Christian theologians gather to discuss salvation
The forum was a part of Karis Church's Theology Weekend.
Published Nov. 11, 2008
A local church hosted a discussion Friday night to consider a question central to Christian theology: Is Jesus Christ the only pathway to salvation?
Karis Community Church invited three theologians to participate in the forum as part of the church's Theology Weekend. Mizzou Monday Night Worship co-sponsored the event.
Karis lead pastor Kevin Larson opened the discussion by citing the Gospel of John, which states that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life." This verse has historically been interpreted literally, Larson said, and it has served as the impetus for the spread of Christianity. Today, though, it seems harsh and arrogant, and many question its literal meaning.
After Larson's introduction, the three panelists - Bruce Ware, Paul Moessner and Kristin Powell - each made 20-minute presentations. Each panelist had time to respond to the others before all three took questions.
Powell, the minister at Unity Center of Columbia, spoke about the New Testament's emphasis on Jesus Christ as spirit made flesh. Jesus was the human man, she said, while Christ was the indwelling spirit of the Messiah.
"That is what the New Testament was all about," she said. "This master spiritual teacher, who was teaching us about spirit being made flesh, of what it is like to be a spiritual being having a human experience."
Powell recalled the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., which stressed Jesus' humanity and that he was the one way to salvation, a teaching that shaped the early church.
"That idea is limiting," he said. "That idea, to me, is tragic and ironic. Here is this teacher who is all about love, all about compassion, all about inclusivity. And through him now it's a religion that is saying, 'No, it's about exclusivity.'"
Moessner, the pastor at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Columbia, centered his comments on the challenge of observing faithfulness in a very open world.
There is a point, Moessner said, where tolerance does not work, and one must draw the line. He suggested that Jesus was the way God chose for one to draw it.
Ware, a professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said Jesus is the only way to salvation, based on Biblical Christianity.
Ware acknowledged that this idea is offensive to many and addressed two common objections: the teaching is unfair and it is unloving.
"It is loving, not intolerant, not unkind, but loving," Ware said. "To speak forth the truth when that truth is the one way by which people may be saved from the judgment of God to come."
MU graduate student Abby Shaw said she agreed with Ware.
"What I believe - that Jesus is the way, the only way, for salvation - is just confirmed even more," she said. "What Kristin was saying just seemed like, 'Oh this is what I want to believe in. This is what I want to believe because I like it better.'"
Larson said he hopes those who attended do wrestle with Ware's point that Jesus is the only way.
"We're the home team," he said. "We're biased. We want people to see that statement as more true."
Shaw's friend Laura Frick said she appreciated the clarity of Ware's argument.
"My belief is confirmed that God didn't choose to show things to the wise and the learned but to the simple," Frick said. "He makes his truth evident to everybody. You don't have to be the smartest person in the world, and it doesn't have to be complicated."
Graduate student Becca Brauer said she found the discussion inspirational.
"I was real excited about the truth of what was proclaimed," she said. "It just reminded me that I need to be passionate about sharing that with other people, too."
Larson said he thought the forum went well.
"You did have three very different views," he said. "You saw contrast. It was civil, it was helpful, respectful."
Larson said the discussion exemplified Moessner's points about interfaith dialogue.
"Why should we come together and deny what we're about?" he said. "Why not be real, but then still be respectful and loving?"