Many traditionalist Christians claim that people who don’t have faith in Jesus, or accept him as their personal savior, or some other formulation, are going to Hell. In the course of a fascinating discussion thread at TitusOneNine, some of these exclusivists have been ducking the question whether Israeli-American professor Liviu Librescu, who died heroically saving his students during the Virginia Tech massacre, is therefore in Hell because he was not a Christian.
One commenter says:
When we affirm the reality and eternity of hell as a real destiny of some, we NEVER declare that any individual is there. “Judge not…” remember? [and in a later comment:] Speculating on the man’s [eternal] destiny or suggesting that such a one is eternally lost is provocative and inflammatory. [Emphasis added]
And another says:
… I have no “reasonable” belief or theory about the whereabouts of Prof. Librescu at all. I’ve stated how the gospel works. I’ve stated the thesis. But as far as concretely applying it to any single person — I do not do that for *any* person. … It is perfectly possible to believe something firmly without applying it to an individual person. There are simply too many variables by far to know or conjecture where Professor Librescu is. [Emphasis added]
This is a cop-out. A thesis whose proponents are evidently afraid to test it against specific cases seems unworthy of serious consideration. And it’s risible when some of those proponents insist that the rest of us must still accept the thesis if we want to be “in communion” with them, even though they appear to be unwilling to face up to its implications.
Apparently recognizing their predicament, some of these commenters concede, for example, that Professor Librescu’s actions might be “the fruit of an unseen, unsuspected faith in Christ.” But I can’t imagine how someone could have an unsuspected faith of any kind — let alone how having it, without even knowing it, could mean the difference between heaven and Hell.
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