Salvation 2.0: Introduction

I suppose we should start by asking what it means to be saved and to be lost.

I’m not trying to write a systematic theology, and so I won’t be trying to explain who God is and the Holy Trinity. I assume the reader agrees with me — at least enough for this discussion to be profitable.

But we do need to tear down some misconceptions so we can rebuild something better. And the first misconception is the nature of salvation.

Let’s start with what salvation is for. Later, we’ll consider what salvation is from. And then we’ll go from there to consider how someone might be saved and how a saved person might fall away. That will lead to a discussion of church discipline and fellowship. But we have long way to go to get there.

Oh, and you’ll notice the similarity of the series title to the old Creation 2.0 series. This will be different. There will inevitably be some overlap, but I’m trying to avoid covering the same material — although Creation 2.0 would make for a great introduction to Salvation 2.0.

A few other notes.

First, I’m experimenting with shorter posts.  Not Edward Fudge short, but closer to Fudge than Maxey. Just to see how it goes.

Second, this is going to take a while. The master outline of just the introductory piece is something like —

Salvation

• For — in this Age
• For — in the Next Age
• From
• How

In other words, we talk about what we’re saved for before talking about how we’re saved — which is opposite the normal presentation but I think better.

What we’re saved for is divided into “For” in this age and the next age. It’s not just heaven. Not even close.

“From” is about what happens to those not saved. Most people start here or at the “How,” but I think that’s a mistake.

Then “How” is not about the Plan of Salvation (we’ll get there) but more about the atonement — how is it that the cross saves? I mean, we no longer live in a world in which heaven and hell are assumed or even understood. So old approaches no longer work. It’s time to rethink everything.

And I do mean everything.

Now, once we get a better grip on the atonement — the cross — then we can finally have a thoughtful conversation about the Plan of Salvation. It’s no longer proof texts printed on a postcard. We need to actually understand what we’re talking about. And that will save us all from a whole bunch of mistakes.