Saturday, May 4, 2019

Why I say Universal Salvation and not Universalism or Universalist

Currently anyway, I used to use those latter two terms more.  The issue is those terms do not clarify what it is I think is Universal.

I don't think "all religions lead to God", I believe Zero religions lead to God.  We are not Saved by finding God, we are Saved by The Good Shepherd finding His Lost Sheep.

I can't say with certainty that I think everyone's Ultimate Fate is exactly the same.  What I teach with certainty is that everyone will be Saved, and will ultimately be Happy with whatever their life in the New Creation winds up being.

By being Saved I mean we will be Resurrected, Body, Soul and Spirit, and won't be Annihilated and whatever Judgment/Punishment we may receive will be finite and for correction not endless.

You see people want to use against Universal Salvation verses that say certain people won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But what they're blind to is that not everyone who's Saved enters the Kingdom (at least not right away), in Revelation 21-22 the Kingdom is New Jerusalem, and we're explicitly told that there are Nations of the Saved outside New Jerusalem.

The notion that Universal Salvation somehow contradicts Free Will is predicated on thinking Salvation equals being in New Jerusalem, it doesn't.  I don't think God will be "taking love that isn't freely given", I believe He's not going to punish people only for rejecting Him.  His invitation is for everyone and that invitation will never be rescinded, Revelation 21:25 makes clear the Gates of New Jerusalem are never shut.

A number of people seem to be insisting they don't believe in Universal Salvation, but then argue for "Hell" not being literally a place of Torment but simply Separation from God.  So if you think the Unsaved will still exist and are not really being tormented, how are they NOT Saved?

C.S. Lewis explicitly rejected the Universalism of George MacDonald who he admired, but in both The Great Divorce and The Final Battle he paints a picture some Universal Salvation preachers like Peter Hiett see as pretty compatible with their views for two reasons.

1, He allows After Death repentance, a doctrine clearly taught in 1 Peter.

2. He basically presents "hell" as simply not being in Heaven, and seems to think the only thing keeping sinners out of Heaven is their own choice not to enter.

Mormonism basically teaches a form of Universal Salvation (at least the scenario depicted in Doctrine and Covenants 76 does).  Yet most Evangelicals prefer to criticize them from the opposite direction, insisting they teach very few people are Saved, they read that scenario and act like you're only Saved if you're in the Celestial Kingdom, which ironically is the one level depicted here I see as not having an analogue in Revelation 21, the Celestial Kingdom is where you become a god starting your own Universe.

Perhaps this bizarre perception of what it means to be saved is why so many people think Zach Snyder's Superman never saves anyone?

I am optimistic that eventually everyone will accept the invitation to enter New Jerusalem.  But my point here is that's not what Salvation is and so is not what I'm certain about.

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