Had a revelation this morning, one of those that suits a controversial blog-post, or at least an attention-getting title. I am not a universalist — or I wasn’t… but this thought struck me this morning.
Based on the doctrine or concept of general revelation, we are all on our way to Heaven because we have all had a revelation of God in some form or fashion. “Ah,” you say, “but general revelation is not sufficient for salvation!” Perhaps. But is salvation an event or is it more complicated than that?
Here’s a question. Suppose that 50 people come forward in an “altar call” for salvation at the end of a crusade meeting. As the music is playing and people are making their way to the front, a meteorite strikes the building, killing most of the occupants. Nobody said hypothetical scenarios had to be plausible or likely. The question is whether those who came forward but did not yet recite the sinners’ prayer would go to Heaven, or if they would die in their sins. Most would probably affirm that these would go to Heaven despite their non-recitation of the passphrase… but why? Because salvation is far more complex than being a simple event frozen in a single moment in time. These people were moving toward salvation, and we suspect had passed some nebulous (to us, but not to God) point in time where their proximity to this goal of salvation ensured their entry into Heaven.
Without getting into it, the Greek would back that up… you “are being saved” is a valid translation of some of the verb tenses. I surmise therefore that because all have some level of revelation, all have begun this journey toward faith and toward Heaven. Some may choose not to pursue it, or may pursue a false course… but others will pursue further revelation, enough to spark the faith that leads to salvation. And somewhere along the road, for many, they’ll pass that threshold, be it nebulous or be it a distinct and defining moment.
So there you have it — I’m not a universalist exactly… but we’re all moving on a continuum toward faith, and toward Heaven. And I hope most of us get there.
interesting thoughts, man…
Have you read the Great Divorce by CS Lewis? Amazing, amazing book about heaven and hell…
I have to echo Bob’s recommendation. Amazing, amazing is right. That is a book I cannot recommend highly enough. That book tweaked my thinking about heaven, hell, and salvation long before I had ever heard of Brian McLaren and the “EC”.
Is it possible to move away from God/salvation? Turning our backs?
Can we move both ways along this continuum? Does this have any implications?
Great Divorce is one I skimmed too fast in College for some course, and it didn’t sink in well enough (which I knew at the time). It like many other “classics” of that sort reside in my library crying out for more time.
As for a bi-directional continuum, maybe, depending somewhat on the meaning of the question and on your theological persuasion:
Calvinism: not positionally (but maybe perhaps practically or relationally)
Arminianism: of course, why not?
A big moment for me was when, on our church’s forum, someone made the statement that they didn’t believe in universalism, but wished it was true.
That was actually (I’m ashamed to say) new and groundbreaking for me…
To actually WISH that everyone was somehow saved and NO ONE experienced damnation?
man…
That’s where I am now. I still believe in hell, but I wish it weren’t so.
And here’s the wild thing- I’m starting to think that maybe that’s the point. For instance, I was reading in Leviticus where God lays down “An eye for an eye…” . He’s very specific- someone hits you, you hit them back. He even says at one point “Show no mercy.”
But then there’s also stuff about love, forgiveness, etc. It’s almost (danger zone) as if He wanted them/us to grow up, to grow out of/ to grow beyond that thinking… to yes obey, but to also get to the place where we had so integrated the WHOLE message that we would argue and say- “We see what you say here, Lord… but we also know what you mean over here.” So, that by the time Jesus comes, and He says, “You have heard it said… But I say to you…” I wonder if He thought to Himself “You guys really should have figured this out by now…”
Len Sweet (in Out of the Question, Into the Mystery) makes some good points about Abraham arguing with God for the life of Lot and others in Sodom, but failing to argue for the life of his son, Isaac. He passed the faith test, but perhaps failed on another level.
God promised the Israelites they would be a blessing to the whole world… and then He told them to wipe some of those other people out. They did so, and when they failed to do so it was for all the wrong reasons. When they obeyed they passed one test, but part of me wonders if they wouldn’t have grown up a bit and shown some of the character of where God was ultimately taking them if they would have argued a bit. “Kill them all? But I thought we were meant to be a blessing to all nations? We’ll do what you say God, but we’d rather bless them than kill them.”
Maybe God wants us to so integrate the message of the Gospel, of love and forgiveness that we get to the point of actually arguing with Him about hell- “No! Lord! Your lovingkindness lasts forever but not Your wrath! Forgive them, they didn’t know what they were doing! I would be willing to take their place if that would save them!” (Rom 9:3)
I don’t know… just some stuff I’ve been thinking about for awhile. Maybe (and this is pure speculation because I fear it’s heresy) the point of all those hard “kill ’em all”/”burn ’em all” passages is to test our hearts towards those people. Our reactions to them tell us to what extent we’ve gotten the rest of the message. In other words, you can believe in hell… but if it doesn’t bother you on some level, maybe you’re not reading the rest of it right.
Sorry for the essay… I better put this on my blog! :)