Maybe I’ll post on it someday.

just joking, I love this reflection. your “I have often felt a difficult (but necessary) tension between my belief that Christians are called to embody an alternative culture to the systems and structures of the world and my equally passionate belief that those very systems and structures, as well as the injustices they perpetuate, nonetheless need to be engaged with.” is very common among many of us.

I wish you happen a merry christmas and have a lovingful 2010 full of blessings.

Sebastián

Actually, we are in far more agreement than it may appear. Like yourself, I don’t believe that early church doctrine should be taken as just cause for emulation in and of itself just because they were closer to Christ in spatio-temporal terms. Of course, I feel that the church fathers (and mothers) said a plethora of absolutely amazing things in regard to war, violence, and state participation, but only because those sayings and writings are in agreement with the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles. Everything must be tested against scripture, specifically against the person of Christ Jesus, and as you have rightfully pointed out, there were sadly still many respects in which the early church didn’t match up to the expression of His ministry. We must therefore always use Christ as the standard, and any other writings, even those of the great church mothers and fathers themselves, as secondary (Note: I am hesitant to say “scripture is the standard,” because, while I do believe this, the mindset has been used to justify some truly abhorrent and useless things in the name of God; what I say is that scripture IS the standard when viewed appropriately through the lens of Christ).

I am also in agreement that a Universalist theology can, and very often does, lead to some useless thinking. It’s very easy to fall into the fatalistic attitude of supposing that everything shall be made well, and therefore there is no need for action in the here and now. What I was trying to stress is that, if Universalism is is truth, then it should be a huge motivation to take action, since our calling is to be the agents and witnesses of final restoration! Universalism is not, nor should it ever be, grounds to dismiss a fully evangelical faith.

Anyway, that was a huge preamble, I do apologise. I will now see if I can wrestle with your entirely valuable points. In regard to Revelation, the most important starting point is to remember that, while it is a book of prophecy in the truth sense of the word, it is not a book of foretold events. As apocalyptic literature, the author, John of Patmos, was concerned with conveying the great socio-political struggles of the day in deeply spiritual and allegorical terms. I can’t do a tremendous amount of justice, obviously, to the whole book and its historical context in as brief a write up as this, but to cut it very briefly, one of the main purposes of Revelation was to provide eschatological hope to the covenant community who were suffering under the persecution of the Roman Empire. Thus “the beast” is actually Caesar/Nero, and its infamous number 666 (or 616) was his insignia. “Babylon” is the symbol for the great empire which, with its military and oppressive slave-driven economics, goes forth to conquer the world, and thus becomes the figurehead symbol for every other empire to come. Again, this is a very simplistic analysis and I hope to properly study this behemoth of a subject in detail one day, but for now it suffices to say that Revelation frames the conflict between the Church and the Empire as the earthly manifestation of the great cosmic conflict between God and Satan. Everything spiritual is seen in earthly terms, and vice versa.

Being a book of eschatological metaphor, Revelation is not meant to be read as a literal representation or even an accurate allegorisation of what will eventually come to be; rather, it was to provide hope and comfort to the church of that time that their oppression, their martyrdom, and their suffering would eventually see perfect justice. HAVING SAID THAT: I do not and will not say that the judgement verses in the final chapters are not reflective of truth. While the book is heavily symbolic, the judgement verses are nonetheless reflective of the community’s spiritual views regarding the world’s final destination, so let’s see if we can struggle with them:

Revelation 20:12-15
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Admittedly, it looks bleak. However, reading on, I am captivated by the following passages:

Revelation 21:2-4
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

It seems interesting that, almost immediately after we are told that the devil and all those whose names are not found in the book of life have their eternal fate in the lake of fire, the anunciation is made that mourning, crying, pain, and death are to be no more. Now, I realise that one could argue this only applies to those who find themselves reconciled to God in the last day, but again:

Revelation 21:5
And he who was seated on the throne said, “behold, I am making all things new.”

It seems that the restoration of all things is emphasised as much as the destruction of evildoers.

