6.21.2008
Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue Yonder...
Continued from previous post...
In my last post, I ended with these questions:
But, what is grace, anyhow? How far does it reach? Is it universal? Then, is God universal? If we cannot earn it, is it a gift we must accept in order for it to be given us, or is it automatic with no prerequisite? And if we do accept it or have been given it, can we ever lose it or be outside of it?
I can't answer these questions with any more certainty than you can, and, in the end, I doubt that the positions we hold have any real bearing on how God does business; this is decidedly not a democracy. However, those questions are key in our own journeys, for answered one way they are exclusive, answered another and they become inclusive; answered still another way, they are universal. We simply have to determine how we will each answer these, and we will know where we fall on the exclusivist-pluralist continuum.
I've already established that I'm not an exclusivist; I was there for most of my life, but it has ceased to work for me; this breakdown has left a vacuum in my belief system. However, inclusivism and universalism are also thoroughly imperfect theologies of God's grace, in my mind. The one major failing, and the reason I don't embrace them, is that while inclusive or universal salvation solves the problem of hell and judgment in the minds of Christians, what about those who practice the other religions we seek to accept? Do they even want to be granted our salvation? Is saying, "Your religion is fine for you here on earth, but in the end, my religion will save you to heaven" an insult to those who practice Islam, Buddhism, or Pagan/Neo-Pagan spirituality? Likewise, what about other religions' claims of exclusivity?
So then one begins to butt up against the quagmire of religious pluralism, which ventures way out into the wild blue yonder. Are all religions and spiritualities equally true and equally valid ways to experience and relate deity, however we might understand it?
However, is this discussion a moot point? In the end, is it even possible to claim Jesus and hold anything other than an exclusivist position? And does it even matter what we believe?
To be continued...
In my last post, I ended with these questions:
But, what is grace, anyhow? How far does it reach? Is it universal? Then, is God universal? If we cannot earn it, is it a gift we must accept in order for it to be given us, or is it automatic with no prerequisite? And if we do accept it or have been given it, can we ever lose it or be outside of it?
I can't answer these questions with any more certainty than you can, and, in the end, I doubt that the positions we hold have any real bearing on how God does business; this is decidedly not a democracy. However, those questions are key in our own journeys, for answered one way they are exclusive, answered another and they become inclusive; answered still another way, they are universal. We simply have to determine how we will each answer these, and we will know where we fall on the exclusivist-pluralist continuum.
I've already established that I'm not an exclusivist; I was there for most of my life, but it has ceased to work for me; this breakdown has left a vacuum in my belief system. However, inclusivism and universalism are also thoroughly imperfect theologies of God's grace, in my mind. The one major failing, and the reason I don't embrace them, is that while inclusive or universal salvation solves the problem of hell and judgment in the minds of Christians, what about those who practice the other religions we seek to accept? Do they even want to be granted our salvation? Is saying, "Your religion is fine for you here on earth, but in the end, my religion will save you to heaven" an insult to those who practice Islam, Buddhism, or Pagan/Neo-Pagan spirituality? Likewise, what about other religions' claims of exclusivity?
So then one begins to butt up against the quagmire of religious pluralism, which ventures way out into the wild blue yonder. Are all religions and spiritualities equally true and equally valid ways to experience and relate deity, however we might understand it?
However, is this discussion a moot point? In the end, is it even possible to claim Jesus and hold anything other than an exclusivist position? And does it even matter what we believe?
To be continued...
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