Really, he belittles the power of God. Of course, “The Restoration” does as well.drumdude wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 5:23 amThis is a non problem for traditional Christianity. The solution to the issue is “God will find a way to take care of it.”“DP” wrote: This question is much on my mind here in coastal British Columbia, where the Native American cultures — or, as the Canadians would say, the the cultures of the First Nations — are very evident in place names and elsewhere. These peoples lived for dozens of generations without word of Jesus. According to traditional Christian theology, therefore, the ancestors of today’s indigenous peoples were and are damned. But this seems not only wildly unjust but utterly foreign to the nature of any God whom I could possible recognize as benevolent, let alone loving.
It is only during the past century or two, I think, that the question of “the salvation of the unevangelized” has become a real and urgent problem for believing Christians. Before that, unbelievers were mostly far away, culturally and linguistically foreign, and, thus easily demonized. For at least the past hundred or hundred and fifty years, though, believers of many different stripes (to say nothing of unbelievers) have been in regular contact with each other, even living in mixed communities alongside each other. It has become impossible to deny that many of Them are at least as good and sincere and rational as We are and, accordingly, it has become much harder to demonize or marginalize them, or to view their likely damnation (as it was once thought) with equanimity or indifference.
As I’ve noted here and elsewhere on more than a few occasions, one of the elements of the Restoration in which I take most delight is its way of dealing with — really, neutralizing — the problem of “the salvation of the unevangelized” that continues to challenge many other Christian denominations and thinkers. Our temples, of which more and more are being built and dedicated around the world, are the physical expression not only of our faith but of the “wideness in God’s mercy” that cares for those who died without hearing the good news of the Gospel during their mortal lifetimes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate_of_the_unlearned
Mormon temple work became a solution in search of a problem during the last 200 years post-enlightenment.
And the kicker is that Mormons ultimately believe the exact same thing as traditional Christians. Mormons know they can’t baptize everyone now. The records for every living and dead person don’t exist. So some far off magic event will happen and the records will magically appear so that the remaining names can be baptized for the dead. This is identical to the traditional Christian belief that it will all be magically taken care of by God later.
This is really pathetic stuff coming from a self described “historian of religion.”
I often hear stories such as Christian missionaries encountering people who have never heard the name Jesus, but already having a belief in him, stating to the missionaries, “So, that’s his name!” Muslims directly receiving revelation from God. A few weeks ago, I was told by a friend who has a friend who was Muslim, that he asked him how it was that he came to belief in Jesus. The guy told him that Jesus appeared to him and said, “I am God.” My friend said to his friend, “Was it in a dream?” His friend told him, “No, I wasn’t sleeping, I was awake and he appeared to me.”
The gospel went out at Pentecost to Jews, devout men, of every nation. We are also told that there will be people from every tribe and every nation. It is for once man to die, then judgement. While God delights in and does use believers as he draws men to himself, he is sovereign. Jesus held his church together. All the Father has given him, none will be lost. I’m kind of not picturing very well people being penciled into the Lamb’s book of life after the fact.
I shouldn’t post so close to bedtime on a work night, and post the thoughts that suddenly come to my mind.
