Man and salvation
Sir: Martin Sullivan (April 13) shrewdly explains the story of Jonah to highlight the uncharity of some religious individuals and collectives who seek to arrogate to themselves the exclusive attention of God. They forget or reject: "the Spirit bloweth where it listeth."
Unfortunately, many others (especially today) forget or reject this at the other extreme, enforcing the Spirit's blanket-visitation on 'all men' as a magic wand salvation regardless of any Christ-ward disposition. They forget that God went to much trouble to obtain for each man a personal salvation which he is to personally 'apply for' when informed. It is the personal detente with God which, for each man, makes it his salvation (or new life) and not just 'salvation' — whatever that means. But the assembly of all such men does constitute a Tribe; which then does have a Tribal Deity — and in the proper context, exclusively. Properly, of the Tribe is always hungry for expansion: remains exclusively Open, as it were.
But the 'all men', automatic, blanket-coverage concept is as bad, if not worse than the old snobbish one. The truth is that, like the Son of Man, we must remain in suspense as to 'all men'. There might be a sense in which God doesn't know (refuses to know?) what a man will do regarding his own salvation crucially. This is the basic meaning of freedom. And thus of resonsibility. The 'modernistic' Church is being communistically conned into killing it. Into blanking out the Spirit.
Thomas W. Gadd Alexandra Court, Woodborough Road, Nottingham
Previous page
