"Smeagol like the Tulip."
posted by fatherneo at 10:52 AM
Saturday, April 23
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6 Comments:
If the cryptic comment to illustration ratio continues to get smaller, your blog will become a comic book. You must be time pinched. Wonder why.
Kevin,
Check out how McLaren “deconstructs” the infamous TULIP acrostic (how adherents to Calvinism package their doctrines in a memorable way to demonstrate why a few, namely them, will go to heaven and most to Dante’s Inferno) in his book “a Generous Orthodoxy.” I get the impression you might like it in some measure. I mentioned this book a while back and you commented that you might check it out.
I know, I know…for those who limit their exposure to Christian thought this author and book may present some concerns due to some (not entirely though!) liberal leanings, i.e. the author hopes (God forbid!) that just maybe God will find a way to “save” everyone. “Liberal” and “deconstructionist” are squishy labels (so is conservative for that matter). Were the Reformers “liberal” when they attacked the Church and its presumed Dogma??
I placed a hold on A Generous Orthodoxy the last time I mentioned it on Fr. Neo's White Rabbit and the two copies of the book owned by DPL are still out!
I like the idea of universal salvation, but consider it iffy at best. I believe that our universal faith posits that no one comes to the father except through Christ, which could be construed to say that those who don't get the opportunity to meet Him before death will just after, and get the same choice: kind of a cosmic "my way or the low-way". I know of people who I am certain, if given that choice will prefer self to Christ and eternal life. So, all will not be saved, I'm betting.
I understand your reticence Kevin. Self-absorption is hell so to speak. And of course, how do we deal with the Nero’s and Hitler’s of history.
Universal Salvation doesn't make sense. That would mean Jesus was wrong when he said that he was the way. If any of part of the bible is wrong, then the whole bible is wrong. If this is true then we are left with nothing.
Welcome S79.
As a proponent of “Universalism,” or at least the dogged hope for it, I personally subscribe to the belief that truly “salvation” comes through and in Christ Jesus. He is the Way to repeat your reminder to me. For those in a state of “separation” Jesus makes His way to them on Holy Saturday by His descent into hell. Here’s how a RC theologian, Von Balthasar, of the utmost orthodox reputation speaks of God’s refusal to leave us to our own undoing: “He (Christ) disturbs the absolute loneliness striven for by the sinner. The sinner, who wants to be “damned” apart from God, finds God again in his loneliness, but God in the absolute weakness of love, who unfathomably in the period of nontime, enters into solidarity with those damning themselves.”
So there is a “price” to pay. We must face ourselves in the light of true and perfect Love, and that I’m sure will be painful. So it is my contention and hope that in the final analysis, Jesus says for each of us, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Even if we decide to make our bed in hell, He is there to paraphrase the Psalmist.
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