My journey to hell, and why eternal conscious torment is not true. Part 2.

Biblical Universalism has made a comeback. It’s origins date back to Origen. It’s not new. It’s ancient. And it reflects the beauty of a God who saves to the uttermost. It’s personal for me, so this post will share my personal journey. If you haven’t yet, please read Part 1:

https://atrestinhim.com/2022/08/16/my-journey-to-hell-and-why-eternal-conscious-torment-is-not-true-part-1/

This post will not be a dissertation on the subject of biblical universalism. That’s not my intent, nor is it necessary. Here are two reasons why:

Scholars on both sides have written hundreds of thousands of words on this.

As the author of the gospel of Luke said, “…as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things…” (NASB)

There’s no reason to reinvent this theological wheel. Anyone like me, without years of study under their belt on this subject, would be foolhardy to try to present a defense of either view. There are plenty of aspiring MDiv “TheoBros” who could easily dismantle anything I’d write. I’m no fool to set myself up for that.

Let the PhD theological heavyweights, both dead and alive, have their fights without me.

I’m writing this to share my personal journey with others who are also deeply troubled by the thought of God torturing people forever. You are my intended audience.

If you wish to debate this, I have no space to respond. Sorry. It’s not that I’m afraid of a good debate. It’s just that so many are better debaters than me. Debating only creates winners and losers. It doesn’t bring people to Jesus. I have a desire to spend what little is left of my life discipling those who miss Jesus after deconstructing from church.

Your salvation is not at risk based on this theological issue.

The Gospel… the “good news”… is spelled out plainly and simply in 1 Corinthians 15. It’s also the first of the New Testament books written. Paul speaks plainly and simply here:

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” (KJV)

Notice: “you have believed… Christ died for our sins… was buried… rose again.”

That’s it.

I’ve talked to so many ex-evangelicals and ex-fundamentalists who live in great fear. Right now. Today. Fear of going to hell forever because they don’t believe all the same things they used to believe.

I’ll ask you, precious reader… do you believe that Jesus, “God with us,” was crucified to save you from your sins? Do you believe that God raised him from the dead? Do you wish to follow Jesus?

Then on the authority of the Apostle Paul, I say to you… we shall share a table together in the new coffee shop I’ll open when God creates a new heavens and a new earth.

Now let’s talk about why I personally believe in a “wider hope.” Early church fathers referred to it as the “apocatastasis,” or the restoration of all things. There are five reasons.

1. I believe Biblical Universalism to be true because it more accurately reflects the character of God.

Theologians have debated for millennia about who God is, what are God’s attributes, and how those attributes relate to each other within the godhead, and toward humankind.

We’re not going to do that here.

My own experience with the Christ, in 2011, taught me that when the Apostle John said so simply, that “God is love,” that was the ultimate declaration of God’s essential character.

I learned in my soul, taught by the Teacher, that all of God’s other attributes flow from His essence of love. God is Holy (“set apart”) because love is the fulfillment of the Law of love that flows from God’s essence. God’s wrath against sin, and God’s jealousy when we serve death-idols… these flow from God’s love.

I learned from the Spirit that when I see Jesus in the scriptures, I see God’s fullness. I understood in my heart that the most important thing God wanted me to know was that God Himself, in the Person of Christ, hung on a Cross to rescue me. To rescue everyone.

I learned in my soul from the Spirit, that God is a Redeeming God, for Whom no sin is ever too great to forgive.

Are there scriptures to support this? Sound theologies written to make this case? Yes. Those are the subjects of other posts on this blog, and endless other articles and books by orthodox authors.

But here’s where it really hit me deepest:

If God gave me the capacity to feel compassion for the world, that feeling was not from Satan. It was from Jesus. Jesus wept over evil Jerusalem and said how often He would have gathered them under His wings… but they would not.

Jesus told us to love and forgive our enemies… just like His Father did.

Jesus asked the Father to forgive those who murdered Him.

The martyr Stephen’s last words as he was stoned to death, mirrored his Master’s words… “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”

This is who God is: loving us to death. Forgiving us to death.

Eternal conscious torment horrifies me. It is the opposite of a God of love who died for His enemies.

This compassion and pity I have for everyone, this horror of eternal torture, this nightmare that God’s love switches in the instant of death to pure hatred… that deep feeling comes from somewhere.

It either comes from Satan, who wants me to pity the lost, or it comes from God, who wants me to pity a suffering human race.

Which is it? The Spirit tells me that it comes from God.

God is beautiful light. In God is no darkness. God is love. God looks like Jesus.

Eternal conscious torment looks evil and ugly and cruel. It does not look like the God I met in 2011. It does not look like Jesus.

In this year’s recent Exiles in Babylon conference (a conservative evangelical event), Gerry Breshears, professor at Western Theological Seminary put it this way (h/t to Rick Pidcock for his reporting on this in Baptist General News):

“Which of these views feels like the best view of God as I see him? And the answer for me is universalism. This is the only one that would even begin to satisfy me … But see, the problem is I don’t get to do that. … This repeats the Edenic sin of defining from my own perspective what is good, right, true, beautiful and real.”

