When I was young I was saved.

I was swimming in a quarry with some school friends when I got tangled in the weeds and began to go under. Twice I came up, sputtering, and then I went under again. I remember looking up at the sun’s rays filtering through the swaying weeds. Just then, the older brother of one of my friends jumped in and pulled me to shore. Rescue, salvation, life!

I remember that I did not advise him how to rescue me, evaluate his methods or question his motives. I had passed the limit of my ability to deal with life and death. I was entirely dependent upon his choice to rescue me.

When it comes to our daily lives, those times that are not a crisis, we are very fussy about the lifelines we are willing to accept. We have a whole series of requirements that we make of any who offer to ‘rescue’ us from the entanglements of this world.

We call these little tests and rules we make our religion. In our non-crisis periods, when the illusion remains fixed, that we have mastery over the forces of life and death, we are choosy about our saviours.

In my situation, I had no choice in the matter of who would offer to save me or even how that would be done. I was past helping myself.

Let us assume that it is good to ‘vet’ our rescuers before accepting their help. Just what are the qualities of a good saviour? What should we be looking for?

My question presupposes that we want to be rescued by someone or something Good. That means we do not want to be recruited for evil by being taken advantage of in our distress. Good, then, is the first quality. Or is that a fair assumption?

Some people may not care if their rescuer is good; rather their concern is with their being the most powerful. A rescuer who enlists you as a suicide bomber subsequent to your deliverance might be considered powerful but not good. For those who would accept only a good rescuer, let us press on.

A good rescuer would act for my benefit, not the gain they could receive for their action. Rescue for hire is profitable but not necessarily driven by goodness. The most verifiably good person on the shore the day of my near drowning was the one who risked his life to bring me to safety.

This brings us to the second qualification, Truth. Many of those on the shore shouted to me but only the one who acted revealed his power to rescue. There are many philosophies, faiths and ideals that shout at us from pages, mountaintops and video screens but the one that is able to lift us out of our danger is the Truth.

The third and final qualification I want to look at is Justice. Justice is related to the concepts of goodness and truth. True justice requires the addition of equality, universality of application, to these other two. In law, this is called ‘blindness’. No exceptions to the applications of goodness and truth can be tolerated.

It has been argued that Jesus of Nazareth satisfies the requirements of Goodness, proven by self-sacrifice. The quality of Truth has been proven by His willingness and ability to turn lives-in-crisis, into peace. So the last qualification is the one I want to highlight, Justice.

Can Jesus’ claim to be the sole saviour of humanity be accepted if the justice of this claim is in doubt?

Not every soul will accept Jesus as their rescuer. This is a factor of choice. But, if it were not possible for them to do so it would be unjust to claim that Jesus is the only saviour.

Some souls may object to the method of salvation offered by Jesus but that is irrelevant. The one being rescued is not in a position to control the manner of their rescue. They can only accept the offer of rescue or reject it.

The objection I refer to is the question of whether Jesus can be considered a Just rescuer if he cannot offer rescue to everyone without exception. If Jesus cannot be shown to be the possible saviour of everyone then there must be other saviours. A Just God could not offer an unjust saviour.

Jesus claimed to be ‘the’ (only) way to God. If there are indeed other saviours then Jesus is not one of them because He will have failed the truth qualification. His claim and therefore His word would have to be considered false. His offer of rescue would also be false. If someone dies without ever having a legitimate opportunity to be rescued by Jesus then Jesus does not qualify as just and cannot be the ‘only’ rescuer of humanity.

In my book Salvation in Hell I reveal how, in fact, the gospel offer of salvation and rescue by Jesus can now be given to those who never heard it while they lived.

It might seem that I am trying to make an obscure or esoteric point but if you realize that without this eventuality, Jesus claim to be the only saviour can be considered invalid.

According to what my books reveals, God has always had a plan, one that can be found in the scriptures, to comprehensively offer rescue by Jesus for every soul.

If these contentions can be proven to be so then the Justice of God and the status of Jesus as the sole saviour/rescuer of humanity and creation can be verified.

The concept of offering salvation in Hell is one that must come to be understood if a credible presentation of Jesus of Nazareth as our qualified Rescuer is to be made.

I invite you to learn more…