Revelation 21:22-27
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day — and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

It seems interesting that, while again the text adamantly declares that “nothing unclean will ever enter [the city],” simultaneously “its gates will never be shut by day.” Intriguingly, although this is the city with which we end and the people of God dwell, its light is still meant to be an example to the nations. Also:

Revelation 22:1-2
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Even after the (seemingly) final fate of the damned, there is still hope. The river of life flows outward from the city, carrying the leaves of the tree of life, and their purpose is for the healing of the nations. Universalism is not explicit or even implicit in the Revelation text, but what does certainly seem implicit is that there is hope for those outside the City even after judgement.

As to your other question, what do I do with Jesus’ warnings of coming judgement… I believe them with veracity. I don’t think they should be taken lightly by any means, but by themselves I also don’t think they should be the centrepiece either of our preaching or of our beliefs. As I was trying (perhaps inadequately) to expound upon in my article, judgement is a very real warning which I believe indicates the painful and continually unfolding process of people having to come to terms with their own evil, their sin, the ways in which they have wronged and oppressed others. That is why we must “repent and believe,” because the Kingdom of God is an invitation to live into God’s transformative love in the here and now, and that if you live outside of that love, you are in danger of destruction.

I really hate using Hitler as the one archetypical example of evil, but sometimes it’s admittedly easier. If someone like Hitler, a murderous, sadistic, individual with almost no discernible good in them ever hopes to be united with God, then it will obviously not be as even remotely the same person he was in the flesh. Nothing unclean can come into the presence of God, and I believe that if Hitler ever has hope of being restored in the final day, what we see of him will be so vastly, radically different that it may as well not be Hitler at all. Someone that capable of having turned away so far from the Image of God within themselves, and effectively almost ceasing to be human, will have their being consigned to eternal destruction. For some people, I imagine that God will destroy much of them in weeping and gnashing of teeth before His Image within them is salvaged.

I’m aware, that as I write all of that, it sounds an awful lot like mental gymnastics, doesn’t it? I don’t mean it to be. My fallible and frail experience of God is that He is in solidarity with us, and is at work in all of us, even within those who are the most despicable monsters to ever walk the earth. I don’t believe that, if the Gospel is true, that there exists or has ever existed anyone or anything completely without hope. I believe that God bears in space and time with each one of us, in the hopes of reconciling us to Himself.

As with many things in the Bible, it is a mystery, but one I feel has a strong basis. With equal weighting as the judgement passages in the Gospels and the Epistles, there are a whole host of passages which speak of this great mysterious hope:

John 12:32
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance…

And these are just a few, selected to illustrate that there is a fine tension in the Biblical narrative; a tension between the harsh reality of judgement for those who ignore God’s love, and the reality that God will one day restore all things and make them completely new. I didn’t come to the conclusion of Universalism lightly, and indeed I still think it should be wrestled with and discussed. However, as I said earlier in my reply to David, I tend to feel that as Christians, the way we are called to act reflects in some finite way the character of God. And if indeed, we are called to love all people to the bitter end, I can only imagine what the imaginably vaster reflection of that in the Godhead must look like.

Those are my thoughts… it would be great to hear yours, and thank you so much for allowing this to be an ongoing conversation.

I gotta know, man: what do you “do” with Revelation – the book which, in its concluding chapters, discusses a separation of those within the new Jerusalem and those without it. What do you do with Jesus’ own pronouncements of a coming judgment? What about the entire biblical corpus that, at certain times and places, espouses a God who is at once wholly loving and entirely volatile? How is it even helpful to try to eek out a theology of universalism in light of the multitude of divergent Scriptural voices? I’m asking this plainly and not pointedly – because I would very much like to believe the answer.

