We all must continuously confront the impulse/need to nail everything down - to have everything explained. Instead of focusing on our own salvation through Jesus Christ, we worry about what will happen if we (or other folks) fail. Indeed, Christian preachers have used fear as a motivator for their evangelistic efforts for most of the last two thousand years. I'm talking about the hellfire and brimstone preachers - the "sinners in the hands of an angry God" folks. Hopefully, we can all acknowledge that this is an unfortunate feature of the history of our faith, and that it is inconsistent with the concepts of love, faith, and hope.
Moreover, I'm hopeful that we can all acknowledge that many extra-biblical notions have arisen down through the centuries in connection with these topics, and that they have also generated a number of attempts to counteract/negate some of those notions. Now, to be clear, whatever you and I believe about these various notions/theological concepts, we should all be willing to acknowledge that we are subject to God's reality - even if that is significantly different from what we believe. For example, our notions of a Devil with horns and pitchfork roasting folks over the fires of hell is an extra-biblical fantasy pure and simple. I challenge anyone to find such a depiction anywhere in Scripture! Likewise, the notion that anything that God created has self-sustaining immortality is NOT supported by Scripture. In other words, EVERYTHING exists at God's pleasure and is sustained by "Him" - only God has true immortality.
Now, having said all of that, whatever we believe about our fate must also be consistent with the fact that God is the personification of LOVE! The kind of love that NEVER fails, is always merciful, compassionate, kind, forgiving, and concerned about the welfare of others. Hence, any notions that we harbor about vindictiveness, anger, wrath, or uncompromising harshness are obviously inconsistent with a being who is the personification of that kind of LOVE! What's more, I know that prooftexts are not necessary to support the points just made - anyone who has an even passing familiarity with Scripture can think of multiple passages which supports these assertions.
Finally, the Bible is literally full of God's plan to redeem mankind from their sins and reconcile them to "Himself." Moreover, it would be hard to find a Christian anywhere who is not familiar with this passage from the Gospel of John: "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17, NLT) Now, that being God's will and plan and knowing that God has the ability to accomplish his will, a number of questions come to mind: Can a plan which doesn't redeem the majority of humankind be judged a success? After all, if God is willing to go to such links to ensure "HIS" plan's success (the sacrifice of "his" beloved Son), is it plausible/reasonable to believe that "he" would tolerate failure on such a scale? And, how could the continued existence of anyone in a state of torment or suffering be consistent with the New Heavens and Earth promised in Scripture?
We must, of course, all come to our own conclusions about these matters. This post was not meant to convert anyone to one of the theologies suggested in the title. Personally, I'm familiar with all of these concepts and am not completely comfortable with any of them. My purpose, as always, was to challenge folks to think about what they believe and why. What about you? Are your own views consistent with the broad Scriptural principles outlined in this post?
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