Today we will deal with the point that got us linked to this article in the first place (although as the blogosphere goes, we are no longer). Keep in mind that Schori is a bishop of the US Episcopal Church which is the American version of the Anglican Church. The question and answer are directly from Time’s questionnaire.
Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?
We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box.
Where to begin? I guess, I’ll start with, “We who practice the Christian tradition…” Here is the beginning of the problem. We have already noted how Schori does not see the Bible as authoritative (read previous entries if you must, but I will not go into it here again) so why are we to assume anything different about this whole answer, but it starts off in the negative. I don’t look at my life in Christ as “practic[ing] the Christian tradition.” The whole thing falls apart right there. If all I am doing is practicing some tradition then it leaves us wide open for the drivel that follows.
Let’s just take the rest of the statement as a whole, we are tumbling down the hill already. Because I believe in the authority of Scripture, I would submit, I try not to assume anything, and I try not to “put God in [any] box” that He Himself is not implicitly already in by virtue of His character. Here’s what I mean. The “philosophical” question is often raised, “Can God make a rock so big that even He can’t lift it?” My answer to this question is often, “Why would God waste His time doing something stupid like that!” The reality of putting “God into a box” is that most of the time we are trying to convince ourselves of something we want God to be like, but He has just not revealed Himself to be.
Let me give you an example of how God’s character require that He is in, for lack of a better way to state it, “a box.” God cannot sin. There I stated something God cannot do. God cannot sin, because sin is not who God is. God’s character demands that He is Holy, that is set apart, different from any other. God’s character demands that He is perfect and without error. (Psalm 19:7-9; Isaiah 6:1-7)
God’s righteousness, therefore, demands a perfect sacrifice. Without this sacrifice men can not hope to be right with God and so to say, “to assume that God could not act in other ways,” is to undermine the character of God and take Jesus out of the “box” He put himself into when He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one come s to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6) To undermine this is to undermine God’s decree from before the foundation of the world. (Acts 2:22-36)
The point is that God has acted in one way to determine the salvation of all who will ever place their faith and trust in that way. God sent Christ as the exclusive Savior of the world. To introduce another way is to mock the very cross of Christ that Schori would claim to uphold, and as Paul says Christ would have died in vain. (Galatians 2:20-21)
I can’t say that I don’t care about the election (that would be completely un-American.) I am proud to be an American. Quite frankly I think if you are not, or you are embarrassed of our country, then go find a country you can be proud, and don’t let the door hit ya on the way out. I am not saying I am proud of everything the US has become or allows, but generally I think the government as a whole (not necessarily individually) has a pretty good idea of what’s going on and we should trust that and remember they are mere men, and yes some are at it for gain, etc.
