Quote:
The answer is an unreserved, "No!" It is impossible than any can be saved without "knowing" the Lord Christ and embracing Him with a living faith, created within them by the Holy Spirit. (Jh 14:6; Rom 1:16; 10:14-17; Eph 2:8, 9; et al)


I sort of expected as much, but I didn't wish to put words in your mouth.

This is, of course, not what the Bible teaches at all.

The man I have in mind is the Chinese philosopher Lau Tzu, who wrote the Tau Te Ching 500 years before Christ was born. In the Tau, Lau Tzu describes not only the existence of the Blessed Trinity, but refers to the Incarnation of the One he calls the Way (Tau). The only thing that Lau Tzu didn't know was that the Way has a name: The Lord Jesus Christ.

How is this possible? Scripture tells us:

[color:"0000FF"]Romans 2:13-16 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.[/color]

Note: The doers of the Law shall be justified. Sounds like our justification comes from what we "DO" and not just faith alone. And in Romans 2: 5 - 10 and John 5: 28 - 29, both St. Paul and Jesus validate this -- both of them stating quite clearly that the Great Judgment will be about what we have DONE -- those who have DONE GOOD (law keepers) receiving eternal life and those who have done evil (law breakers) receiving eternal torment.

Note also that it says that the Gentiles, who have not the Law (in other words, they are ignorant and untaught, as was Lau Tzu) have the Law written in their hearts, so that this becomes the Law unto them. And if they obey that Law, then they are covenant keepers *by desire* in obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit, Who alone causes that law to be placed in their hearts and calls them to obey what is in their hearts.

You see, God is nowhere near as callous and cold as Calvinism makes Him out to be. When He says that He desires all men to be saved -- He means it!! He does not base salvation upon mere head knowledge, but upon the Law of God either written in our hearts or heard with our ears --- and our obedience to that which we know. That is called "covenant keeping" and it is the basis upon which God can have mercy upon all mankind through the work of Christ Jesus.

I have no doubt that Lau Tzu is in Heaven right now. Why? Because what he wrote in the Tau Te Ching is the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Christ taught it -- it is THE WAY -- the life we are to live if we expect to recieve the blessing of eternal life. And Lau Tzu, by his writing, showed that the Holy Spirit was at work in his heart and in his life, he lived what he wrote, thus being obedient to the Law of his heart placed there by the Spirit.

Cordially in Christ,

Brother Ed