So many of our readers on Medium either reject God entirely or believe that God will bless those who “love their neighbor” by allowing them enterance to Heaven at the end of their lives. The responder below added an important element to his theology, but sadly, it still falls short of our Lord’s criteria for salvation.

Medium Responder

There are many other options than either believing the Bible was written and protected by the Creator, or not believing in it at all. I, for example, believe very strongly that the Bible was created by humans to record their encounters with a living God, creator of Heaven and Earth. I see no evidence either internally or externally that God himself penned the Bible, (in fact, we know the names of some of the human authors and, in at least one instance, Paul stated that he was giving a personal opinion and not writing by inspiration) and I see abundant evidence that He has not protected the text from alteration, different translations, and difference of opinions about what constitutes the text in the first place.

Rather than rejecting a literalist belief in inerrancy because I prefer a weak, watered down version of the Bible, I reject it wholeheartedly because I believe it’s Phariseeism and a form of idolatry.

I do hold out one hope for universal salvation, which is Isaiah 55:11. God is capable of accomplishing what He wills, and He states that He doesn’t will the destruction of any, but sent his son to save the whole world. Surely that means He won’t condemn any to hell forever?

But in an important way, this is none of my business. There’s no part of the Bible that says I have to understand the structure of Heaven and Earth and read the mind of God to be saved. I just have to love God and follow His commands to treat my fellow humans well, and believe his son can save me when I don’t do it as well as I should.

My Response

Thanks for your thoughts and you, of course, can choose to believe whatever you wish, as can I. Respectfully, I believe that salvation and eternal life in Heaven will not be the result of a singular belief in God and loving one’s neighbor. Though there is no requirement to believe the Bible is inerrant, trusting that God divinely inspired His book helps one accept…

John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Sadly for many, the Bible is clear that a personal relationship with the One who sacrificed on the cross for our sins is essential to eternity in Heaven. 

Romans 10:9 – because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Of course, if one believes the Bible was written by man and can be parsed as to what is true and what is untrue, then we all can decide what the elements of salvation are and reject the verses that we don’t agree with. Many limit themselves to a single verse (and for even more, just the second half of that verse) and expect God to bless them nonetheless, ignoring the remaining 750k words in Scripture. We all have a choice to make in this life before we are confronted with God’s truth in the next. 

Luke 10:27 – And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Conclusion

The last sentence of our commenter makes the point that separates eternal life from eternal death…. “I just have to love God and follow His commands to treat my fellow humans well, and believe His son can save me when I don’t do it as well as I should.”

As Biblical Christians, we do have to love God and our behavior (love our neighbor) should be an outpouring of that love. However, note that “believe His son can save me” misses an essential aspect of Salvation. We need to accept Jesus Christ as more than our Savior. We need to accept Him as our Lord. We need to follow His commands as best as our continuing sin nature will allow. And the best place His commands can be found are in the Bible.

A Trinitarian view of God is not limited to God the Father. One must recognize, worship, and follow God the Son as well as trust the counsel of God, the Holy Spirit, who lives within every believer.