I am also CofE but disagree vehemently. When I was about 18 I went to a church when someone asked if someone who had never heard of Jesus would go to heaven or hell. We were told that, of course, they'd go to hell. I left Christianity for 7 years and it took me a long time to examine my own relationship with God and feel confident in my own faith. My husband is an atheist, but I witness the Holy Spirit working through him daily. The only thing that matters is what you believe.

Scripture puts the stipulations on salvation, not you nor I, and we can agree that Christ is the Judge and not us.

@LeaningOnTheEverlastingArms , I was talking about erroneous stipulations not the ones of scripture. Although we have to remember our understanding and interpretation of scripture deepens and develops during our journey of faith. There is much to learn.

@LeaningOnTheEverlastingArms
I'm interested that you dismissed the C S Lewis quotes from the Narnia book as not being scriptural, yet chose to quote the same author in support of your statements in reply to my post.

Quoting Christian scripture doesn't validate your statements as numerous studies have shown that the scriptures have altered in meaning with translation and the passage of time. Allowances also have to be made for the immense cultural references and expectations that are no longer relevant. It is impossible to know exactly what Jesus meant and understand the nuances which are conveyed by tone of voice, body language, facial expressions etc.

Do you seriously believe that a God who loves us would condemn people to damnation just because they haven't ticked all the boxes dictated by the current theology of your particular religion?