Although
I do want to kick off this blog with some basic worldview and other simpler
topics, I will instead, begin with something that is fresh in my mind. This is on the topic of Universalism. Below are the words from a speech I gave to my
homeschool group on this topic. At the
end, I will have additional comments and verses. Enjoy!
_______________
Arminianism,
dihydrogen monoxide, electromagnetic radiation - these words may seem
mystifying and perhaps even frightening.
In fact, many words in religion and science may seem complicated and
confusing, but may turn out to mean something quite simple. It turns out that arminianism is simply the
belief that you can choose your salvation and that it's not forced upon
you. Dihydrogen monoxide is water, and
electromagnetic radiation is light.
Universalism
is another one of those mind-boggling terms.
However, Universalism is a concept that you may come to realize is a
very common belief here in the United States of America. Supposedly, it is even in line with the
Bible. But does the Bible actually
support Universalism? I will explain to
you what exactly Universalism is, what Universalists see as their basis is for
this belief, as well as what the Bible has to say concerning the issue.
Now
there are two types of Universalism - Unitarian Universalism and Christian
Universalism. Unitarian Universalists
are a pluralistic group. In other words
their focus is on loving others and accepting others. It doesn't matter to them what religion you
semi-adopt - whether it's Atheism, Buddhism, Islam, or Christianity. Christian Universalists, on the other hand,
hold many Christian views and believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Today we will focus on Christian
Universalism. Thus, from now on, when I
use the term "Universalism," I will be referring to Christian
Universalism.
In
short, these Universalists believe that because of God's great love and mercy,
He would never keep anyone from eventually getting to heaven. Now there are two camps within Christian
Universalism. One camp believes that God
will never send anyone to hell. The
other holds that God will send some to hell, but later will bring them to
heaven. Keep these two views in
mind.
To
support their claim, Universalists point to verses like 1 Timothy 2:3-4 which
state, "This is good, and pleases
God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the
truth." Now as Christians, this
makes sense since we do recognize that God is loving and merciful. However, another of God's traits is that He
is the Righteous Judge who rewards those who choose Him and punishes those who
reject Him.
Another
passage pair that Universalists site is Romans 10:9 and Philippians
2:10-11. Romans 10:9 reads, "That if you confess with your mouth,
‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved." In the
minds of Universalists, then, everyone who does this "confessing of the
mouth" will be saved. Now
Philippians 2:10-11 says, "that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father." Consequently, this
verse seems to imply that everyone will do the “confessing of the mouth” referred
to earlier. Thus, supposedly everyone
will be saved. The problem with this is
that the verses are being taken out of context and glued together to make a new
statement.
Taking
the Bible out of context is a dangerous thing to do. There is a story about a man who did this
very thing. He wanted to find some
meaning in his life. So he took a Bible
and decided that he randomly flip the pages of that Bible and stick his finger
on a page and do whatever that verse told him to do. The verse he landed on read, "And Judas
went out and hanged himself." Not
knowing quite what to make of that, the man tried again. This time the verse said, "Go and do
likewise." The man was now becoming
frightened. He decided to make one more
effort. The final verse read, "What
you are about to do, do quickly."
In
defiance of Universalism, the Scriptures are full of verses, passages, and even
books that discuss punishment, hell, and destruction. You can't claim that the Bible is all about
love, mercy, kindness, and that's it, because it's just not true. Let's look at a few of these instances. The first is Hebrews 10:30-31. It says, "For
we know him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The
Lord will judge his people.' It is a
dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Another example is in the
book of Revelation. In the prophetic
scene that I will share with you, God is judging the world. Off to the side stands open a book, called
the Book of Life. In it are written the names
of all those who have chosen to devote their lives to God. It says in Revelation 20:15 that, "If anyone's name was not found
written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." By reading this verse, you can’t biblically
pitch your tent in the camp that claims that God won’t send people to
hell. This verse is clear about
that.
However,
there are those Universalists in the other camp that believe that some people
will go to hell; but that after some time, God will bring them to Himself in
heaven. It's time to look at our next
passage. This is Jesus' parable of
Lazarus and the Rich Man. In His story,
Jesus contrasts two characters - a rich man who had everything going for him on
earth, and a poor beggar named Lazarus.
Both of these men died. Lazarus
went to heaven, and the rich man went to hell.
The Bible says, "In hell,
where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by
his side. So he called to him, 'Father
Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water
and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire." Abraham points out that there is this great
chasm between heaven and hell so that no one can go from heaven down to hell or
from hell to heaven. It is obvious,
then, that the wicked will spend eternity separated from God in a miserable
place called hell. Now we have
obliterated that second camp.
