I just finished a mini-study covering the Christian doctrine of Universalism, a feel-good creed Wikipedia clarifies as belief in: "...universal reconciliation (all will eventually be reconciled to God without exception, the penalty for sin is not everlasting, i.e. doctrines of everlasting damnation to hell and annihilationism are rejected) and theosis (all souls will ultimately be conformed to the image of divine perfection in Christ)." Oh, how my fallen nature wishes this were true! Nice, comforting, HUMAN beliefs, ones eliminating the necessity of evangelism or intercession for lost souls...but unfortunately, biblically erroneous principles.
One of the books I read during this study was Rob Bell's "Love Wins." Bell is the former pastor of the Mars Hill (a mega-) Church, but somewhere along the way, he wandered into Biblical Fantasy Land. I quote him here: "A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better.... This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus' message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear." Universalism initially seems preferable to traditional Christianity's "hellfire and brimstone" tenant, but again, just because we can conjure up a NEW set of rules doesn't make them true. And just because some of us don't like how Yahweh set things up doesn't give us license to invent our own gospel and pretend it's real.
Let's discuss the flaws of Universalism. First of all, in order to create a new and "better" Christianity, Universalists must rationalize God's behavior and fit Him into a human mold, endowing Him with characteristics that fit human notions of compassion, fairness, love, etc. The foundational claims of this false doctrine explain that because "God is love," there's no way a loving God would send people to Hell. Basic problem: God is not JUST loving. He is also HOLY. His Holiness is as much a component of His divine nature as is His love. Apart from God, we have no notion of holiness, therefore we can't fathom His absolute abhorrence of sin. He cannot abide it. While we excuse it, He requires payment for it. Our sin nature necessitated the cross. His bodily sacrifice paid for our unholiness, justifying us to enter into His fellowship. This is a notion violently at odds with a "kinder, gentler," humanistic world-view. The cross actually seems pagan to our sophisticated mind. What kind of God, after all, requires a BLOOD sacrifice? A savage God? "For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" Isaiah 55:9.
While Bell asserts the cross indeed paid the price for salvation, he further insists it accomplished that in such a manner as eliminating the need for repentance and completely apart from any decision made in regards to Jesus. Therefore salvation is a universal get-in-free card for all, not just those who "believe on the Lord Jesus." (Acts 16:31) In fact, Bell says, "People come to Jesus in all sorts of ways. Sometimes people use his name; other times they don’t." Really? You can't COME TO JESUS without professing his name! The bible clearly asserts,"If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). For to disdain a God who would send someone to hell is to say we know better than God what God-behaviors are acceptable. "Woe to the one who argues with his Maker-- one clay pot among many. Does clay say to the one forming it, What are you making? Or does your work say, He has no hands?" (Isaiah 45:9).
Secondly, Universalists must contort or rationalize scriptures to justify this position. Rob Bell enters into a detailed description (distortion) of the word Gehenna, biblically translated into English as "hell." Gehenna literally referred to a garbage dump outside the city of Jerusalem that was kept continuously burning to consume the refuse. Bell insists that though Gehenna was a place of constant fire ("where the worm does not die"-Mark 9:48), it didn't refer to after-life hell. The fact Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna)" doesn't seem to faze Mr. Bell. He wrote that this verse does NOT mean PEOPLE will burn in hell, but instead the reference to Gehenna represents the fire God uses to consume the bad stuff in human lives until they get to the place where they can go to heaven. Hmmm, that's a stretch.
So Jesus doesn't really mean what he says in the parable of the weeds in Matthew 13? I quote: “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and ALL [emphasis mine] who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear." So the Savior just spouted scary words to manipulate us into righteousness just because He prefers us this way? Not because our souls are in literal danger of hell? The logical choice is taking him at His Word.
I needed an antidote to Bell's book, so I also read "Erasing Hell" by Francis Chan, a book he authored specifically to refute Bell's "Love" book. Some of the great quotes from this book were: “God is compassionate and just, loving and holy, wrathful and forgiving. WE can't sideline His more difficult attributes to make room for the palatable ones." And: “God is love, but He also defines what love is. We don't have the license to define love according to our standards.” And: "I really believe it's time for some of us to stop apologizing for God and start apologizing to Him for being embarrassed by the ways He has chosen to reveal Himself.” Chan doesn't try and sanitize God to satisfy our frail human sensibilities. He tells it like it is, "warts" and all.
The bottom line? The Word teaches that those who enter into relationship with Jesus Christ and accept His atoning work on the cross as payment for their inherent sin nature will "not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). I love how 1 Peter 1:3-5 puts it: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." The contingency, however, is FAITH in Christ. It isn't just any ol' path and the Lord's great mercy will cover whatever erroneous crud we decide to believe. Sometimes I wish it were so, but it ain't, boys and girls.
