I Think I’m A Universalist
I shared these thoughts on a friend's comment section a while back and thought I’d share it here. It reflects where I’m at in my faith and understanding of God and life and the afterlife and eternity and heaven and hell and all sorts of things.
It’s by no means complete, by the way. I’m touching on a huge and profound topic here and I’m barely scratching the surface (if even that).
AND.
I think?
It also reflects where a lot of people are at in their own faith and walk with God, but maybe aren’t sure why or how or don’t have the words to describe what they’re thinking or feeling or wondering.
If that’s you, yeah - I don’t have all the words either, but maybe these ideas will help us both put some warm skin on those dead bones and breathe some fresh life and perspective into what I think is really, really beautiful, is full of so much hope, and reflects the heart of the Creator.
That said, I think I’m a Universalist ... to some extent, anyways.
And I realize that’s a super dirty 4-letter word in the Evangelical world that brings up all sorts of questions and feelings and fears of heresy and blasphemy and more.
BUT.
I’m OK with it, and I’m also OK with not having all the answers to all the questions that arise from making such a statement.
That said, I say I think I’m a Universalist because.
Well.
… Because I would say that I think God will get what God wants in the end. Paul (or whoever wrote the letter) said that God wants all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4) and I’m comfortable enough to say, “why not?”
Right?
If God put all of this into motion and made it all and is the power behind everything that is, then why on earth would this God not get what He wants in the end?
I mean, I think that if God gives the opportunity for people to say yes or no to a life of love and grace and mercy now, why would He take away the opportunity to say yes at some later time?
Said differently, why would He give me 70 years on earth to say YES, but then immediately take that opportunity away when I take my last breath and see Him face to face when I die only to then condemn me to hell for all of eternity?
It makes no sense to me.
Does 70 years of believing the wrong thing or living the wrong way or whatever justify billions of years of torture?
Evangelicals say that in order to avoid hell you need to invite Jesus into your heart and believe that He died for your sins and took your place on the cross and then say a prayer to sorts of seal the deal, but if you don’t believe that or say that prayer then you are destined to eternity in hell, separated from God and in …
Unending.
Misery.
… And so if I don’t pass a theology test at the pearly gates or fail to say a special prayer during my life on earth that justifies torturing me forever and ever and ever and … ever.
For me, I don’t know … that seems like a really low and monstrous thing to do.
Instead, I think that John in the book of Revelation is on to something when he says that the gates of the New Jerusalem will never shut (Revelation 21:25).
Think about that:
The gates.
Of God’s Kingdom.
Are ALWAYS OPEN.
Hm.
And I think Jesus said it even more beautifully when He said in Mark’s Gospel that everyone (not some, but all) will be salted with fire (Mark 9:49) and so I wonder if the fire is a refining one that will burn away whatever doesn’t fit in God’s Kingdom?
Like, I wonder if the fire isn’t there to torture and punish and condemn and judge and rub our face in our mistakes, but to refine and prepare a soul for life in the Kingdom of Love?
And I realize, of course, I’m cherry picking verses (there are many more I could throw in here, as well), but I’m cherry picking in favor of love and grace and mercy.
And I think that’s OK; I don’t see anything wrong with it because this is exactly what Jesus did when He (for example) quoted Isaiah 61 verse 1 about binding up the broken-hearted but then only quoted the first half of verse 2, leaving off second part which is about God’s vengeance.
Yes:
Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 verse 1 and the first half of verse 2, but then left off the second part of verse 2, which is the part that talks about God’s wrath and vengeance and all sorts of other things.
Jesus cherry picked verses out of His Bible and left off the ones that didn’t fit into his perspective on God’s Kingdom.
And, to be honest, I think that cherry picking is part of the reason why the crowd wanted to throw Him off a cliff and was furious with Him in the Gospel of Luke (chapter 4), because He was radically reinterpreting the way the Jews had come to think about God.
In short, He messed with tradition and that got Him in hot water.
He messed with orthodoxy.
He messed with theology.
He messed with doctrines.
He messed with comfort zones.
He messed with what people considered “right”.
… And that got him in some trouble with his tribe.
Sound familiar?
Have you questioned the doctrine of hell?
Have you questioned LGBTQ exclusion?
Have you pushed back on Biblical inerrancy?
Have you voiced a concern about the way a particular teaching pushed down the marginalized and oppressed?
AND.
Has that gotten you some weird looks from your church?
Has it caused people to whisper about you after Bible study?
Has it caused family to call you all sorts of terrible names?
Has it gotten you attacked in the comments section?
Jesus rocked the boat, too, and kicked a few hornet’s nests in his day and got Himself into some trouble … and so He knows exactly how you feel.
And I like that about Jesus, it’s part of what I find so compelling about Him - He didn’t come to tickle people’s ears and tell them what they wanted to hear or what they thought they already knew; rather, He came to revolutionize the world, to push the world forward, to bring Heaven to earth, and to show us how to be truly and fully human.
Brian Zahnd says that “Jesus is what God has to say” and although I don’t claim to know the mind of God or what happens after we take our last breath on this side of life, in Jesus I see a God who invites everyone to the party of the homecoming of the prodigals and lets those who don’t want to join the party hang out outside with the older brother until they’re ready to come in and celebrate the homecoming of those they think shouldn’t be there.
Yeah.
I think that’s a pretty good picture of what might happen when we open our eyes on the other side of life. And they are thoughts, I might add, that have been around since the earliest days of Jesus followers.
If there is a hell, I think it’s empty.
If there is a fire, I think it’s a refining fire.
If there is heat, it’s heat that is generated from the loving embrace of the Divine who has promised to never leave us and never forsake us.
To make my thoughts more definitive, it is my belief that …
Nobody is going to hell.
Nobody is getting tortured.
Nobody is separated from God.
… Because if they are, God isn’t very good and God isn’t very loving and God isn’t all that much different than we are - human beings who find it hard to forgive, easy to hold a grudge, and next to impossible to show grace to people who think and live differently than we do.
And so, yeah: I think I’m a Universalist (and I’m proud of it.)
Much love,