However,
besides being a not very well grounded belief and not being able to stand up to
the criticisms of these verses, Universalism is not consistent with the Bible's
big picture. If Universalism were true,
why would God have made Hell if we are all going to be saved anyway? Why would Satan waste his time tempting us if
we are all going to be saved anyway? Why
does God instruct us to follow His commands if we are all going to be saved
anyway? Why should we bother believing
in Him if we are all going to be saved anyway?
Why should we evangelize and fulfill the Great Commission if we are all
going to be saved anyway? And why would
God put His only Son through the torture that He had to endure on the cross if
we are all going to be saved anyway?
We have seen that despite the claims of
Christian Universalism, the Bible screams in protest that it is a false
doctrine. God is loving but also the
Righteous Judge. So, did this theory
sound somewhat familiar at all? Perhaps
you have believed this yourself. “I’ll
go to heaven since I’m better than the next guy.” Or, “I’ll go to heaven because God would not
do anything else to me since He is loving.”
Or, “I’ll go to heaven because God is good and I am good. In fact, my dog will go to heaven because God
is good and Scruffy is good.” You see,
Universalism, despite its long name, is fairly common. People think that they can get a free ticket
into heaven apart from the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Now, I shared with you that verse from 1
Timothy that supposedly supports Universalism.
Remember it said that God wants all men to be saved. Here is what the next verse says, “For there is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
This verse makes it clear that though God does in fact want everyone to
come to repentance, the only they can do that is by believing in the One who
bridges the gap between us and God. That
person is Jesus!
_______________
Here
are a few other verses that stand against Christian Universalism.
David says in Psalm 62:12, “…Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.”
In Romans 2:5 Paul points out, “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are
storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his
righteous judgment will be revealed.”
When referring to anger during his Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus stated in Matthew 5:22, “…But
anyone who says [to his brother], ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of
hell.”
In His parables,
Jesus talks about people going to a place (sometimes called a fiery furnace) “Where there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.”
Revelation 11:18 declares, “The nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and
for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who
reverence your name, both small and great and for destroying those who destroy
the earth.”
Just in case you haven't
realized it yet, Universalism is more common than you might expect. True, very few people use the term
"Universalism," but it is seen everywhere. Think of the TV shows that you have seen, the
movies you have watched, the music that you have listened to, the books you
have read, or the people that you have come in contact with. Somewhere you have seen or heard people say
things like, "We'll all go to heaven." Or concerning their dead relative, an actor
in a movie might say, "I'm sure they're looking down on us now." Although that statement might be true, you
need to see it in context. Often times
the person in question is not a believer.
Yet, people assume that heaven is where they will go because of their
works.
In
fact, if you were to ask someone where they would go when they died, let's say
that they replied, "To heaven."
If you were to follow up their answer with "Why?" you may
receive an answer like, "Because I'm a reasonably good person." That is Universalism staring you right in the
face. Remember what the Bible says. Besides the numerous verses above, Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by
grace you have been saved through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is a
gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."
Be
encouraged by what Jesus has done for you.
If we had to be saved by our works, no one would meet the criteria. Remember, that criteria is "Be
perfect." Romans 3:23 reminds us, "For all have sinned and fallen short of
the glory of God..." Thus, no
one is perfect. That verse goes on,
however, to declare, "but the gift
of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Bask in the love that God is
pouring out on you and be sure to share that love with everyone you come in
contact with today!
I want
to touch on Unitarian Universalism briefly and show its faultiness. I visited the website for the Unitarian
Universalist Association of Congregations, and watched a video on the website
where several of the members were asked to explain who exactly Unitarian
Universalists are and what they believe.
Check out the video at http://vimeo.com/13394129. There was one comment made that I especially
want to point out. Here is a quote from
one man, "In a sense, you're allowed to believe what you choose." Alright does that look a little fishy to
you? That man walked right into a
trap. This is a question that if you ask
the right follow-up question, you can disclaim the whole religion.
Let's
examine this. Here is how you should
respond: "Alright, if I can believe whatever I want, can I believe that Unitarian
Universalism is wrong?" This is
a yes or no question and he will lose either way. If he says, "Yes, you can believe
that," that would make Unitarian Universalism wrong because that's what
the proposed belief (the underlined portion of the question) states. However, if he says, "No, you can't
believe that," then he has successfully contradicted his own words and
brought down the Unitarian Universalists' stance.
Another
comment is made where one man says "We're not afraid to use our brains to
think." Ouch! Every other "non-thinking" religion
just got slammed. Ironically, in the
clip they play right after, someone says, "There is more than one truth out
there." THERE IS NOT MORE THAN ONE
TRUTH!!! Two plus two does not equal
four and five at the same time. Nor are
massacres both right and wrong. So Unitarian Universalists
may not be afraid to use their brains, but they still don't use them. In summary, if you use your brain, you will see that Unitarian Universalism makes
absolutely no sense.
Matthew
