[Pablo Rafael]

I am a little late to this conversation, I see. But I am not one who is too proud to butt into a conversation that has gone on a long time before I got here so...

I have trouble with the idea that Jesus is a way but not the only way. I think that we don't fully understand why Jesus became a human being, lived died and rose from the dead. But I am convinced that it was through Jesus that salvation came into the world. Jesus is the physical expression of God's love (grace) in the world. I believe the grace of God is the only hope for the world.

At the same time I strongly believe that we are not saved by being right, by knowing the right things. If we were saved by being right, then none of us would have a chance, for who can understand or know God? We are saved by the love of God shown to us in Jesus.

Take for example a young woman growing up in Saudi Arabia. Statisticaly she has almost no chance of becoming a Christian. I don't think God just says, "Sorry, bad luck for you being born in Saudi Arabia. You should have been born somewhere else." I think God's love extends to that person as well. Maybe she doesn't know all the Bible stories or believe in the prescribed doctrines of the Christian churches, but I am sure that God's love extends to her as well. The forgiveness won for us all by Jesus when he died and rose again must extend even to those who have never had a chance to hear that story. I have no idea how it does, but I am sure that God's power is not limited to our feeble minds.

The Bible says that God wants all people to be saved. I think some people intentionally chose a way of evil. They separate themselves from the love of God. They choose to live outside of the realm of grace. I believe that is what hell is, a state of being when one rejects the love and presence of God. Heaven is what God desires for all people, a state of being in his love and presence.

I think heaven will be full of people from all religious backgrounds, not because they are the one who "got it right", but because God is the one who got it right.