Do you need to be a Christian to go to heaven? No.
Christianity is a creedal religion, meaning that membership in the group “Christianity” is determined by profession of a creed. The thief on the cross did not profess a belief in the resurrection or the Trinity, so he was not a creedal Christian, yet he was admitted into heaven. So it is clearly possible to not fit the definition of Christian, yet be admitted into heaven.
Likewise, a person can profess belief in Christ, and even perform miracles in Christ’s name, yet not be admitted into heaven.
What does this tell me? Some will go to heaven, “many” will not. More importantly, it tells me that I am in no position to judge who is or is not going to be admitted to heaven. Don’t ask me whether you’re going to heaven or not, since I don’t know. In fact, I am commanded to “judge not”. God is the judge. It’s between me and God, and between you and God.
All I know is that we shouldn’t be cavalier about the matter. We need to take it seriously. Paul says that I need to work out my own salvation, and you are welcome to do the same.
All theology is fiction to me.
But that being said, some theologies are worse than others. And some theologies are better than others.
Look at Islam, for instance, you may disagree with their theology, but with a little study, you realize there are lots of different versions of Islam. And certainly, non-Muslims (and many Muslims) will agree that some Muslims are more dangerous than others. Just as we know that some Muslims are much more peaceful than others.
Any theology which is more inclusive and points to the heart rather than specific outward beliefs (doctrines) is better in my book. Your theology sounds inclusive, even if not pluralistic.
Questions:
(1) In this article you quote the Bible for your support. Now that we have an inkling for what you think about salvation (your soteriology), what is your theology of scripture?
(2) BTW, in your book, can a former Christian like me make it to heaven. How about a Muslim who understands the Jesus story and totally rejects it? Just would like to see you apply your statement in this post.
Site Suggestion
I am glad thread subscription is turned on. But I don’t like the two column thing. It is nice to scroll down and see posts in order and to see if there are any comments. As now, comments are hidden in this template. May I suggest trying yet another template.
Next, make sure your next template does not have a pull-down menu — that is one more click for people to ignore and easy to miss.
Instead get a template with tabs. In your “About” tab, give your e-mail address so people don’t have to leave you notes in the form of comments. Also, there you could tell us your back ground and list my tables telling about your theological positions so as to speed up dialogue.
Just my humble thoughts.
Peace
Yes, I have a ton of material on Islam that I plan on posting here. I’ve read the Quran multiple times, and recently read through a handful of Muslim theologians. I find the topic fascinating. In fact, it seems that a few of your comments are hinting around the issue of justifiability of faith, and I’ve been intending to link to an interesting stanford encyclopedia of philosophy article on the topic, which quotes one of my favorite muslims; al-ghazali.
As for my view on scripture, I don’t think I can articulate that very clearly right now. I think the fundamentalist literalists are wrong, but so is this guy; but I want to be able to articulate very clearly why before I publish a position.
Thanks for the site suggestions. You have been doing your blog for quite awhile, so I appreciate the advice.
I tweaked the template a bit based on what you’ve said. First, I modified the CSS to show the number of comments on each post. Next, I added a “contact me by e-mail” link to the “about page”. It requires a web form for first contact, to avoid spammers and bots, but seems to work fine.
I understand that it’s a hassle to hit the “keep reading” button. ATM, I really like the discipline it imposes on me, though. I feel the quality of my posts went up immediately, since I need to get across the main idea within the first paragraph, and put substantiation after. I hope it forces me to be more succinct. So I want to stick with it for awhile and see how it goes.
I will try to expand on the “about” page. But I want to set expectations that I am not trying to advocate a comprehensive position here. I’ve been wrong so many times that I am very selective about the things I profess with certainty. Furthermore, “about” pages often become selective autobiographies that support one’s ulterior motives. I don’t think that’s the case for you on your blog, of course, but I want to stay far away from any danger of that on this blog.
Cool
I use my blog to make mistakes. My philosophy is that uncertainty is cool. I learn languages well because I like experimenting, making a mistake and having a child’s mind. Sometimes there is no better way to learn the limit of one’s knowledge and one’s certainty than by stating what one believes. I think there are two important tricks:
(1) The trick is being able to change and admit change.
(2) Don’t base your religious thinking on correct belief. Correct belief is a joke — as you have found out. Clamouring after it just reveals our true inner anxiety. Curing anxiety with orthodoxy is a bad fix.
IMHO