The Beautiful Heresy- Christian Universalism

Am I a heretic? Maybe. If believing that God is all powerful, all loving, wiser than His creation and perfectly willing and capable of saving all of His children makes me a heretic, sign me up.


A Case Against Eternal Torment  

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I am always interested in resources that back up my assertion that God is not in the Eternal Torture business.  Recently, Andy Pohlman, who has been reading my blog, sent an excellent paper for me to take a look at.  I am honored because he asked my opinion about the paper.  After reading it, I asked him for permission to post it here.

Andy says the paper is for:

  • All of those who have always questioned if an eternal punishment in Hell is really true, but have reluctantly accepted it because they have been told that there is no evidence that can dispute this potential reality

  • All of those who have wrestled with reconciling a loving God with the message that He will torment His enemies for all of eternity upon their death

  • All of those who have been haunted by a fear of spending an eternity in the depths of Hell that many Christians profess is the final destination for the majority of mankind

  • All of those who have lost loved ones who died in unbelief and have struggled with the Christian message that their loved ones are now suffering for an eternity in Hell

  • All of those from throughout history that have attempted to shine a bright light on the dark doctrine of Hell by exposing the many weaknesses with the evidence for this doctrine

  • All of those who have become convinced that the doctrine of everlasting torment in Hell is a reality, and have closed themselves off from looking at the vast amount of evidence that disputes the Godliness of this theory 

  • Lastly, this paper is for all of those who have the courage and eagerness to search for the truth, regardless of where it leads

If you fall into any of those categories and still wrestle with the idea of ECT, I highly recommend this paper.  If you know someone in one of those categories, share this with her.

It's rather long, as a paper goes (about 44 pages).  But, it's shorter than a book.  It's titled "The Case Against Eternal Punishment in Hell".  If you've read Talbott, Klassen and others, you'll find many of the arguments familiar. But, that is absolutely to be expected.  What I was surprised to find was some new perspectives and very good ones at that.  The other thing that's really great about this paper is that people who don't really want to commit to reading an entire book on the subject can get through it in a relatively short period of time.

The paper is well thought out and takes the reader through the Biblical and historical reasons not to believe in ECT.  It also points out the fruits (or lack thereof) of this belief.  But, I think it's strongest case is in the "Objective Truth" category.  Andy, then goes on to answer common arguments used to support the belief in Eternal Torment.

The paper does not try to be exhaustive (or it'd be a book).  It doesn't address annihilation or even temporary Hell (which many Universalists believe in).  But, it's the best short paper I've seen on the subject.  It's well worth a read.  Thanks Andy for giving me permission to share it with my readers.

The Case Against Eternal Punishment In Hell



Am I Doing It Right?  

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You probably aren't a Buddhist if you're reading this blog. But, hopefully, you can extract the truth from this little story.

The True Sound of Truth

A devoted meditator, after years concentrating on a particular mantra, had attained enough insight to begin teaching. The student's humility was far from perfect, but the teachers at the monastery were not worried.

A few years of successful teaching left the meditator with no thoughts about learning from anyone; but upon hearing about a famous hermit living nearby, the opportunity was too exciting to be passed up.

The hermit lived alone on an island at the middle of a lake, so the meditator hired a man with a boat to row across to the island. The meditator was very respectful of the old hermit. As they shared some tea made with herbs the meditator asked him about his spiritual practise. The old man said he had no spiritual practice, except for a mantra which he repeated all the time to himself. The meditator was pleased: the hermit was using the same mantra he used himself -- but when the hermit spoke the mantra aloud, the meditator was horrified!

"What's wrong?" asked the hermit.

"I don't know what to say. I'm afraid you've wasted your whole life! You are pronouncing the mantra incorrectly!"

"Oh, Dear! That is terrible. How should I say it?"

The meditator gave the correct pronunciation, and the old hermit was very grateful, asking to be left alone so he could get started right away. On the way back across the lake the meditator, now confirmed as an accomplished teacher, was pondering the sad fate of the hermit.

"It's so fortunate that I came along. At least he will have a little time to practise correctly before he dies." Just then, the meditator noticed that the boatman was looking quite shocked, and turned to see the hermit standing respectfully on the water, next to the boat.

"Excuse me, please. I hate to bother you, but I've forgotten the correct pronunciation again. Would you please repeat it for me?"

"You obviously don't need it," stammered the meditator; but the old man persisted in his polite request until the meditator relented and told him again the way he thought the mantra should be pronounced.

The old hermit was saying the mantra very carefully, slowly, over and over, as he walked across the surface of the water back to the island.

The Evangelical Universalist- Book Review  

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I recently read a book called "The Evangelical Universalist".  I think the title would strike most people as an oxymoron.  Can one be a bible "believer" and  Universalist at the same time?  Aren't  Universalists all liberals who ignore the Bible in favor of wishful thinking and kumbaya theology?  Once I heard the title of the book, I knew I had to learn more about it.

The author attempts to answer these questions (taken from the back cover):
  • Can an orthodox Christian, committed to the historic faith of the Church and the Authority of the Bible, be a universalist?

  • Is it possible to believe that salvatiaon is found only by grace, through faith in Christ, and yet to maintain that in the end all people will be saved?

  • Can one believe passionately in mission if one does not think that anyone will be lost forever?
  • Could universalism be consistent with the teachings of the Bible? 

All of these are answered in the affirmative by this book.

The book was written by Gregory MacDonald.  Unfortunately, we know very little about Gregory MacDonald, other than the name is a pseudonym.  The author does give some biographical information in the introduction.  But, not much.  I like to know more about where people are coming from when I read this type of book.  But, I think he makes a strong enough case that the lack of background is fine. He still comes across as very credible.   What we do know is that, apart from universalism, Mr. MacDonald seems to be a mainstream Christian.  He takes the Bible very seriously.  He suffered from a crisis of faith brought about by trying to reconcile a God of love and a God worthy of worship with a God who would send people to Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT).  He had accepted
"hell-as-annihilation" as an alternative to ECT.  But, as he was wrestling with the issue of God's sovereignty versus human free will he began to realize the problem with a God who has "middle knowledge" (humans can have free will and God can exercise strong providential control over our actions) and a God who would allow people to suffer Eternal Torment.  If God can save all (without violating "free will" and does not save all, ECT becomes difficult to justify and God becomes difficult to love and to find worthy of worship.

It seems that from this point of tension, the author began really exploring the idea of ECT  After the introduction, the book discusses the reasoning behind ECT and the problems with trying to justify it from a rational POV.  The author acknowledges that (current) tradition would, by default, force a Christian to begin from the position that ECT is true.  But, tradition is not necessarily the final word.  Reason (logic), experience and scripture must be given their say.  The bulk of the book is spent showing how Universalism is consistent with the Bible.  If not a clear cut conclusion, the author makes a strong case for showing that Universalism is far from anti-biblical.  Given the strength of the case reason makes against ECT and the strength of the Biblical case for Universalism the author makes a very strong (and in my opinion convincing) case that, these two far outweigh the dubious tradition of ECT.
The author takes us on a survey of Universalism in the Bible literally from the opening of the Bible to Revelation.  I don't believe he overstates his case at all.  In fact, I think he often understates his case.  For example, even after pointing out passage after passage in the Old Testament that point to Universal Reconciliation, he admits that the Old Testament is silent on the subject of eternal rewards or eternal punishment.  The Old Testament speaks mainly of the living nations being judged and rewarded (or punished) and ultimately all being reconciled.

I've read several books on Universalism and this is one that I'm glad to have in my library. At this point in my journey, I did not buy the book to convince myself of Universalism or even to bolster my faith in it.  Honestly, for me, there was nothing new in it in terms of facts.  But, I got it because I realize how important a book like this might be to the sola scriptura set.  I thought it might help me speak to them.  I used to be one of them.  But, not all universalists have made the transition away from that (and one should have to in order to be a Universalist).  We who don't take the Bible literally or think it inerrant might be tempted to overlook troublesome passages.  Or we might be tempted to even say that since reason and experience are so strongly against ECT that we wouldn't believe the Bible even if it did say that God was planning ECT for the majority of mankind.  I do still take the Bible very seriously (why do I feel the need to keep repeating that?).   But, the author has managed to keep his strong Protestant Evangelical faith in the Bible and to embrace a Universalist perspective.  I am hopeful that he can speak to people who are more reticent to give up their inerrant and literal view of the Bible than some of us might be. 

The book is not exactly a light read.  It's pretty scholarly and is loaded with scriptural references and footnotes.  It's well researched and well written. I wish we knew a little more about the author and why he (or she) chose to write under a pen name.  In my hierarchy of books on Universalism, I would put this one, in terms of the strength of the case it makes, pretty close to Talbott's  "The Inescapable Love of God".  But, in terms of readability, I'd put it below "What The Bible Really Says About Hell" or "Martin Zender Goes to Hell".  Its real strength, I believe lies in the credibility it might have among evangelicals.  Pick it up, read it yourself and loan it to an evangelical friend.

Peace,
Brian

Murder in Iraq?  

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A story that has been developing in the news over the last few days has deeply disturbed me.  There are accusations that a U.S. soldier, Steven Green, and three buddies raped and killed an teenage Iraqi girl and killed her family- including a 10 year old sister.  This happened in a town caleld Mahmudiya, just south of Baghdad.  The accusation is that they then burned the body to cover up the crime.  I kept going back and forth about posting about this in my blog saying to myself, that's not what this blog is about.  But, I commented about Moussaoui's sentencing and other current affairs.  So, I've got to talk about this.
First of all, we don't know all of the facts yet.  The soldiers haven't been formally charged.  But, it looks as though they certainly will be.  And, in our justice system, people are innocent until proven guilty.  So, let's keep that in mind.  But, the main evidence against this soldier is the testimony of fellow soldiers.  So, it doesn't look likely that nothing wrong happened there.  And, in this case, we're looking at premeditated rape and murder, not something that happened in the heat of battle.

Before I rush to judgment, I always try to put myself in the place of the accused.  What was he  thinking or feeling that caused him to do what he did?  In this case, I can't even imagine the stress of being a soldier in Iraq. War is no longer as "civilized" as it was in the days where soldiers all wore uniforms and met on the field for battles.  Now, it's hit and run.  Enemy combatants hide among the populations we're trying to liberate.  Our soldiers can't tell who will shoot them the minute they turn their back or who has planted an IED (improvised explosive device).  Death is a possibility literally every moment of their day.  This has to place tremendous stress on the soldiers and cloud their judgment.  I can't know what they're thinking.  But, I do know it has to be almost unbearable.  So, we should give that some consideration when we're judging their actions.

But, we are getting reports of soldiers committing horrors against the people of Iraq that are simply animalistic, barbaric acts.  We have to call them what they are.   What these soldiers are accused of doing (and others who have shot people in their homes) is nothing short of murder, even in a time of war.  I have criticized "moderate" Muslims for not speaking out against the Islamafacists.  I think it's important that Americans separate ourselves from the acts of these individuals and cry out in a loud voice that we do not approve.  The acts these soldiers are accused of committing are not only just as wrong as they can possibly be from a humanity POV, they provide fodder to the Islamfacist propaganda machine.  They are incredibly harmful to our reputation around the world and they help the enemy fan the flames of hatred against us.  If these things were done, they are tantamount to treason against the United States.
I have gone on and on in my blog about how justice is not about retribution.  I've talked about how it's better to forgive than to seek vengeance.  And, I must be consistent with that POV.  However, these acts are so public, so heinous and so potentially damaging, I'm afraid that I have to say I want to see them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and dealt the harshest penalty possible, as both a deterrent against future acts and as a way of saying "We don't approve". 

I almost cried as I watched the news report last night.  Man's inhumanity to man never ceases to amaze and disappoint me.  I want to be patriotic.  I support our soldiers wholeheartedly. Even while I have serious reservations about our involvement in Iraq.  I am so grateful for them being willing to volunteer to lay down their lives for their country.  They are far better people than I can even hope to be.  But, we have to speak out against atrocities committed in our name and we have to do it loudly.

Peace,
Brian



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