To be perfectly honest, Adam, I see people at school trying to universalize God in such ways and the fruit (which is, of course, markedly different from yours) is not good. I’m suspicious of appeals to church history, like the one David made, because it’s too easy and, if church history has taught us anything, it’s that the church has never been one for Scriptural fidelity. “If it was good enough for the early church, it’s good enough for me” just isn’t a valid argument, because Jew/Gentile tension was good enough for the early church, male and female inequality was good enough for the early church, and a slutty sort of bedfellow relationship between church and state was good enough for the (admittedly not-so) early church. You see where I’m going here.

So, as a friend and a brother and a respectful divergent voice, please help me see what you’re seeing. Because I want to.

I hope to come back into the blogging loop a bit more now, with one step at a time. I have read Sword of Peace here and there, and still very much like all that I see. Great job

Blessings and shalom to you,
Adam.

As you have said, Christian Universalism seems to flow quite naturally from Jesus’ teachings of forgiveness, love, compassion, mercy, and hope. Not just by His teachings, but also by His example. After all, it was He Himself who declared that “with God all things are possible.” If we are to be imitators of God, and God calls us to perfect love through nonviolence, then it seems somewhat strange that God Himself should exercise violence through judgement. It seems far more reasonable that, rather, violence comes from the sin already rooted in peoples’ unrepentant hearts with which they will inevitably be faced and have to come to terms with. When the Bible speaks of “fire,” it seems to have much moreso to do with burning away sins than completely destroying sinners.

I’m glad to see that you are writing again. I always enjoy the level of depth, care and precision that goes into your writings. You back up what you have to say with credible sources, which help strengthen your point.

I have been reflecting on both the Luke and Matthew narratives of the Christmas stories, and have more acutely noticed the differences between the two, as well as the differences between the way they are portrayed in hymn, play, and through nativity scenes.

I am sure that working with the Jesuit Volunteer Community has aided you to live out your commitment to the poor and outcasts of society.

Peace be with you this Christmas,
Raleigh

I particularly like your discourse on the true idea of a final justice. One particularly disturbing recollection that I have of my time being part of the church that Laura and I left nearly a year ago is when I was discussing with Tim, the elder who counseled and married my wife and I, about ideas of nonviolence, being against the use of guns, etc. Tim argued to me that, despite “vengeance being the Lord’s” as outlined in Romans, justice is in our hands as humans. And apparently, justice in his context is synonymous with violent retribution, because capping a guy between the eyes if he’s threatening your family or trying to mug you — at least according to the framework of beliefs which Tim, and many others, espouse — is a totally justifiable, and in fact necessary, act of justice. This is apparently some sort of separate standard for living, because it is completely incongruous with the teachings of Jesus. Yet it seems that the people who argue this have a sort of belief which implies that Jesus’ redeeming qualities and faith in him are in fact the center of Christian faith and life, but there are numerous other ethical codes which advise the actions of a “Christian” in life. This doesn’t make sense to me; or at least, it stopped making sense to me after a while, which is why I had to break ties with a community that taught and encouraged that sort of thinking.

In the end, the idea of Christian Universalism, both its aspects of no eternal damnation, but rather the reconciliation of all people to God, and of reconciling all of creation, not just humans, to God in the here-and-now and not in some fictional future eschatological bloodbath, seems to flow uninhibitedly from the actual teachings and actions of Jesus. I believe that modern Christian conceptions of eternal damnation and judgment, of salvation only of a select few, and of the overt privileging of humans as the only part of creation that is worth anything, are merely sad but clear reflections of cultural xenophobia and an all-too-human superiority complex, mixed with a hefty dose of pride and self-gratification. Of course, the people that I know who tend to express those beliefs would deny all of this fully, but to me it seems all too clear that the judgmental Christianity which seems to at times revel in the idea of being part of an élite group (and I don’t mean just believers of Calvinist predestination) that experiences the delights of salvation while others are left to burn for eternity, sometimes for nothing more than their blissful ignorance, is just a catalyst by which the most mean and un-Christlike characteristics of othering and blind self-centeredness are expressed without guilt.

And yes, Noel’s a nice chap… given that you were both queuing up for vegan cuisine, I imagine any universalist theology probably came up moreso practically than it did verbally!