Dr Paul Allen

The Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Three positions abound today on the question of whether Christ is the only way to salvation. All three can be detected by how each answers these two fundamental questions: First, is Jesus the only Savior? More fully: Is the sinless life of Christ and His atoning death and resurrection the only means by which the penalty of sin is paid and the power of sin defeated? Second, is faith in Christ necessary to be saved? More fully: Is conscious knowledge of Christ’s death and resurrection for sin and explicit faith in Christ necessary for anyone to become a recipient of the benefits of Christ’s atoning work and so be saved? Pluralism answers both questions “no.” The pluralist, like John Hick , believes that there are many paths to God, Jesus being only one of them. Since salvation can come through other religions and religious leaders, it surely follows that people do not have to believe in Christ to be saved. Inclusivism answers

The Temptation of Christ, 1854 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ ’s moral character, and that is that He believed in hell.” So wrote the agnostic British philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1967. The idea of eternal punishment for sin, he further notes, is “a doctrine that put cruelty in the world and gave the world generations of cruel torture.” His views are at least more consistent than religious philosopher John Hick , who refers to hell as a “grim fantasy” that is not only “morally revolting” but also “a serious perversion of the Christian Gospel .” Worse yet was theologian Clark Pinnock who, despite having regarded himself as an evangelical, dismissed hell with a rhetorical question: “How can one imagine for a moment that the God who gave His Son to die for sinners because of His great love for them would install a torture chamber somewhere in the new creation in order to subject those who reject Him to everlasting pain?” So, wh