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Review & Recap. Today: A grace-filled response to the issue of true religion. Our culture is at a crossroads when it comes to religion. Each religion makes a claim upon the Truth. Pew Forum Study.
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Today: A grace-filled response to the issue of true religion
71% of all Americans believe in God70% Believe that all religions lead to eternal life57% of Evangelical Christians believe it, too...
Anyone who has friends, family members, co-workers of another faith wants to believe this...
Matthew 15:21-2821 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
- Canaanite Woman= ancient enemies of Israel - Jesus troubling words to her = what do they mean?
- No matter how you try to parse this, it’s a snub - Perhaps he was placing obstacles in front of her as a test - She knows there’s something special about him.
What does this tell us about Jesus?What does this tell us about salvation?
Jesus surprised people with his grace. Sometimes the wrong people recognized Jesus.
(the problem is that each religion claims it’s own knowledge of the elephant apart from all other knowledge)
Religion May Differ In Practice, But Essential Beliefs Are Equal
(“They agree in their mode of teaching, what they differ about is the thing to be taught.” - G.K. Chesterton)
There are universal notions of right and wrongThe Theory of Competing Ideals“Only when you realize that you are sick, will you listen to a doctor.”
All religions basically get to this point...But it’s here that Christianity diverges
Here Christianity address the brokenness of the world with a story of redemption.
“Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”
“This is a good world that has gone wrong, but still retains the memory of what it ought to have been.”
Christianity is not centered on what you must do, but on what has been done.
Christianity is not focused on how you get to God, but on how God has come to you.
John Hick:“If Jesus was literally God incarnate, and if it is by his death alone that men are saved, and by their response to him alone that they can appropriate salvation...
...then the only doorway to eternal life is Christian faith.”
If Christianity is true, then however God relates to humans who do not have access to revelation will demonstrate his just, holy and loving character.
Therefore this is in the hands of a just and loving God, not ours.
The Gospel declares the saving power of Christ alone, And Christians are commissioned to share this Good News
Because the Bible never claims that people will be judged for what they do not or could not know,
However, the existence of goodness in humans is not evidence of universal redemption because all have sinned.
I don’t know how it works, but it’s because of, through and in the name of Jesus.
“What will you do if you find Gandhi in Heaven playing tennis?”
