Saturday, December 18, 2004

Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?

Is being saved something like winning the lottery? Do you have to be amazingly lucky enough to have been born at the right time in the right place and hear the right words? Does God send the largest proportion of humanity to endless torment simply because those people were geographically, culturally or historically challenged?

Surely not. Salvation cannot be just for those lucky enough to not be ignorant. What kind of "mercy" would that be? What kind of hope would that give to the "unlucky"?

I have a hunch that God's Grace is made available to all because of the sacrifice of Christ -- not just to the theologically competent. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father but by Him -- yet many will come from the east and the west, north and the south, the past, present and future.

I believe that Christ's salvation is open to all of mankind. Paul said, "this message has gone out unto all the world" -- when he knew for a fact that missionaries had not reached all the world. So, what could he have meant? I believe he meant that Christ's sacrifice had made it possible for all people everywhere and every-when to worship God in spirit and truth -- and that God would fill in the blanks later.

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