The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Emergent Church

janean,

It is even more amazing to me that a professing Christian can read this stuff and then turn around and think that McLaren's teachings are acceptable! The man is sooooooo "new-age" and so obviously so, that I have to conclude that anyone who reads this guy and believes that what he writes is what the Bible teaches and thus embraces it needs to get on their knees and pray fervently that God will take mercy on them and save them from their sins.

I noticed that McLaren makes mention of Dallas Willard. Well, I was not surprised that he did for he is in the same league as himself. Below is a quote from Willard's website and you will immediately see the similarities between these two non-Christian writers:

Dallas Willard: http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=53

Pluralism and other Faiths

The church has always sought to control who’s "in" and who’s "out." It has tried to hold a monopoly on salvation. But in my view that judgment does not belong to the church at all.

I personally believe there are going to be people outside the mainstream church in heaven, but they won’t be there for that reason. There are going to be a lot of Baptists not in heaven, and they won’t not be there because they are Baptists. It will be because they have learned to love and honor and trust Jesus Christ. It’s possible to learn to do that in a very misguided organization, and it’s possible to not do that in a very correct organization. God looks on the heart.

Acts 4:12 says, "There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved." If somebody says to me, "What name would you give by which I might be saved?" I’m not going to say, "Buddha." I’ll say Jesus. Someone may say to me, "I know a Buddhist who is going to heaven." I will say, "Good luck."

I’m not willing to be in a position of saying that one who has not heard of the historical Jesus cannot go to heaven. I’m not willing to say that Christ is not present as the Logos beyond Christian culture, because after all, John says, "This is the light that lights every man who comes into the world." That doesn’t mean they’re saved; it just means that nobody is beyond the reach of Christ. I am willing to say that no one will be saved without Christ. But Christ’s ways in reaching them are often beyond anything I understand.

So, if someone asks my advice, it is always the same: Trust Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t trust the Buddha for a bushel of oranges. Often when people talk about the Buddha they don’t realize that from a Buddhist point of view, the best thing that could happen to you would be for you to stop existing. The best thing. That’s not much of a gospel.

I always say, if you’ve got someone who honestly is better than Jesus, trust them. And if you don’t, trust him. By all means, don’t trust yourself, because you’re the one who’s got the problem.

Part of our approach must be to take the serious questions of life, such as "What kind of person ought I to be? How can I become that kind of person?" We should line up the responses to that from any religion or non-religion and put them next to those of Jesus Christ. Put them to the real test of life, and take the one that’s best.

For instance, in our culture everyone acknowledges that each of us ought to be a loving, good person. Well, consider how Jesus was that, and how he helps others be that, and then compare that honestly with the others. That is how we will see, not by trying to manipulate. This would mean looking at Hindus at their best, and Christians at their best, etc. If you look at Christians at their worst and Hindus at their worst, there’s probably nothing to choose between. But looking at them at their best, we ask, "How does Christ make that difference?" Then I think we have a basis for a good choice.

Now, ain't that special?!!

In His Grace,