Not so. There have always been Christians teaching things different from what you know. Religions target everyone and many remarkably intelligent and learned people have always been Christians.
Re. some concepts I presented recently, don't think they are new or held only by fringe characters.
I mentioned universal reconciliation - though unorthodox, church fathers who subscribed to this included Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius. Other church fathers who believed this:
en.wikipedia.org
Supported by scriptures such as 1 John 2:2 - "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." And 1 Timothy 4:10 - "That we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe." Also John 3:17 & 12:32.
I also mentioned annihilationism supported by Matthew 10:28, Revelations 21:8, Ecclesiastes 9:5 & 10, 2 Thessalonians 1:9. John Stott, a very prominent evangelical leader, is a modern proponent. As is the NT scholar, F F Bruce. You might recall he's one of the NT scholars I recommended to you in earlier posts.
I didn't mention, but could have, inclusivism, the belief that people can be saved depending on their response to whatever light they are able to see and understand, regardless of their ignorance of Jesus.
"Those also can attain to everlasting 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 by the dictates of their conscience." Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium, 16
C. S. Lewis - "We do know that no person can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know Him can be saved by Him." Mere Christianity, p. 65.
John Stott - "I have never been able to conjure up (as some great Evangelical missionaries have) the appalling vision of the millions who are not only perishing but will inevitably perish. On the other hand… I am not and cannot be a universalist. Between these extremes I cherish and hope that the majority of the human race will be saved. And I have a solid biblical basis for this belief."
Supported by such scriptures as John 3: 17; 4:14 & 42; 6:33; 12:32; Romans 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:14 & 19; Colossians 1:20.
You can look at the scriptures and names (church fathers, Vatican statements, CS Lewis, John Stott, FF Bruce) above and see that such beliefs are well within the Christian mainstream, whether or not they're shared by everyone. |
