It is not wise to appeal to that which is abnormal to establish a fact about what is normal. Someone can get by without legs; but we don't go to the legless person to learn how to walk. We would think it rather strange to see a person who can walk giving up his legs, so to speak, in order to get about like a person with no legs.
In the normal Christian life people are discipled and grow in relation to Three to whom they attribute divine honour -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. As a matter of ordinary intelligence a person will believe "something" about those Three. If Trinitarianism is not taught to the person there are alternatives like modalism or Tritheism. Do we teach people to be saved by becoming modalists or Tritheists? Of course not. The normal course of Christian discipleship teaches people to believe in the Trinity and live out the Christian life in that conviction.
We are not saved by doctrines, but doctrines are a necessary part of being saved. The understanding of man needs saving as much as anything else.
Perhaps the deeper concern here is the minimalist understanding of salvation which is required in order to affirm that people can be saved without belief in the Trinity. What is your understanding of salvation? From what are you saved? To what are you saved? Salvation is not an eternal life insurance policy. You must pass from death to life -- judicially and personally. You become a new creature, put on the new man, are renewed in the spirit of your mind, live for a new purpose, follow a new Lord. You change from being natural to being spiritual. You are translated from one kingdom to another. Your conversation and citizenship are transferred from the earthly to the heavenly. And this is lifelong! While there are definitive aspects to it, there is also progressive growth in salvation, as well as a forward-looking motion to the consummation of it. There is a warfare, a race, a labour involved in it. The whole armour of God is needed. We must lay aside every hindrance. Every effort must be made.
The deeper issue, then, is what do you believe about "salvation?"
In the normal Christian life people are discipled and grow in relation to Three to whom they attribute divine honour -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. As a matter of ordinary intelligence a person will believe "something" about those Three. If Trinitarianism is not taught to the person there are alternatives like modalism or Tritheism. Do we teach people to be saved by becoming modalists or Tritheists? Of course not. The normal course of Christian discipleship teaches people to believe in the Trinity and live out the Christian life in that conviction.
We are not saved by doctrines, but doctrines are a necessary part of being saved. The understanding of man needs saving as much as anything else.
Perhaps the deeper concern here is the minimalist understanding of salvation which is required in order to affirm that people can be saved without belief in the Trinity. What is your understanding of salvation? From what are you saved? To what are you saved? Salvation is not an eternal life insurance policy. You must pass from death to life -- judicially and personally. You become a new creature, put on the new man, are renewed in the spirit of your mind, live for a new purpose, follow a new Lord. You change from being natural to being spiritual. You are translated from one kingdom to another. Your conversation and citizenship are transferred from the earthly to the heavenly. And this is lifelong! While there are definitive aspects to it, there is also progressive growth in salvation, as well as a forward-looking motion to the consummation of it. There is a warfare, a race, a labour involved in it. The whole armour of God is needed. We must lay aside every hindrance. Every effort must be made.
The deeper issue, then, is what do you believe about "salvation?"