Defend Inclusivism

Open for discussion.

 

Q: Describe your gospel of inclusion.

A: Well, it's really basic universalism, but I couldn't have called it that. I needed another name. I am an evangelical Pentecostal fundamentalist and we'd always believed universalism was wrong. But the gospel of inclusion says that the whole world is already saved -- they just don't know that. If salvation is a reality and people have been saved, the question becomes, have they been saved from God? Or for each other?

Q: If salvation is inclusive, why do people need to reform their lives at all?

A: To create a heavenly consciousness or reality or experience here.

Being good or kind or receptive or tolerant gives rise to some happier experience on Earth. To use reward and punishment is elementary; it will not work. If we stop this idea of a hostile God who is difficult to please or appease, when we get past that, the presence or reality of peace on Earth becomes possible.

Q: You still see yourself as an evangelical Pentecostal fundamentalist?

A: Well, I am reformed. I am a fourth-generation classical Pentecostal preacher. That's all we've ever known. I don't believe that Jesus came to start a new religion but only to reform his own. He was a Jew. ... He remained fundamentally a Jew, but he extended the love factor. He moved from the literal to the logical. The Bible says that the letter kills, but the spirit gives light.

http://www.ucc.org/ten-minutes-with-carlton