So, the best an evangelical can say is, “our perspective of what is good, right, true, and beautiful is different than God’s.”

In other words, “We love babies and sunsets and wildflowers. But we can’t trust our sin-filled disgusting selves. Just because we love these things, doesn’t mean God does.”

In other words, human beings being burned alive forever… “tortured”… as the pastor of my last evangelical church preached it just last year… that’s somehow “beautiful.” But since we’re not God, we just don’t get it.

That, as my mom used to say, is balderdash.

2. I believe Biblical Universalism to be true because the scriptures teach it.

I could write out all the “my verses against their verses.”

Let’s not do that.

You already know all “their verses.” I’m not going to list those, since the Internet is a ten-to-one lopsided pile of “Christian Torture” theology. (Before critics jump on me, torture is exactly what it is. Let’s not mince words.)

I’ll start a list (it won’t be complete). I’ll break it up with some pullouts of my personal favorites.

Yes, Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT) defenders can easily and logically run each verse through their ECT paradigm. I’ve read them all. But notice how many they have to “interpret” based on their theology. It’s more verses than biblical universalists have to interpret through their theology.

In the end, “your verses vs their verses” won’t win an argument, nor change minds. But if you’re new to this subject, you should know that it’s not without scriptural support.

Matthew 17:11, Matthew 18:14, Luke 2:10, Luke 3:5-6, Luke 16:16, Luke 19:10, John 1:29, John 3:16-17, John 3:35, John 6:33, John 6:37, John 6:39, John 17:1-2

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

John 12:32 (ESV)

Acts 3:19-21, Romans 5:15, Romans 5:18, Romans 11:15, Romans 11:36, Romans 14:11

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Romans 11:32 (ESV)

1 Corinthians 3:15, 1 Corinthians 5:4-5, 1 Corinthians 15:28

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:22 (ESV)

2 Corinthians 5:14, Galatians 3:8, Ephesians 1:7-10, Ephesians 1:22-23, Ephesians 4:4-6, Ephesians 4:9-10, Philippians 2:9-11, Colossians 3:11,

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:19-20 (ESV)

1 Timothy 2:3-6, 1 Timothy 4:10, Titus 2:11, Hebrews 1:2, Hebrews 2:9, Hebrews 9:25-26, 1 Peter 4:6, 1 John 4:14, Revelation 5:13, Revelation 15:4, Revelation 21:5

There are more. And that’s not counting the volume of verses in the Old Testament. Google “verses that teach universalism” and check all the lists some afternoon. You’ll need time and coffee.

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2:2 (ESV)

I’d recommend not going down the rabbit hole of exegesis in an argument. Just point them to your “experts” (resources at the bottom), and they’ll point you to theirs. You’ll begin to see why this has been a debate since the earliest days of the Church.

You can argue til the cows come home. But what does the Spirit tell you, deep in your guts? Do you hope “all” means “all?” Where do you think that hope comes from, Satan, or God?

3. I believe Biblical Universalism to be true because many early church fathers taught it.

Starting with Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-215), the church fathers taught universalism. (He was also the Church’s first egalitarian. I bet most of you didn’t know that.)

After Clement, Origen wrote extensively on almost all major church doctrines. Though technically not a “church father,” and though some of his teachings were later declared heresy in Catholic councils centuries later…

Origen (AD 185-253) is still considered by all branches of the Church to be the first heavyweight theologian. Some call him the Church’s greatest theologian. Regardless of how he stacks up with the likes of Augustine, Anselm, Luther, and Calvin… Origen impacted the Church positively with theological ripples that reach to us today.

…nothing is impossible for the Omnipotent; no being is incurable for the One who created it.

Origen

Origen first articulated in detail the doctrine of the restoration of all things. He believed in it wholeheartedly.

Now let’s look at some of the other early church leaders whose writings exist, and who supported the doctrine of universal reconciliation. This list is courtesy Dr. Ilaria Ramelli, whose magnificent book is linked below. She is considered the world’s foremost expert on the universalist writings of the early church.

“After Bardaisan and Clement, who both fought ‘Gnosticism’ and Marcionism, let me just mention, for instance, St. Anthony, St. Pamphilus Martyr, Methodius of Olympus, Eusebius of Caesarea, Didymus of Alexandria, St. Macrina Junior, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Evagrius Ponticus, Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, St. John of Jerusalem, the ‘Tall Brothers,’ St. Melania, Rufinus of Aquileia, St. Jerome and St. Augustine for many years of their lives, Cassian (according to some to be distinguished: St. John Cassian and Cassian the Sabaite), St. Isaac of Nineveh, St. John of Dalyatha, Joseph Hazzaya, Stephen Bar Sudhaili, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Maximus the Confessor, John the Scot Eriugena, St. Julian of Norwich, Lady Ann Conway, Jane Lead, and many others.”

