Susan Unger
6th August 2008, 08:01 PM (20:01)
The full title is With Cords of Love: A Wesleyan Response to Religious Pluralism.
There are 4 parts to this book. Part 1 gives a background of pluralism. Part 2 describes pluralism and the New Testament. Part 3 approaches pluralism and redemption from a Wesleyan pt of view [my favorite section]. Part 4 is about living the christian life and witness in a pluralistic world.
This book has too many noteworthy comments for me to remember them all. But here are the ones that stood out the most to me.
1. My favorite section was the emphasis on Prevenient Grace. I have the last few years been realizing the importance of prevenient grace to explain some things. When friends/family die and his/her destiny is unknown I will say "God will judge based on the light in his/her heart". The book gives a greater understanding of the many possibilities of how God works through prevenient grace. For example, one woman in a muslim country had a dream of Jesus telling her that HE was the one who had protected her from evil all of her life. She didn't understand what it meant. Then later on while working for a christian mission as a translator, one day she recognized a picture of the man who appeared in her dreams and wanted to know more about this Jesus. The missionary explained the way of salvation and she accepted.
This testimony is part of the explanation of Wesley's comments on the Faith of a Servant vs the Faith of a Son/Daughter. While God's wrath may not be on the servant, the ultimate goal is for all to have the faith of a Child of God.
2. He had several examples of prevenient grace. I always love hearing testimonies, especially these ones as they show the varied ways that God moves in peoples' hearts.
3. There are 3 main views of salvation - pluralism, inclusivism and exclusivism. And in each, there are more than one type. Pluralism believes that all relgions are equal. Inclusivism belives that Jesus is the only way of Salvation but it also believes that God is working in all people regardless of their religion. It views other religions as anticipatory or prepatory. Exclusivism believe that only through an explicit knowledge of Jesus and confession of sins can a person be saved. Those in other religions are doomed because they haven't confessed their sins to Jesus as described in the Bible. Wesleyans would be in the inclusivist group.
4. It is when we allow God to radically change us and mold us that we can influence others towards the goal of a faith of a child of God. One woman became interested in Jesus and salvation after seeing how christians sacrificed their health and safety to work in the slums of Haiti.
5. Cords of Love refers to prevenient grace. God draws folks to him with cords of LOVE.
There are 4 parts to this book. Part 1 gives a background of pluralism. Part 2 describes pluralism and the New Testament. Part 3 approaches pluralism and redemption from a Wesleyan pt of view [my favorite section]. Part 4 is about living the christian life and witness in a pluralistic world.
This book has too many noteworthy comments for me to remember them all. But here are the ones that stood out the most to me.
1. My favorite section was the emphasis on Prevenient Grace. I have the last few years been realizing the importance of prevenient grace to explain some things. When friends/family die and his/her destiny is unknown I will say "God will judge based on the light in his/her heart". The book gives a greater understanding of the many possibilities of how God works through prevenient grace. For example, one woman in a muslim country had a dream of Jesus telling her that HE was the one who had protected her from evil all of her life. She didn't understand what it meant. Then later on while working for a christian mission as a translator, one day she recognized a picture of the man who appeared in her dreams and wanted to know more about this Jesus. The missionary explained the way of salvation and she accepted.
This testimony is part of the explanation of Wesley's comments on the Faith of a Servant vs the Faith of a Son/Daughter. While God's wrath may not be on the servant, the ultimate goal is for all to have the faith of a Child of God.
2. He had several examples of prevenient grace. I always love hearing testimonies, especially these ones as they show the varied ways that God moves in peoples' hearts.
3. There are 3 main views of salvation - pluralism, inclusivism and exclusivism. And in each, there are more than one type. Pluralism believes that all relgions are equal. Inclusivism belives that Jesus is the only way of Salvation but it also believes that God is working in all people regardless of their religion. It views other religions as anticipatory or prepatory. Exclusivism believe that only through an explicit knowledge of Jesus and confession of sins can a person be saved. Those in other religions are doomed because they haven't confessed their sins to Jesus as described in the Bible. Wesleyans would be in the inclusivist group.
4. It is when we allow God to radically change us and mold us that we can influence others towards the goal of a faith of a child of God. One woman became interested in Jesus and salvation after seeing how christians sacrificed their health and safety to work in the slums of Haiti.
5. Cords of Love refers to prevenient grace. God draws folks to him with cords of LOVE.