Jesus said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV). This statement of Jesus settles forever the age-old question of the eternal place of those who do not come to the Father through Him. Remember the word in Hebrews: “Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who approach to God through him” (Heb. 7:25). Do Hindus or Buddhists or Muslims approach God through Jesus Christ? Since the clear answer is that they do not, then we understand from God’s word that there is “salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Roman Catholic teaching does not agree with Luke’s declaration in Acts 4:12. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read the following: “841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. ‘The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.’”1 (Thanks are in order to my friend Wesley Grubb for pointing this out to me.) This false teaching is altogether contrary to the teaching of Scripture. Either the Roman Catholic Church is correct, or Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is correct, but both cannot be accurate simultaneously.
My patience has been depleted by those who insist that Islam, as a religion, and Muslims believe in and teach about the same God as does the Christian, as I heard taught by Mother Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, an Episcopal priest, at a recent conference. She informed us that Jesus Christ has died for all people, hence all people will be saved (contrary to Matt. 7:21-23 et al.), and that Osama bin Laden is a child of God and not a child of the devil. This is inaccurate at best, and at worst a lie.
Jesus told some religious hypocrites: “You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me” (John 8:44-45). Everyone who does not believe or trust in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is by default a child of the devil (1 John 3:8, 10) and a child of God’s wrath (Eph. 2:3; cf. John 3:36). Mother Crafton needs to read her Bible.
The reason why the angel Gabriel allegedly gave Muhammad the secret truths of the eternal2 Qur’an is because it is God’s final revelation to humanity, and because the Jews and the Christians hold incomplete and deficient views regarding the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Qur’an is believed to be as eternal as is God Himself. Moreover, in its divinity, “it is greater than any prophet or any prophecy. It stands to Muslims as Christ does to Christians.”3
Muslims think it offensive to suggest that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, because they falsely have in mind physical, sexual relations. They also consider any theology of the Trinity to be polytheistic. Yet we have Jesus claiming Himself to be God’s Son (John 1:18, 49; 10:36; 11:4), and that the Holy Spirit, the Father and He are one in unity (John 14:15-16, 23, 26). Clearly, Muslims do not worship the same God as do Christians. Such an erroneous statement is offensive to both parties, but especially to Jesus Christ, God’s one and only, unique Son.
The Roman Catholic Church also teaches that the teachings of the world’s false religions are “a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life.”4 This, too, is a grave error. The only divine preparation for the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit, who is sent out from God the Father and the Son, to “prove5 the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of the world [the devil] has been condemned” (John 16:8-11). John MacArthur comments:
The singular [sin] indicates that a specific sin is in view; i.e., that of not believing in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God. This is the only sin, ultimately, that damns people to hell. . . . Though all men are depraved, cursed by their violation of God’s law and sinful by nature, what ultimately damns them to hell is their unwillingness to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior (cf. 8:24).6
Note that Scripture does not indicate any other preparation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ other than the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. He uses the Gospel, for “in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith” (Rom. 1:17 ESV). At best, false world religions demonstrate humanity’s desperate need for the Savior, but this in no way indicates that such are means of preparing one’s heart to receive Christ’s Gospel.
Most people are so blinded to the truth of the Gospel by their false religion that they cannot receive it. God’s Spirit may illuminate one’s mind of the falsity of their religion, but the “preparation,” strictly taken, belongs to the Spirit and Christ’s Gospel. The devil has “blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:3, cf. Heb. 1:3). The enemy uses false world religions in blinding minds to the Gospel. How, then, can any Christian admit that these false religions act in any way whatsoever as preparation for the Gospel? Thomas Oden remarks:
The Spirit penetrates the self-deceptions, evasions, defensive ploys, and indifference of the world. The Spirit works to change the lowered awareness of sin into heightened awareness, making the unrighteous hungry for righteousness, as if already facing final judgment. . . .
The Spirit points both to God’s present judgment of idolatry in history, and to God’s final judgment of all human folly. . . . This judging activity is already beheld upon the cross, where all humanity would be justly under the sentence of death and ready for execution except for the Advocate Son who takes upon himself the penalty, so that [as Lewis Sperry Chafer once said] “the sinner is placed on the other side of his own execution.” . . .
The self-righteous find it extremely difficult to believe that on the cross God has taken their sin upon himself. The Advocate Spirit enables this belief. As the Son is openly revealing the righteousness of God on the cross, so the Spirit is quietly illumining the righteousness of God as benefiting each sinner.7
Preparatory work in lost people can only be accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit, and certainly not by false religions, propagated by God’s enemy the devil. Islam is considered, if we are to be faithful to the words of Jesus Christ, a false religion -- one which proclaims a false gospel, a false deity named Allah, and another Jesus (cf. Gal. 1:6-9). “Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10).
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1 Catechism of the Catholic Church (Liguori: Liguori Publications, 1994), 223.
2 The Norton Anthology of World Literature, two volumes, shorter second edition (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009), 1:1008. Notes from the Introduction to The Koran read: “For Muslims the Koran is something greater than prophetic revelation. It is an earthly duplicate of a divine Koran that exists in paradise engraved in figures of gold on tablets of marble. Like God, it was not created but exists for all eternity -- a complete and sufficient guide to our conduct on earth. It is God’s final revelation to humanity and was sent by him to complete and correct all prior revelations.” Clearly, Muslims and Christians do not believe in the same God.
