There is a common tendency with people to make negative judgments about other people. In high schools, this tendency shows itself in cliques. A few popular kids get into a group, and gradually begin to think that they are better than others because they are better liked. Kids who aren't "in" may become objects of pity, or contempt, or even of cruel jokes. In one way or another the clique passes subtle judgment on the others as being a lower class of human beings.

The same tendency to look down on others shows itself in various religions. Some religious groups become so self-centered that they believe no one of a different faith can go to heaven. When taken to an extreme, this kind of attitude is far more cruel than the snobbish teenage cliques.

The teachings of the Bible are quite a contrast to this. To begin with, God's Word tells us that we should not label people as "saved" or "sinner." Jesus said,

"Judge not, that you be not condemned. Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1, 3)

The disciple James put it this way: "There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?" (James 4:1)

When the Lord was on earth, a judging attitude was prevalent among the leaders of the church. Many thought that when the Messiah came, He would save Jews, and not others. When Jesus did come, they condemned Him for associating with non-Jews and Jews alike.

Jesus discouraged this kind of attitude. Once He was speaking with some people who "trusted in themselves" that they were saved and others were not. He asked them to consider two prayers: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men," and "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" Jesus praised the man who thought he was a sinner. (Luke 18:9-14)

It's better to think of yourself as a sinner than to think you are saved.

You may remember the parable of the good Samaritan, too, who stopped to help the wounded man by the roadside. Even though this Samaritan was of the "wrong" faith (from the Jewish point of view), Jesus said that the Samaritan should be loved as a neighbor, because he was a good man. In fact, He said that a person who wants eternal life should be like this Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), even though the Samaritan was neither Christian nor Jewish. Jesus saw - and sees - what is in a person's heart, not just what church one belongs to.

The Bible states clearly that it is the way a person lives, not just what he believes, that determines whether he goes to heaven or not. Jesus said, "Not every one who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

Again, "He shall reward every one according to his works." (Matthew 16:27)

"Those who have done good," He says, will go "to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (John 5:29)

Since a person's life, not just his faith, determines his eternal lot, Jesus foretold that many Christians would not be saved, because they had lived an evil life.

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you: depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matthew 7:22-23, Luke 13:25-27)

One reason why a non-Christian can be saved, is that he can love his neighbor. Anyone who genuinely loves his neighbor also loves Christ, although he may not realize it. Jesus said, "Inasmuch as you have ministered to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." (Matthew 25:40)

Faith in Jesus, without love to the neighbor is meaningless.

"Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:2)

Genuine love, on the other hand, is a sign that a person knows the Lord in his heart, regardless of the religion he professes outwardly.

"Love believes all things." (1 Corinthians 13:7)

"He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God." (3 John 1:11)

"Let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one who loves is born of God and knows God. God is love, and anyone who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:7-11)

Summary:

Some Christian churches teach this: Only Christians are saved.

What the Bible actually says (and what the New Christian Church teaches): Good people from all religions are saved.

Some references from teachings for the New Christian Church : Heaven and Hell 318-328, Divine Providence 326

Used with the permission of John Odhner, the author of this very useful site: http://whatthebiblesays.info/Introduction.html

378. IX. There is true faith, spurious faith and hypocritical faith.

From its cradle the Christian church began to be attacked and split by schisms and heresies, and in course of time to be torn apart and butchered, very much as we read of the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was surrounded by robbers, who, after stripping and beating him, left him half-dead (Luke 10:30). The result was like the description of that church in Daniel:

Finally upon the bird of abominations desolation, to the point of ending and cutting off, shall be poured drop by drop upon devastation, Daniel 9:27.

and in the Lord's words:

Then the end shall come, when you will see the abomination of desolation predicted by the prophet Daniel, Matthew 24:14-15.

Its fate may be compared with a ship laden with a very valuable cargo, which immediately on leaving harbour is struck by storms and soon afterwards is wrecked and sunk at sea, so that its cargo is partly ruined by water and partly consumed by fish.

[2] The Christian church from its infancy was so tossed and shattered, as is evident from ecclesiastical history, for instance even in the time of the Apostles by Simon, who was of the Samaritan nation, and a practicer of sorcery, as related in The Acts of the Apostles (Acts of the Apostles 8:9ff). Also by Hymenaeus and Philetus, who are mentioned by Paul in his Epistle to Timothy [2 Timothy 2:17]; as also by Nicolas, who gave his name to the Nicolaitans (mentioned in Revelation 2:6 and Acts of the Apostles 6:5), as well as by Cerinthus. After the time of the Apostles many more heretical sects arose, such as the Marcionites, Noetians, Valentinians, Encratites, Cataphrygians, Quartodecimans, Alogians, Cathars, Origenists or Adamantines, Sabellians, Samosatenes, Manichaeans, Meletians and finally Arians. After their times whole regiments of heretical leaders assailed the church, such as the Donatists, Photinians, Acatians or Semiarians, Eunomians, Macedonians, Nestorians, Predestinarians, Papists, Zwinglians, Anabaptists, Schwenckfeldians, Synergists, Socinians, Antitrinitarians, Quakers, Herrenhuters, and many more besides. ¹ Finally these succumbed to Luther, Melanchthon and Calvin, whose dogmas hold the field today.

There are three principal causes of the divisions and separatist movements in the church; first, the failure to understand the Divine Trinity; second, the lack of any proper knowledge of the Lord; third, the assumption that the passion on the cross was the actual process of redemption. Ignorance on these three matters, which are nonetheless the very essentials of faith, and the faith on which the church is based and the reason it is called a church, inevitably results in everything connected with the church being given a sinister twist and steered away until its course is reversed, while still believing that in these circumstances it has the true faith in God and believes all God's truths. The case of these people is similar to those who blindfold their eyes and, while fancying they are walking in a straight line, yet step by step deviate from it, until they are facing the opposite direction, where there are pits into which they fall. But a person who belongs to the church can only be led away from his wanderings and into the way of truth by knowing what true faith is, what spurious faith is, and what hypocritical faith is. The following propositions will therefore be proved:

(i) There is only one true faith, and this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ, and is possessed by those who believe Him to be the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father.

(ii) Spurious faith is any faith which departs from the true and only faith, and is possessed by those who climb up another way and look upon the Lord not as God, but merely as a human being.

(iii) Hypocritical faith is no faith at all.

Fußnoten: