On Muslims and Buddhists--Salvation Without Redemption?!

I recently heard in person a ROCOR Orthodox Bishop say in a homily, "Will a Muslim and a Buddhist be in heaven? Yes." He said that although their path is outside the church, God would judge them by their "conscience" and works. He did offer the caveat that the Orthodox church is the best way to become Holy...but others can attain that stature elsewhere. 

I engaged a priest in a subsequent discourse concerning the Bishop's words. The priest was also present at the Bishop's homily. I sought to glean clarification as to what the Bishop meant. Had he been misheard? Had I been the only one to hear what he said? Was this just an "English as a second language" issue. Even though the priest proposed that the Bishop was just teaching us not to judge others, he also said that the Bishop's words had "raised a few eyebrows." Looking at the literal meaning of the Bishop's words, it was difficult for anyone not to raise two eyebrows.

On the matter of the Bishop's words, I proposed this to the priest: CAN God receive a Muslim or Buddhist (who denies the Lordship of Christ and the ONLY path to Heaven through the shed blood and resurrection of Jesus) into heaven? Yes, He "CAN". But, does He? NO! This is not about the ability of God or of any man telling God what He can and cannot do. That is a Red Herring. To only use Old Testament - Old Covenant (of the law) references of the grace of God toward non-beleivers to suggest that God allows non-believers into heaven, belies the fact that the New Covenant of Grace is through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and is now the ONLY path offered to all who BELIEVE. Yes, God extended his grace in different measures in the OLD Testament Covenant, but as far as I know, Cyrus the Great was the only one that God called "Blessed", and that was for his defense and protection of God's Hebrew people. Of course, it is possible that God will honor that man and bless him with eternal life, but where, in all of the Covenant of Grace, can we find one non-believer, especially those that are by their confession Christ deniers, who are given the grace to enter the Kingdom of God outside the confession of the only Christ, just because they do good things by their own "conscience"? Did not the Christ tell us of the Sheep and Goats and the destiny of each? 

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left..."

This is why I asked the priest as I did, "The Bishop said, "Will a Muslim and a Buddhist be in heaven? Yes." He said that although their path is outside the church, God would judge them by their "conscience" and works...that the Orthodox church is the best way to become Holy...but others can attain that stature elsewhere. Did I hear and understand him correctly? Does he believe that there is a way to heaven outside the acceptance of Jesus Christ and Him crucified?" 

As a doctrine, as the Orthodox faith, there is only One Lord. One Faith. One Baptism and this is the faith:

"Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge. Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own [Muslims- Buddhists], they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.

For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: “The man who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’(that is, to bring Christ down) or, ‘Who will descend into the Abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.

It is just as the Scripture says: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Anyone, be they Bishop or an Angel at the right hand of God who suggests that a Muslim or Buddhist's "conscience" or by inference, their righteous works, may gain him favor with God and entry into then Kingdom of God, void of the confessed Lordship of Jesus the Christ, is preaching the antithesis of the Christian Faith. If such were true then the blood of Jesus is made void and the words of Christ Jesus must be edited to read, 

"I am the a way, the a truth, and the a life and no man a lot of men comes to the Father but by me."

The priest initially said, "focus of your [my] question is a bit off as it pertains to the point of what he was saying." I asked him how that was so. He offered that the Bishop was just teaching us not to judge others. The priest also suggested that, in any case, there was a positive side to the event, that it would get us talking about salvation. I hoped with him that this incident may get us all talking about salvation, but I suggested that, if I, and as he seemed to suggest, others were concerned about what they heard, the conversation may focus on the heresy of a Bishop. I cannot nor should any parishioner or clergy commemorate or follow a Bishop who espouses a heresy of that order. It should be a deal-breaker and certainly is for me. 

If the Bishop was misunderstood and he issues a clarification, I hope it will include the whole of the topic of Salvation which includes the doctrine of Redemption. This seems to be the confusion of the matter regarding how salvation is applied to the Muslim or the Buddhist or to any other outside the Kingdom of God.

Father Michael Pomazonsky, in his book Orthodox Dogmatic Theology (Translated and edited by Hieromonk Seraphim Rose), answers this question quite sufficiently:

"In the preaching of the Apostles, especially worthy of attention is the fact that they precisely teach us to distinguish between the truth of the salvation of mankind as a whole, which has already been accomplished, and another truth-- the necessity for a personal reception and assimilation of the gift of salvation on the part of the faithful, and the fact that this latter salvation depends upon each one himself. Ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, writes the Apostle Paul (Eph. 2:8); but also teaches, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12).

Man's salvation consists in the acquirement of eternal life in God, in the Kingdom of Heaven. But nothing unclean can enter the Kingdom of God (cf. Eph. 5:5; Apoc. 21:27). God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him, and those who enter the Kingdom of God must themselves be sons of the Light. Therefore, entrance into it necessarily requires purity of soul, a garment of holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14)."

Presumably, there are Muslims and Buddhists who have been redeemed but they became so by personally coming to Christ Jesus and therefore are former Muslins and former Buddhists and are now "sons of the Light." That is how they enter the Kingdom of Heaven, not through having a good conscience. 

Definition of conscience: the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good.

"There is none good, no not one."