3 Ibid.
4 Catechism, 223.
5 John MacArthur comments: “This word has two meanings: 1) the judicial act of conviction with a view toward sentencing (i.e., a courtroom term -- conviction of sin) or 2) the act of convincing. Here the second idea is best, since the purpose of the Holy Spirit is not condemnation but conviction of the need for the Savior.” The MacArthur Study Bible NASB, ed. John MacArthur (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2006), 1583.
6 MacArthur, 1583.
7 Thomas C. Oden, Systematic Theology, Volume Three, Life in the Spirit (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2006), 91.
WB - Let us not leave out men like John Hagee who suggest that unbelieving Jews can be saved through the Mosaic Covenant.
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteI'm not sure if this post is directed at inclusivists or not. If it is, you're conflating inclusivism with pluralism and universalism.
ReplyDeleteIt was not aimed directly at inclusivists, no. If they got "hit" along the way, oh my! ; )
DeleteWWB,
ReplyDeleteI don't think we are in any substantial disagreement, but I would like to hear your take on Don Richardson's "Peace Child" or Bruce Olson's "Bruchko." It seems, according to these sources, that God can use false religion to set the stage for the Gospel.
I believe God can use almost anything to set the stage for the gospel. I went to the Broadway play called "Godspell" in 1975, written by an unbelieving Jew, and God used that to water make the gospel more clear.
DeleteLet me pull a semantics: To say that God is capable of "using" a false religion to set the stage for the Truth -- the Gospel -- is not exactly the same as admitting that "the world's false religions are a preparation for the Gospel," as though God foreordained them by necessity in order to prepare people for the Gospel.
DeleteI wonder how God would be using Hinduism, for example, as a preparation for Michael Sudduth, recent Calvinist Philosopher turned Hindu, where the Gospel is concerned. I'm not willing to go there.
Now, God is certainly capable of showing a person the falsities of a false religion as a preparation for him to receive the Gospel. But the wording of the Roman Catholic statement appears too necessitarian, as though God established false religions in order to prepare people for the Gospel. That is how I read it, and that is why I responded as I did.
I completely agree. The Spirit has used me, which in my estimation, is much more difficult than using a donkey. I have long since ceased trying to make the Spirit conform to my expectations and parameters. How do we know that is was the Spirit?
DeleteFruits my dear Dr. Watson. And just to piggy back on what WB shared about Sudduth. My theology (Heb.6 and 10) makes it possible that he commited apostasy. I deeply distrust that moniker "philosopher".
Hey, and my middle name is Watson!!! Ha!
DeleteThanks WWB for the clarification. I agree with you that the RC statement goes way beyond measure. I do find it interesting that, at least in a few instances, God managed to slip within ancient pagan traditions the seeds of understanding the Gospel when it appeared.
DeleteBilly,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention in the article =]
The modern Roman Catholic Church has clearly denied its historic teaching on the destiny of those who do not reside within the unity of the church and profess the faith of the church. For the Roman Church to claim with any seriousness whatsoever that she has always taught with perfect harmony, unity and consistency the same doctrines since the beginning is absolutely preposterous.
Compare the following two passages:
At the Ecumenical Council of Basel (1431-1445), in Session 11 on February 4, 1442, the Roman Church officially declared:
"It firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the catholic church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the catholic church before the end of their lives; that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only for those who abide in it do the church's sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia produce eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed his blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and the unity of the catholic church" (link).
At the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council (1962-1965), in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, issued November 21, 1964, the Roman Church officially declared:
"Finally, those who have not yet received the Gospel are related in various ways to the people of God. In the first place we must recall the people to whom the testament and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh. On account of their fathers this people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues. But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Mohammedans, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind. Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, for it is He who gives to all men life and breath and all things, and as Saviour wills that all men be saved. Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience" (link).
Both of these passages are the declarations of ecumenical councils, declarations that are claimed to be infallible. Yet both declarations cannot be true. Either one of them or both must be false. What harmony is this? None whatsoever.
Here is one more passage from another ecumenical council, the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517), concerning the "Turks and other infidels." The Turks were the Muslim peoples of the thoroughly Islamic Ottoman Empire. During this ecumenical council the Christian empire in Europe addressed the threats of the Muslim Turks in the east and south. The passage speaks for itself:
ReplyDelete"Our aim is also to crush the Turks and other infidels standing firm in the eastern and southern regions. They treat the way of true light and salvation with complete contempt and totally unyielding blindness; they attack the life-giving cross on which our Saviour willed to accept death so that by dying he might destroy death, and by the ineffable mystery of his most holy life he might restore life; and they make themselves hateful enemies of God and most bitter persecutors of the christian religion" (link).
One last comment for now; I promise! ;-)
ReplyDeleteTurretinFan posted a great article on this topic in 2008 over at AOMin. He provides several unimpeachable quotations from the two most recent popes that confirm the teaching of Vatican II concerning Muslims (and also Jews). The article is relatively brief. It can be found here.
Wesley,
ReplyDeleteWell, ain't you an encyclopedia of Catholic knowledge!? lol Thanks for posting these, brothah man!
According to the Roman Catholic chaplain at my university, the Catechism is not an infallible absolute authority. That's helpful to know regarding this.
ReplyDelete