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The Conversation Continues: Reader's Comments
Readers respond to John R. Franke's "Still the Way, the Truth, and the Life"

Displaying 1–10 of 36 comments.

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Chris

December 11, 2009  8:29am

Paul, Christ is quite present in the Old Testament. Why would we assume that He is not the way for OT believers when we have evidence of His presence in the OT. John 1:1 and following at least, and the theophanies, if you accept them. Christ is frequently referred to in the Psalms as well. You equate John 14:6 with "accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour."

http://ketch22.wordpress.com

December 09, 2009  5:57pm

Jesus used "the", not "a"... the Way, the Truth, the Light. If you cannot accept this, you are not a follower of Christ.

marissa

December 09, 2009  3:55pm

Paul here's something to consider in response to your statement about past Jews like moses. God exists outside of time, therefore if God is timeless than Jesus Christs sacrifice is timeless. We know from Isaiah that the Jews new about the savior and believed in him but he just hadn't come yet. I am not a theologian so I can say nothing for sure but it is quite a thought to think that because God is timeless his forgiveness which was gained by the cross, and only the cross, might also extend to those of the old testiment such as Moses.

Paul

December 09, 2009  10:14am

I have often asked people who quote John 14:6 "the Way and the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the father but by me" why Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are excluded from the Kingdom of God as are Moses, Elijah, David and Enoch who never "accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour" I have never received a good answer that excludes the possiblity that God in His infinite wisdom might have other ways for us to know Him in all His Triune glory

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ChurchSalt.om

December 08, 2009  9:13pm

The author has a few good points, but seems to be timid about clearly stating what these "Christian" teachers who hold to plurality really are...false teachers of deception. I also noticed the cart came before the horse a few times. True Christians begin living a life of love because they are changed, they do not live a life of love so they can be changed. Same thing with living in the Spirit and walking with God. This happens through the reconciliation between our sinful selves and God, and is only accomplished thru the Cross of Christ. The love...the walk...these are all signs of true conversion, not things that facilitate it. I am, however, glad to see that someone is still bold enough to point out that Jesus was very exclusive. He is the only way, and trying to twist that statement to mean anything else is a clear sign of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

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mP

December 08, 2009  6:53am

A very thoughtful essay. Franke does what many evangelicals do seem to be able to do; he holds together the particular and the universal. In other words, he is able to see that the "Word mad flesh" in Jesus Christ must be seen in light of the Word God speaks in creation, history, cultures, and even other religions. This is much more along the lines of classic Trinitariansim, and is the kind of thoughfulness we need in our day. Many of the responses to his essay demonstrate how much we need to recover the theological/metaphysical roots of this Trinitarian vision of reality; a vision that is much larger than post WWII, American evangelicalsim had to offer.

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John CF

December 07, 2009  3:22pm

This article is very verbose but disappointingly poor in the substance of Jesus exclusive uniqueness as Savior God. Scripture is clear in declaring that every human being is under the sentence of death because of original and personal sin and sinfulness; that Jesus was God in the flesh, born of a virgin, lived a sinless, righteous life on earth; that he went to the cross to bear the penalty for our sin, died and rose again on the third day (demonstrating vindication) and ascending to the Father, and; that he will return to take his saints to be with him. He is therefore the only hope for guilty sinners to receive forgiveness through repentance and faith, be reconciled to God and be clothe with the righteousness of God. He does not merely give us instructions or an example on how to live and love (the heresy of Peter Abelard), rather he makes us alive (Eph. 2:1-10) indwelling us by the Holy Spirit. Settling for less than his unique Gospel perilously misses out on "so great a salvation."

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Christian Student

December 07, 2009  2:14pm

Actually Johann, Protestant churches don't have "vastly differing and contradictory theologies." As you can see from the many posts, we all have at least one belief in common, despite the many differences in our doctrines. We all accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and the ONLY WAY to God and Heaven. At the end of the day, that's what matters the most. Teaching salvation through anything else is false.

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Johann

December 07, 2009  10:39am

Actually, polls have shown that large percentages of "Christians", even evangelical born-again Christians, do not believe that Christ is the only way, truth and life. Yet another fruit of the Protestant Reformation. If you can believe that 30,000 Protestant sects, many of which teach vastly differing and contradictory theologies, are all Christians and all saved, then it's not a big leap to seeing the truth in non-Christian religions and their own unique path to salvation.

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Ann

December 07, 2009  10:23am

JM, we're not consigning people of other faiths anywhere. But if they are on a path to hell, isn't it more loving to tell them, rather than be politically correct?

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