Concerning this topic of the virtuous pagan, I went into detail on this in Post 39 on Justin Martyr. If this is the case, then Job was an Edomite king, outside the promised line of Jacob. Many of the ancients believed that Job was the Jobab found in Genesis 36:34. The example of Job from the Bible proves this idea false. While it is true that Jesus Christ is manifested most fully through his Church and that salvation is found primarily in his Church, that doesn’t mean that people like Socrates or Lao Tzu, who were outside the Church, could not be enlightened or saved. On the other hand, more conservative Christians often err in the opposite direction, thinking that all pagan, pre-Christian cultures were completely lost and that there was no hope for them whatsoever. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Nobody comes to the Father except through me.” 2 1 The Bible, on the other hand, certainly does make distinctions. The more liberal Christians lean toward universalism, saying that all roads lead to God and there are no distinctions between Christ or Buddha or Mohammed, etc. In regard to God’s purpose for ancient pagan cultures, there are two basic errors that Christians make. The Logos granted wisdom and left signs pointing the way to the one true God, preparing people for the coming of His Son. What was God’s purpose for ancient pre-Christian cultures like Greece and China? In Post 40, I discussed how the Logos, the wisdom of God, enlightened pre-Christian cultures throughout the world.
0 kommentar(er)
