Universalism

The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, states at the beginning of every episode that no dog is too much for him—that is, too far gone for him to rehabilitate. If a human can say that truthfully about dogs, how much more can our Father say that truthfully about humans. Do we think that God does not care to rehabilitate every last one of us? For some it may take hellfire, but He will make us Human.

Why is it that most Christians speak in one breath about the infinite grace of God, but in the next speak about how most people will end up in hell—and, what’s more, describe hell as being a place of eternal torment? As Christians, do we think that our great God will mostly fail in His efforts to redeem humanity? And not only mostly fail, but inflict punitive punishment—not just discipline, but punishment in its most fruitless possible form—upon those whom (arguably, especially if you subscribe to strict doctrines of predestination) He has failed to rehabilitate?

It’s true that Jesus said that many are on the wide road to destruction. But that’s exactly where everyone must go if they are to be saved! As Christians, have we not joined Christ in death? Is the old man not crucified with Christ and alive no longer? (Romans 6; Galatians 2)

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that hell is empty. But I am saying that hell itself will eventually be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20). Doesn’t this statement from the Bible imply that hell itself is a tool of God that will eventually no longer be needful?

And no, I cannot agree that hell is a tool that God uses to torture people until He finally kills them off. That’s sick. I cannot get around the conclusion that to embrace either the doctrine of eternal torment or this last thought is to both contradict the Bible (the wages of sin is death (Romans 6)—not eternal torment) and call darkness light. Likewise, denying the possibility of near-complete if not complete redemption of humanity seems, to me, to call light darkness. I’m sorry, but I must trust the Life that now lives in me above some people’s (perhaps most Christian’s) interpretation of Scripture. I trust my Father will do as He should (and that is best!) with regard to the fate that comes to me as a result of this decision.

Do my arguments lead to human license, or leave only a weak need for evangelism? I think no more so than the Calvinist doctrines of predestination—and explanations abound on these topics.

Yes, I believe that the vast majority of people, if not all, will eventually repent and turn to God—and that those who don’t will eventually fritter away their last remnants of humanity; simply disappearing from existence by their awful writhing attempts to avoid repentance.