Taking a Wider View of Heaven

Save a little more space in heaven.

While God still holds all the cards, a proposed Presbyterian catechism says that Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and others might be destined for the life of eternal peace and happiness many Christians used to envision only for themselves.

“How God will deal with those who do not know or follow Christ, but who follow another tradition, we cannot finally say,” says the proposed Study Catechism for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “We can say, however, that God is gracious and merciful.”

The proposed Presbyterian catechism is a particularly striking example of a growing trend of openness among many mainstream churches toward people of other faiths.

The 14-page catechism--along with a five-page First Catechism for younger churchgoers--will be presented in June to the church’s General Assembly, its highest decision-making body.

If approved, they will be sent to the denomination’s 11,000 churches as study documents. Eventually, if they prove popular, the catechisms could become part of the church’s authoritative Book of Confessions.

Unlike some catechisms of old, in which declarations of faith were meant to be memorized and anathemas were hurled at churches with different beliefs, the proposed Presbyterian catechism is conversational in tone and doesn’t claim to have all the answers.

During a season when Christians celebrate their belief in the resurrection of Christ and continue reflecting on how that event gives them hope of eternal life, the new catechism asks some tough questions that are in the back of many believers’ minds:

“Will all human beings be saved?” “How will God deal with the followers of other religions?”

During the Reformation, the immediate successors to French theologian John Calvin--including those to whom the Presbyterian Church traces its ancestry--answered the question with the doctrine of double predestination that said from the beginning of time God designated some people for eternal happiness and others for eternal perdition.

The doctrine was influential in early American Protestantism but was viewed by others as too harsh. A revised theological perspective developed, holding that heaven is open to all if they accept God’s offer of salvation.

Today, many Christians believe professing faith in Jesus Christ as savior is the only way one will reach heaven. This belief gives many an urgent mandate to convert people of other faiths to Christianity.

The proposed Presbyterian catechism is less certain about who will be among the elect.

Since God rules, the catechism states, only God knows if there are any limits to salvation. “And no judge could possibly be more gracious than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” the catechism adds.

Instead of dividing humanity into groups of those who are bound for heaven or hell, the proposed catechism emphasizes the belief that Jesus died for all people, according to the Rev. George Hunsinger of Princeton Theological Seminary, one of the drafters of the proposed catechisms.

“This way it makes everyone elect, and everyone judged by Christ,” Hunsinger says. “You don’t have to give up hope for anyone, not even for yourself.”

Once church members take the position non-Christians aren’t necessarily lost for eternity, the focus on interfaith relations shifts from conversion to dialogue, according to some church leaders.

In the proposed catechism, Presbyterians are instructed to avoid either compromising their beliefs or being narrow-minded.

“In short, I should always welcome and accept non-Christians in a way that honors and reflects the Lord’s welcome and acceptance of me,” the catechism says.