2. The answer which says, ‘God will make exceptions to his rules.’

While this is a step in the right direction it does lead to a lot of fanciful speculation and serious contradictions of logic. Explanations are offered which seek to make salvation more inclusive, yet no attempt whatsoever is made to change, or to even re-examine, the ‘core salvation doctrines’ which are the underlying cause of the harsh exclusiveness these people are so desperately trying to soften. It is this basic mistake which dooms sincere attempts like these to nothing but confusion, major contradiction and ultimate failure!

(Later in this article I will address the reasons for people’s inability to tackle this issue head-on.)

Here are the ‘exception plans’ that evangelicals wanting to soften the extreme ‘no compromise’ position suggest God will make.

Plan A: ‘God knows people’s hearts and he will save all those who would have believed in Christ, if they had heard the gospel!’

Initially this theory sounds quite plausible until you begin to examine it closely. It then turns out to have far reaching implications that are disastrous for the core doctrines of evangelical salvation theology.

The big problem is this. If ‘Plan A’ is true then it must mean that the major evangelical motivation for missionary work down through the centuries has been completely false! In particular, the evangelical claim that missionaries must ‘go into all the world and preach the gospel’, because all those outside Christ are ‘lost souls’ who will go to hell if they die without hearing and responding to the salvation message.

The reason for this problem is, one would think, painfully obvious. Clearly, if ‘all who would have believed the missionaries’ gospel, if they had heard it, will be saved anyway’, then they have never been ‘lost souls’ in the first place! That being the case, they do not need anyone preaching to them to ensure they go to heaven on death. So why bother spending money and endangering lives sending out missionaries at all! The only justification for missionaries then becomes to identify and make disciples of those already guaranteed a place in heaven, and to do works of mercy and compassion.

As an illustration of how this idea drags the whole debate down into increasing stupidity, consider the following implication. In Muslim countries it may well be wise not to evangelise at all, as any Muslim accepting Christ is likely to suffer extreme persecution if not an early death. Unless one wants to cause lots of unnecessary suffering or to assist those Muslims who accept Christ get to heaven a lot faster, then it is better to not even attempt to convert them to Christ. After all, these people are going to get to heaven whether or not they believe in Christ in this life!

Furthermore, ‘Plan A’ raises all sorts of questions about the reality of free-will and drags up highly complex ‘predestination’ theories. In reality it is nothing but another form of extreme Calvinism by way of the back door!

But if you think that this theory is ultimately a silly idea, things are about to get a whole lot worse with ‘Plans B and C’!