Posted on 07/03/2018 10:35:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Christian Universalism, which positions that all people, not some, are saved through Jesus Christ, is "alive and well" as a belief system in America, a modern Christianity professor has said, calling for it to be opposed.
Michael McClymond, Professor of Modern Christianity at Saint Louis University, told desiringGod.org in an interview posted on Monday that there is a difference between irreligious universalism and the Christian kind.
As he explains in his new book, The Devil's Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism, released in June, "full-bore" universalism means that all human beings will be saved at the end, without exception.
"Christian universalism may add something to that that says that all that salvation occurs in and through Christ. Christian universalism, therefore, would be different from an interreligious universalism. There's plenty of this interreligious universalism in the culture now," he added.
"It's the idea that all roads lead to God, and that one need not come through Christ to God. A Christian universalism says, 'No, it has to be through Christ. Somehow, through Christ all will be saved.'"
The scholar said that there are various strands of Christian universalism in the West, which go about explaining their beliefs from the standpoint of different traditions. Some speak out from a more gnostic-based thinking; while there are is also a website called The Evangelical Universalist Forum.
"It is alive and well," McClymond said about universalism as a whole.
He revealed that a year and a half ago, he gathered 50 greater St. Louis area pastors to talk about how they would respond to universalism. The church leaders agreed that preaching faithfully is what they would do.
"To put it very briefly, preach the cross. If the cross is preached in its full depth, richness, and integrity, then it shows us God's holy hatred and opposition for sin, and his profound love that was willing to endure the destructive weight of sin in order for us to be redeemed," the professor urged.
"If you preach the cross rightly, so many theological issues resolve themselves. I think one of the reasons we have universalism emerging in churches is that we haven't been preaching the cross. The cross shows us that our salvation did not come cheaply, that it came at a very high price."
Popular but controversial author William Paul Young, behind the faith-based bestseller The Shack, later turned into a movie in 2017, also recently took aim at the view that those who die without knowing Jesus will be left without salvation.
"Romans itself says that death can't separate you from the love of God [see Romans 8:31-39, in particular]," Young stated in a June interview, insisting that the verse applies to all people, including those who haven't accepted Christ.
"And every time the New Testament talks about the issue of judgment, it talks about crisis — the Greek work for judgment — and it's a crisis. You're going to enter a crisis — and I don't think the story is over; I don't think death is our damnation," he added.
"I think that Jesus is both our salvation and rightful judge but that judgment is intended for our good, not our harm."
I often wonder how many people who say that “everyone” will be saved have actually read the Bible? I mean, the WHOLE Bible, not just selected pieces of Scripture.
I never saw any warrant to universalism until I read some of the more rigorous explanations of evangelical universalism. Then I realized that my understanding of Scripture was based on assumptions that I never knew I had. For example, I interpreted every mention of judgment as equivalent to supporting the concept of an eternal damnation. I also realized that I didn’t really believe in the omnipotence of God if I believed that his ultimate purpose for every soul could be frustrated. And I had assumed that universalism means there is no consequence or punishment for sins when it really doesn’t.
I go nuts when people scoff - ‘cheap grace’. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Preaching the Cross correctly, in my view, should include the suffering and torment Jesus endured before he was nailed to the Cross. I say that because just saying ‘suffered and died’ does not come close to describing the agony.
This is the seriousness of sin.
Clearly, we serve a God that means business. Understanding that should cause one to thank God Almighty over and over again for what Jesus willingly did.
Amen to that Mike.
Then what was the point of the cross?
As Dr. Mark Finley said.....”if all of Los Angeles is saved, Heaven wouldn’t be heaven. It would just be another Los Angeles.” (And who wants to spend eternity there).....
He’s got a point. Fake doctrine. In fact..the Bible teaches the opposite. “Few be there that find it”
Universalism = Nonsense!
(NIV) Matthew 7: 13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it”. - Jesus Christ
If such Universalism is true then why bother with Religion? of any sort?
First of all, Christian universalism dosen’t hold that everyone goes to heaven when they die (as the article seems to imply). Rather, the love of God is so great that He will use Hell itself to bring all to repentance. After all the cross is the only basis of salvation.
Another way to say it is that ‘inter-religious’ or liberal universalism says that God is ‘nice’; everyone is fine as they are. Christian universalism says that God is love, so loving that He will use any and all means to bring all to repentance and faith in Christ.
As to why ‘religion’, if you mean repentance and faith in Christ, it is because there really is a Hell to shun and Christian Universalists take this very seriously. I would venture that we take is just as seriously or even more so than our fellow believers who do not share our hope for all.
In his novel, Robert Falconer, George MacDonald tell Robert tell his reprobate father that he should repent now because you will have to repent ultimately and it is much easier, now.
I am not attempting to prove the point, just to clarify.
“Romans itself says that death can’t separate you from the love of God [see Romans 8:31-39, in particular],” Young stated in a June interview, insisting that the verse applies to all people, including those who haven’t accepted Christ. “
This is frustrating. Paul has just spent 8 chapters defining the point that it is those who have received Christ are those that cannot be separated from the love of God. So he ignores the previous hundreds of propositional statements to present one out-of-context emotional point.
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