Daily Archives: February 9, 2008

When I attended the Uptown service this past Sunday I was on the tail end of a series of sermons on Heaven and Hell. This fourth and final installment on afterlife addresses was focused on who gets to live where upon their eternal relocation. I figured that this presented an excellent opportunity to learn about the attitudes of the church I’ve been attending. I believe that it was, and to my surprise I think that I learned a little something about myself as well.

I won’t recount the entire sermon, and if you want to hear it all for yourself you can download the podcast here. The short version is this – in my view the pastor giving the sermon gave no hard and fast answer as to who goes where, but rather presented one of three philosophies taken by Christians and some thoughts on each. In very simple terms, they go as follows:

1) Exclusivists hold that belief in Christ as savior is unconditionally required for salvation and passage to heaven, and that Christian beliefs are inherently superior to all other faiths without qualification. Those not accepting Christ are Hell bound, generally without any exceptions.

2) Inclusivists believe that Christian beliefs hold inherent advantages and truths as compared to other faiths and that salvation is achieved through Christ, but also think it is possible that salvation may be achievable through other means. How this may be is not dictated and is often presumed to be unknowable – perhaps through other faiths or virtues, perhaps simply by the generosity of the Creator.

3) Pluralists take the view that Christian beliefs – while suited to themselves personally – are not special when compared to other faiths. Virtue is virtue regardless of the particulars of any faith, and those that deserve Heaven or Hell are sure to get theirs in the end no matter the path.

The pastor offered pros and cons of Exclusivism and Inclusivism, but his description of what commended Inclusivism was what rang so true to me – that it implied humility. He had little to offer in the way of praise for pluralism, but did not condemn it. If I could call myself closest to any of these three it would clearly be Inclusivism, and this is what I learned about myself last Sunday. Throughout my life I have had nothing but the most unpleasant experiences with Exclusivism and have never been able to accept it. What I most appreciated in the sermon was that the pastor felt comfortable laying out these schools of thought in all their contradictions without dictating the conclusion to the congregation. You might say that he had faith that we could sort it out for ourselves.

I was surprised to learn that Billy Graham is often described as an Inclusivist, though he is reluctant to accept that description. This has apparently drawn more than a little brimstone in his direction, which you can view here:

If my beliefs draw the disapproval of people that think like this, I must surely be on to something. I think I’ll continue to muddle my way forward as I always have in the manner that Sir Francis Bacon described a very long time ago when he said:

“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.”