Safe Haven

Like a moth, like a moth, Drawn was I to the warmth of your face. And meager hope, restless hope Bound me to wait on cliffs of doubt. Leo did his level-best to distract, to deflect From the sign of my thrashing heart, which kept tenuous time. Doubtless happy light, joyous light Might dare break forth from your magic eyes (even in this dark lonely crowd). Like the grass, like the growth Of earth at spring's inception did I wait to bloom in the sun of your laughter. Happy hours, holy hours Went by as I granted your requests. I am stirred, I am stunned By the gravity of one error; Does it doom me? In my haste, in my hurry I forgot to buy you popcorn.

Follow Up Concerning Invincible Ignorance and "Inclusivism": One of the most serious charges against either Rome or Orthodoxy is that it is indifferent toward Jesus as "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." That perhaps articulating some idea that God is merciful to the ignorant who never hear of Jesus Christ. (Granted, this outcome grows more unlikely by the day, praise God.) On the one hand, "all paths lead to God" is expressly false, based on the verse I quoted above. But if all truth in the universe finds its source and summit in Jesus Christ, then whatever a person happens to be doing at any given time may be an occasion to find truth which belongs to Him. In that sense, all paths lead to God because nothing good or true or lovely could be so without God. Frankly, Acts 17 makes very little sense within a Calvinist way of looking at salvation/conversion, specifically this verse: "that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way ...

Invincible Ignorance=Universalism? Being the lunatic proceeding with a Reformed Protestant seminary education while most likely entering the Roman Catholic Church in a few weeks, I hear interesting things that strike me in funny ways. One of my professors was speaking about a student who is entering the Eastern Orthodox Church. That student had given him a book defending Orthodoxy, and he said he was disturbed by Orthodoxy's belief that God could show mercy to people in other religions due to ignorance. (I mentally noted that Rome's position probably isn't any different.) Is this a compromise of John 3:19, 14:6, and Acts 4:12, to name but a few? Well, let's think it through. Premise 1: God is the final Judge, and we are not. Premise 2: God judges the hearts of mankind, and will do so without error. Premise 3: He is free to show mercy, or not, to whom He wills (Romans 9:15-16). Premise 4: Christians are commanded to plainly declare the good news of God in Jesus Christ, ...