[William Lane Craig] Q&A - Is Jesus the only way? What about those who never heard the Gospel?

Conference DVD includes:
- Professional video of the 4 main sessions
- Mp3 audio of the 14 breakout sessions (does not include Logos training)
- Mp3 audio from Dr. Craig's lecture at UBC and to TWU faculty
- 6 Think For A Minute videos
- Think For A Minute Devotional
- Think For A Minute Discussion Questions / Recommended Resources
- Dr. Craig's PowerPoint / pdf notes

[ENCwwe]

The last chapter of his book On Guard really helped me understand this a few years ago. I think of it this way, God is like Dr Strange in Avengers Endgame. He can see all of the possible scenarios for a persons life. If even one set of events would result in the person being saved God will make it happen. No one can say if only I had this set of circumstances then I would have been saved. The bible says that God desires all to be saved so much so that he had Jesus die brutally for it. He's not going to screw anybody out heaven, he is just.

[affordabledesertliving]

This is an excellent intelligent position on folks being saved even before the Lord Jesus came to earth. It never crossed my mind that Job was not even an israelite but had a deep relationship with God. Fantastic stuff!

[Beastinvader]

5:30 What he is saying is that we should be careful not to deny the antecedent.

If it rains there are clouds
If A, then B

It doesn't mean that if it doesn't rain, that there are no clouds
If -A then -B

In the same way, if you believe and confess you will be saved (A then B). It doesn't mean that if you don't confess that you won't be saved (-A then -B).
This is a logical fallacy.

[rigdoctormark]

He’s so brilliant he makes my head hurt.

[jesuscross]

This is a real stumbling block that the devil loves to use it to stop people from coming to faith in Christ. Knowing how big our God is we can safely assume that He had all peoples in mind when He said “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except by me.” First we need to understand that God hasn't got two plans of salvation, or three or four. Just one and it has been the same since the beginning. And if you would hear it, I contend that Adam and Eve were the very first "Christians." Let me clarify. The word Christ is the Greek term for the Hebrew term Messiah which means the Holy One to come. The first place we hear about the "Holy One to come" is in Genesis 3:15 in the Garden right after the fall of man. God predicts the "Seed" of the woman who shall come and crush the serpent's head and bruise His heel in the process. There we see the first Messianic prophecy. Anyone who trusted in the One to come was placing their faith in His salvation. Adam and Eve named their first child "Cain" which means man from God. This is a pretty good clue they were expecting Him and trusting in Him. Later we see God had instituted sacrifices as a means of looking forward to this One who would come. Cain brought the labors of his own hand and Able the spotless sacrifice that God accepted. In the old testament times  God's people trusted in the Holy One to come by the sacrifice that represented the One true sacrifice to come. They may not have understood it to mean this but by faith they trusted God and looked forward to the Messiah/Christ. This means the old testament saints of God were just as much Christians as the New Testament. Now concerning those who never heard...Consider for a second Rom. 1:20 where God tells us we can know He exists by studying what He made. So that we are without excuse it says. So we know that God gives everyone the light of creation to know He exists. No one can be true to what they observe and still worship an idol made of wood or stone or bronze or gold. Next we read in Rom. 2:15 that God gives every man a conscience that bears witness to them. Our conscience tells us that God exists. The notion that God let someone pass into eternity without ever having a chance to be saved, makes God out to be pretty small and absent minded. Scriptures reveal that when any person on any plain of the planet respond to the light of creation and the light of their conscience then He sends someone to them to give them the light of Christ. Acts chapter 10 perfectly exemplifies how God works in this way. Cornelius was a “devout man” who feared God and gave alms generously. In other words he was responding to the light of creation and conscience. So God supernaturally sent Peter to give Cornelius the light of Christ. In verse 35 Peter affirms this is how God always responds to every nation. Again we serve a big and mighty God who can do all things beyond what we can imagine. In Rev. 5:9 we read that there will be people in heaven around the throne from EVERY nation, tribe, and tongue. Every means every. And so I don’t believe there is a single tribe or group in the history of the world who were left out. If they responded to their conscience and repented from worshiping their false gods and acknowledged the true God of creation, then He sent a missionary to their tribe to give them the light of Christ.

[riffhammeron]

So people who have no exposure to "the word" should definitely not be preached to for fear they might reject it and go to hell.

[dwaynewinstead]

With God being all knowing of who will or will not respond to The Gosepl, it seems that He would somehow get The Good News to everyone who will respond before their last breath even in back woods 3rd world countries.

[vesselofmercy]

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. Jesus is the only way. This is an awesome answer to this question, and I think is perfectly accurate.

[deeanderson]

And the rich man and didn't give that confession, either, but he went up to heaven. Jesus loves the disenfranchised, the poor and needy, and brokenhearted for such people are often the ones who know they need a Lord and Savior.

[rwc]

If God is the God of the living, then Moses and David and Daniel will all confess Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. Every knee will bow. All flesh shall see it tohether.

[nathanshlemon]

Is it true that Satan is now dating Medusa?

[lansan]

Ok, problem solved! We have salvation "if" we believe in Christ! One more problem: We are not able to believe, nor repent, nor choose Christ(according to calvinism).

[viperzepol]

If this was true, Jesus sacrifice on the cross would’ve been pointless. Jesus is the only way to salvation NOT Knowledge.

[jayare]

As I listen on, it's just shocking how someone can be so mixed up in their minds. Seriously Craig, listen to yourself. It's absolutely ridiculous what you are saying. Either it DOES matter that you hear the gospel, or it DOESNT. You can't have it both ways.

[jayare]

Besides, if Christ was brought back from the dead, he wasn't sacrificed at all was he?

[dochvtech]

Wait I'm confused if people can be saved if they haven't heard of Christ.... then y would I tell them about the gospel??

[jacobbrown]

Beware false prophets like William Lane Craig

[BigG]

that's a very good dodge you made there. this isn't going anywhere.

[pepemelo]

funny you start a debate on a video of christian apologetics.

[edgarmorales]

When Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life; Jesus was stating the truth. God, or the force of Love that animates all of life; is the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus was not speaking personally about himself. What Jesus meant is that Love is the way to live, Love is the truth, and Love is the way to eternal life; not in the sense of heaven, but as a way to know yourself as the eternal being that you are.

When you know yourself as Love, you know yourself as God. God, the I am that is within Jesus, is the same God that is within everyone.

The spirit that is within Jesus is also within everyone. God is the same in everyone, and God's name is Love.