(March 12, 2018 at 9:59 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote:(March 12, 2018 at 8:47 pm)SteveII Wrote: Let me know if I totally misunderstood your point.
You know, Steve, I actually think we see eye to eye here on the big picture. I could accuse you of lawyering. (Why doesn't the OT tell stories about Chinese people from the ancient world who opened their hearts and minds to Yahweh? I didn't know that Job wasn't a Jew, and that was interesting to learn. But neither was he an aboriginal Australian. Just like Zeus was concerned chiefly with people situated around the Mediterranean, Yahweh is concerned with ancient tribesman around the Middle East. You can find a few verses that say otherwise, but the rest of the Bible speaks to my point.) But I don't want to accuse you of lawyering. I want to ask: What if Yahweh is universal? What then?
If you are correct in your assumption that Yahweh is a universal God, then you must leave space in your imagination for a concept of Divine Logos or Cosmic Christ. These are terms coined by philosopher John Hick. According to Hick, there is one divine force but it is understood somewhat differently according to who perceives it. Although different peoples perceive the same divine force, they interpret it through the lens of their particular culture. According to Hick's reasoning, the Hindu Brahman, the Chinese Tao, and Yahweh are actually the same entity. This is problematic though if it is true. Most Christians would outright reject this. ("Their god is not MY God.") But if they do, aren't they demonstrating how "finite" their god really is? Hick's conception is really the only way of seeing God as a universal figure. Otherwise he is understood as finite... related to a particular culture to serve a particular purpose.
I don't believe in universalism. I believe, based on the OT examples I listed as well as passages like:
Quote:"The truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God" (Romans 1:19-20, New Living Translation)
that God gives people special information and then judges people's hearts according to the information they have and what they did with it. This would apply to anyone anywhere at any times--including Chinese and aboriginal Australians. That does not mean that sincere adherence to some other religion can get you into heaven. It has to do with an internal specific response to God as he makes a truth or truths known to a person. This also means when you have heard and understand the Christian gospel message, your response to that specific truth is what you will be judged on--it being the most complete of all the truths that God could show you. The Catholic's have the doctrine of Invincible Ignorance which amounts to the same thing.
It is clear in the OT and the NT that God's work in Israel was not because he liked Israel--it was because he chose them as the vehicle to bring about the salvation of the world. That was the promise to Abraham from the beginning (Genesis 16:16 and following) and was reiterated several times along the way. His special relationship with them was a result of having to preserve a people, tradition, and religious philosophy/foundation long enough to get the conditions he wanted for the events of the NT.
