By Randy Alcorn

I'm writing this while returning from ICRS, the annual Christian book convention. I'm sitting in the Atlanta airport, reflecting on some of my conversations the past four days. I did many interviews about recent and forthcoming books, and talked with lots of evangelical booksellers, publishers, and authors.
As usual, many of the conversations were very encouraging. And, also as usual, some of the conversations left me with a heavy heart.
One bestselling, high-impact evangelical author, who I know and like, asked me what I thought of Rob Bell's book Love Wins. (See my previous blog posts on the book.) This person loved it and said it reflected and reinforced his/her own viewpoint. (Just for the record, I actually DO know whether it was a man or a woman, but I don't want to divulge even that much; the point isn't who said it, but that it was a highly influential believer, whose position reflects the sincere beliefs of many others as well.) This person passionately made their case to me that we really have no way of knowing whether Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus will go to Heaven when they die (not former adherents to those religions, but current ones, those who have never responded to Christ).
I hear this more and more, not just among theological liberals, but among evangelical Christians. I saw it at ICRS in Atlanta, in books prominently displayed in the booths of some evangelical publishers. I've heard it at "evangelical" colleges. I've seen it at "evangelical" ministries who, in their attempts to be more broad and inclusive, seldom share the gospel of Christ with anyone.
I didn't grow up in an evangelical church. I grew up in a nonchristian home and came to Christ as a teenager. I've seen very different kinds of evangelical churches, and I have a broad appreciation of many of these differences. But now, at an ever-accelerating pace, the word "evangelical" and even the term "Bible-believing" seem to be losing their historic meaning. (Yes, I'm aware that terminology isn't all-important; but I'm also aware that terminology can mislead people and cloud understanding and dialogue when radically different meanings are attached to the same term.)
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