Terry Tiessen\u2019s 6th chp asks this question: To whom does God reveal himself? Let us remind ourselves of the basic options \u2014 some say God reveals himself only to those who hear the gospel as preached through the Church (ecclesiocentrics); Tiessen will argue that God reveals himself to all (accessibilists). How so? Terry Tiessen\u2019s 6th chp asks this question: To whom does God reveal himself? Let us remind ourselves of the basic options \u2014 some say God reveals himself only to those who hear the gospel as preached through the Church (ecclesiocentrics); Tiessen will argue that God reveals himself to all (accessibilists). How so?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476,1736],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-emerging-movement"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThe major point: \u201cOnce we acknowledge that God makes himself known to particular individuals both inside and outside the covenant community, in ways that are not universally normative, we have accepted a truth that is very important for our inquiry\u201d (122). God makes himself known, and humans are to respond to that knowledge. God is \u201cceaselessly at work making himself known to all people\u201d (122). But God speaks to some more particularly.
\nI see a few options (in question form): If only those who hear the gospel are saved, is it not inevitable (morally conscionable) that we would have to be Calvinists? Or, if only those who hear the gospel are saved, is the responsibility pushed on to the community of Christians to make God known throughout the world? Or, is it more biblical \u2014 and consistent with the God of the Bible \u2014 to think that God makes himself known to all and holds all accountable to the light they have received? And, if this is the case, is not the Christian claim that the purity of truth in Christ makes adequate response to the gospel more likely by missionary activities?
\nGod manifests himself to all \u2014 this is called general revelation. But God is also revealed to some particularly. And everyone is required \u2014 for final participation in God\u2019s presence \u2014 to respond in faith and obedience to the revelation they perceive. Not only do all humans have a moral conscience (requirement to live according to basic morals) but also a religious consciousness (requirement to live in light of religious revelation).
\nFirst, general <\/em>revelation. God is revealed in creation (e.g Rom 1:19-20), in moral consciousness (Rom 2:14-15; Acts 17:22-31), religious consciousness (Acts 17:22-31), and providence.
\nSecond, specific revelation to particular individuals. Tiessen sees two sorts here \u2014 God is revealed to some within the biblical covenant scheme (Adam\/Eve, Abraham, Moses, the prophets, etc) and some outside that covenant scheme (Balaam, Nebuchadnezzer). More controversially, God is revealed to some today \u2014 Phillip Wiebe\u2019s famous book Visions of Jesus<\/em> traces such.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"