Doctrine Of Inclusion/ All Religions Can Get To Heaven?

[snuka12000]

Someone asked me if I believed in the "Doctrine Of Inclusion/ All Religions Can Get To Heaven."

I meditated on that question and I responded back. This is my response to that question. I thought that it would be interesting to put my response on here for all to see.

Please feel free to comment and share your views and opinions on this question/subject. I know that many of you will have something to say about this...

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The subject of the “doctrine of inclusion/ all religions can get to heaven” is a very controversial subject. Most fire and brimstone, mainstream, fundamental Christians would say that the “doctrine of inclusion” is heresy and satanic.

Carlton Pearson believes in the “doctrine of inclusion” and most mainstream Gospel/Christian people denounced him, turned their backs on him, left his church and called him a heretic. My beliefs are closer to Carlton Pearson’s beliefs and views than his critics. I would probably be thrown out of the church that I attend if I shared some of my views with them. I’d certainly be judged by some people.

Regarding people of other religions going to Heaven, TD Jakes said that God will identify who goes to Heaven. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCb_GAV0_Nc

There is a Scripture in the Bible that I reference when issues like this come up. JAMES 4: 11-12, (NLT), “Don’t speak evil against each other, my dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize each other and condemn each other, then you are criticizing and condemning God’s law. But you are not a judge who can decide whether the law is right or wrong. Your job is to obey it. God alone, who made the law, can rightly judge among us. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to condemn your neighbor?”

God understands ALL and He knows people’s hearts.

I don’t believe that just because people don’t confess Jesus as their Savior that they’re going to Hell, if Hell exists.

There are religions that have been around way longer than Christianity. There are Christians that aren’t that good that I can’t see how they are going to Heaven. There are non-Christians that are the most good, loving, kind, compassionate people and I can’t see how they’re not going to Heaven to live forever with God.

There are people that convert from other religions to Christianity; conversely, there are people that convert from Christianity to other religions and views.

There are people that were raised Muslim, Jewish, etc., and they will never confess Jesus as their Savior. I believe that God understands that. It would be like a Christian who was born and raised Christian converting to some “strange” religion. God understands that there are people who were born and raised Muslim, Jewish, etc., and that it’s impossible for them to name Jesus as their Lord. They believe in God and the Spirit of God. I just believe that God will judge their hearts and understand that they were brought up and taught a certain belief system and they couldn’t abandon that belief system. Would God hold a person’s belief system against them that was instilled in them and drilled in their head since they were a child?

I was born and raised in the Baptist Church. Christianity was instilled in my head and drilled in me since I was a baby. Was I brainwashed? What if there was another “way” that was the real, true “way?” If my belief system is wrong then I hope that the real, true “way” would have mercy, understanding, sensitivity and compassion on me. I would hope and pray that Jesus would have that same mercy, understanding, sensitivity and compassion on people that were raised in a non-Christian belief system.

[psycho_drama]

Sub-Ek all are one, all paths lead to God.
I learn about him on my visit to the Hanuman Temple in Taos new mexico.

[BruceChris]

Members of many faith traditions believe this, although an undetermined number may not wish to discuss it. You can look it up on Wiki, but they do not have any definitive answers, either.

One argument is that a perfectly loving God could never create a Hell in the afterlife.

Another one is that the early church emphasized Hell, to be avoided thru salvation thru faith in Christ, to boost membership.

Get different viewpoints on this, and think about it for a while. If Anybody tells you that they alone posess the truth, run in the other direction.

Good Luck, Bruce Chris

[Daniel]

(Yes...I was posting on this forum YEARS ago!)

And wrote about meeting Madeleine L'Engle at my Alma Mater- Evangel College (now called University- God know why). She wrote A Wrinkle in Time, which won an award and made quite a ripple. She was raked over the coals by my fellow students for being a Universalist. Really- I thought they did this not because of her expression of faith, but rather, because she was dressed in an unconventional (we're talking Missouri in the really 80's here) manner - in purple from head to toe- a very glamorous New Yorker!

Be that as it may, conservatives hate the thought that God's love wins out in the end. The want their cup of fire and brimstone so they can go to bed happy at night. They just have to know that someone besides themselves has been damned. That's all it is really- knowing that someone else hasn't taken one's place in Glory. As if there is a finite space, a limited amount of Love to go around.

Cheap thought really.

Miserly even.

Only so much Love.

Not a way to live, in my estimation.

[Pablo Rafael]

Snuka, I generally agree with your statement here.

My belief is that salvation has come into the world through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I also believe that God desires all people to be saved.

I think there is more to the idea of salvation than we can understand. I do not think that we get to heaven by just happening to believe the right thing. Our salvation comes through the Holy Spirit and is not dependent on human understanding.

How does this happen? I am not even going to try to guess, but I know that God is greater than my limited comprehension.

[RedneckDyke]

there is an old hymn that starts out "we limit not the truth of god to our poor reach of mind".

I have eough to deal with besides deciding who goes to heaven. I let God worry about it.

[Rick336]

Originally Posted by psycho_drama

Sub-Ek all are one, all paths lead to God.
I learn about him on my visit to the Hanuman Temple in Taos new mexico.

As long as we're discussing inclusiveness, let's don't forget the path that leads to reason and critical thinking based on evidence. Don't be afraid to check that one out too.

Rick

[Jeffrey Goines]

I think a lot of this argument can be based on insecurities and fears that people have because of ignorance of those with different backgrounds. I posted this in another thread, but I just read some great blog entries at www.whydoyoufearme.com on the fear that many westerners have toward Muslim people.

I for one have many Muslim friends but I am not a Muslim, and I find this site and its upcoming webcast to be really exciting!

[Tallit]

Judaism teaches that non-Jews who act ethically are assured a place in the world to come; it's more about your deeds then your creeds.

[antiochian]

Originally Posted by Tallit

Judaism teaches that non-Jews who act ethically are assured a place in the world to come; it's more about your deeds then your creeds.

I really like that saying!

As for my thoughts as a Neopagan and Witch, the idea of salvation isn't exactly relevant. Perhaps the only thing we need to be saved from is often times ourselves, and each other. We make our own heavens and hells in this life.

I come from the Eastern Orthodox tradition, which if you ever read writings of its saints, especially the desert fathers, has a graphic picture of hell. I remember reading about an Abbot Gerasim who had visions of a deceased fellow monk being dragged into hell by demons just because he was a bit too fond of wine.

I don't think a loving deity or deities would allow a good person to burn in a fire pit forever because she or he lacked the proper theology. That's just sick. Indeed, I don't think there is a proper theology.

As for the life to come, who knows? I'm having a hard enough time figuring out this life.

[SolApollo]

I also believe all religions and atheists / agnostics are valid perspectives and should not be discounted. As others have stated, humans are limited in our understanding, and we should not put finite standards on comprehends divinity / scientific study of the world. Essentially, yes, all will get a chance of heaven in my view. I agree that it is "our deeds and not creeds" that allows God to embrace us.

[koneill08]

I wonder what would be said by those who have passed on?