No being will remain outside the number of the saved.

St. Gregory of Nyssa

St. Augustine is acknowledged as the theologian who established, at least in the Western Church, the primacy of the doctrine of eternal conscious torment. This was around the year AD 400.

Notice in the quote below that he acknowledges that “very many” that do not wish to go against “divine scripture” are believers in universalism in his day:

“It is quite in vain, then, that some–indeed very many–yield to merely human feelings and deplore the notion of the eternal punishment of the damned and their interminable and perpetual misery. They do not believe that such things will be. Not that they would go counter to divine Scripture—but, yielding to their own human feelings, they soften what seems harsh and give a milder emphasis to statements they believe are meant more to terrify than to express literal truth.” — Augustine, Enchiridion, sec. 112.

The “father” of eternal conscious torment in the Church was a man who did not study the New Testament in the original Greek. That’s correct (Google it)… he used the Latin Vulgate translation, which had a major impact on his doctrinal theses.

Much of the doctrine of the restoration of all things was supported by how you translate the Greek word “aionios” which is the adjectival form of the noun “aiõn.” These can be translated several ways, including “age” and “of ages.” They are the words often translated “eternal” or “everlasting.”

You can do hours of internet research on these words, as well as days of internet research of the word “hell” which does not exist in the original Greek. Hell is actually several different Hebrew and Greek words: “Sheol”, “Hades”, “Gehenna”, and “Tartarus.

Augustine couldn’t do this. Frankly, neither can I. So again, we’re back to “my experts vs your experts.”

4. I believe Biblical Universalism to be true because the fruit is better.

When I examine doctrines in the Church, the very first thing I do, even before studying scripture, and before praying and pondering… I look to see what the visible fruit of that doctrine is.

Jesus taught that a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. If there’s good fruit, I’m inclined to have a favorable bias toward that doctrine. Likewise, if there’s bad fruit… I’m already biased against it.

It’s simple to see the fruit of the teaching of God torturing billions of people in a lake of fire forever. It has forced millions of people from the Christian faith. People who have already walked an aisle and said the sinner’s prayer. People who believed and were baptized.

But I’ve spent four years in the ex-evangelical community, and I can tell you from personal conversations and observations the three biggest drivers that forced people out of church. In this order, they are:

1. Christian Nationalism.

2. Refusing to include LGBTQ+ people.

3. The fear of hell. Eternal “insecurity.”

This last one runs concurrent with the other two. I don’t know why, but it does. Not everyone “feels” saved every day. And on those days, they endure psychological torment. They want to be “saved” but forever and forever and forever of burning flesh is a big price to pay if they got it wrong. If they weren’t sincere enough. If they backslid. If they aren’t sure their repentance was genuine enough.

After all, one of the earliest verses everyone learns in evangelicalism is, “The heart is deceitful above all things, who can know it?”

Now there’s a good verse to go to sleep to. No nightmares there. Trust Jesus… but you’d better “mean it.” Whatever that means.

Whereas the doctrine of universal reconciliation is a balm. A deep breath of relief, knowing that God guarantees He will never give up an you. No matter what.

One of the major objections to the doctrine of universal reconciliation is that it will choke out all the fuel for missions. Why witness to your neighbor, if he’s going to heaven no matter what.

What a ridiculous misunderstanding of Christ-Life and the joy of the Kingdom coming to earth!

I’ve spent more time and more energy trying to make followers of Jesus after I came to see this truth than I ever did before.

When Christ, who is Life, fills a hungry soul, that person will preach the gospel at every chance. Why? Because why would anyone want to wait before enjoying Life… Heaven… right now? You will always be ready with an answer for the person who asks why you have hope.

5. I believe Biblical Universalism to be true because I spent years weighing this seriously.

Maybe you don’t need to spend years contemplating this like I did. Maybe you don’t need to read six or seven books and hundreds of blog articles like I did.

Maybe you don’t need to run down every rabbit hole of every argument for and against like I did. I have a skeptics mind. Maybe you don’t.

But if you do… take the time. Do the work. Your inner peace and conscience are at stake. I know this because you wouldn’t be reading this otherwise.

I love you. I won’t rush you or shame you. And no one else should either.

If you feel lost, remember what Jesus said:

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Luke 19:10

Jesus has got you, and He’s not going anywhere. If you aren’t sure of anything else… rest in that. He’s got you.

Resources

There are almost unlimited resources. I’ll share just a few.

Websites

https://tentmaker.org

https://www.triumphofmercy.com

http://www.mercyuponall.org/about/

https://reforminghell.com/7-myths-about-universalism/

Books

That All Shall Be Saved, by David Bentley Hart. (Best of the best. Read first.) https://a.co/2zf9h7W

The Inescapable Love of God, by Thomas Talbott. (I loved this one.) https://a.co/asYuG3p

A Larger Hope? Volume 1, by Ilaria Ramelli. (She’s the world-renowned expert on the early church’s view on universalism.) https://a.co/1podx0X