Heresy perhaps, but worth thinking about...

While reading "Against Celsus" by Origen, I came across Origen questioning: Why should one teach against a person being transformed to a good person even if he can not come up with any rationale for doing so? (Rough paraphrase I know, but check out Book One chapter 9.) While pondering this thought, I then asked myself, is this how Christ Followers should think of others who find ways of transforming themselves into better people, even if their way does not involve giving credit to Christ. Unfortunately I never came to a firm conclusion, but what I came up with was this.....

If all good things come from God, then if man finds a system of belief that teaches him to DO good that is apart from the religion of Christianity, is that ok? Will God honor the man's commitment to such a belief? For the Bible states that "every perfect gift comes down from heaven" (James 1:17), and is not wisdom a gift? It was a gift to King Solomon as we learn in 1st Kings, therefore we must conclude that wisdom is  most definitely a gift that comes from God. And Scripture teaches us that only God is good. Thus one can conclude two things: First is that God as a good personal entity, would only impart good wisdom to humanity, and second that good and perfect wisdom can only come from God, for only God can only know what good is seeing as He is the only good being in all of existence.

Therefore a Christian must wrestle with the fact of how do ungodly/pagan people do good? How do they come up with teachings that promote good? How does someone like Ghandi teach the same non-violence and love for others that Jesus taught during his time on earth? I find such a thought highly perplexing, maybe it means that God is working in ways that we could never imagine, maybe He is reminding us that not everyone who calls Jesus Lord will be saved, but rather those who do the Father's will. And sometimes this will of His is done by those who do not call Jesus Lord. Maybe this should humble those who claim to follow Christ, maybe being a follower of Jesus is more than saying the "right" prayer, or calling someone Lord without believing it. Maybe its about understanding that there is a higher power who shows us grace, and that we in turn are to show grace to others in return (Matthew 18-23-35).

So what happen to those who unknowingly serve Christ as in Matthew 25, are they condemned to Hell for all of eternity? Or does grace abound? Traditional teaching/interpretation of the Bible tells me tells me that the first scenario is what occurs, however the Words of Christ seem to tell a different story in the gospels. Maybe it is possible to serve someone/thing else while at the same time you feel you are serving Christ, and maybe the reverse is true also.

To end I must say I neither have the answer to the above questions above, nor do I believe that I will ever have the answers until the end of days. But what I do know is that Christ blood was shed for sinners, the question then becomes this: When it comes to being covered in the atoning blood, is it the words that matter, or the actions that matter, or somehow both?