The Narrow Path Ministries

Here's a link to an interesting article by Clark Pinnock, "The Other Hand of God: God's Spirit In An Age of Scientific Cosmology" published in the Stone- Campbell Journal: http://www.stone-campbelljournal.com/cu ... eature.htm

The article can be read and/or printed in Adobe Reader.

Would be interested in any comments from the "thinkers" out there. (that means anyone who posts here .

Thx for posting this, Homer. Quite interesting.

He obviously assumes an OEC, which others will strongly disagree with; I am still open to OEC.

I really liked his discussion regarding the problem of evil, and how the good things we derive from nature unfortunately must (by necessity) have a bad side. He talked about water being a life sustaining thing, but the very thing that makes it life-sustaining will also cause us to drown if we are submerged in it for more than a few minutes.

I struggle somewhat with the idea of God’s prevenient grace. He talked about Pope John Paul II’s belief: The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made available to all in some way. It is clear that, today as in the past, many people do not have a real opportunity to accept the gospel or to be baptised. The social and cultural conditions in which they live including a religious background did not and often do not permit this. For such people, salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the church, does not make them part of the church but enlightens them in a way which is accommodate their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ - it is the result of his sacrifice and it is communicated by the Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation. (Redemptoris Missio # 10) John Paul is saying that the Spirit creates opportunities of salvation among the unevangelized and that, regardless of the time and/or place in which a person lives, it is possible to receive God's offer because of the Spirit, who is active everywhere and at all times in the universe enfolds humanity in grace.40 In inter-faith settings, John Paul liked to bring the universal presence of the Spirit to bear on the issues. Rather than saying that non-Christian religions mediate God's grace structurally (as catholics like Karl Rahner have done), John Paul prefers to focus on the Spirit of Jesus touching21 the human heart. The Spirit goes ahead of the mission and the preaching of the gospel and through the Spirit God's love finds a way such that no one misses a genuine opportunity for faith at least once in their lives. Amidst the culture of religious pluralism, this is an urgent issue for many today and the pope appeals to the Spirit in seeking an intelligent solution. According to John Paul, it is not that God raised up Buddhism (for example) to be a vehicle of salvation but only that there may be found in that religion elements of the truth of God. He speaks of the working of the Holy Spirit in non-Christian religious and in secular contexts, without saying that non-Christian religions themselves are a means of salvation. This is a conservative pope and cautious but he seems to have discovered a wise approach. It affirms truth and goodness in other
faiths but does not baptize them. It simply posits the work of the Holy Spirit on the level of the human heart.41

I cant see how this squares with scripture. For example, if I understand the gospel, a person, while saved by faith, must walk the “narrow path” of discipleship as laid out by Christ in order to be a true believer who has a hope of “being saved”. In other words, the standard is quite high. But how can this be, if a sincere Buddhist who knows nothing of Christ, other than possibly a spark of revelation, can also be saved? In other words, does it not seem “harder” for a Christian to “be saved” by walking the narrow path, than it is for a non-christian who does not even know what the narrow path is? It almost seems that the position taken by mr pinnock and the late pope make it easier on pagans. Sure, God could do this. But would he? Why command us to make disciples? What is more likely- that they will keep to the narrow path after hearing the gospel, or that they will , in their own way, obey the “spark” of general revelation which, according the pinnock and the late pope, will also do quite nicely? why put them at a "disadvantage" by introducing them to the gospel? This is a hard issue for me. But thought provoking nonetheless!

TK

TK,

I agree. A hyper-Calvinist I once worked with had no problem with the lost who never hear the gospel. God will get it to them if they are the elect, otherwise they go to hell. My own view is that after judgement, God still has the option of mercy. It would seem to me the "justified" have no need for mercy.