What the gehenna!

When I first heard about the concept of universal salvation, I was elated. Who in their right minds would really want to see anyone burn in the lake of fire? I’ve never understood the Christian who relishes the thought of someone burning in the lake of fire. Often times, the person who gleefully and viciously condemns someone to hell does so from a posture of self-righteousness. He thinks he has somehow earned the credentials to be in right standing with God and as a result, he now reserves the right to judge and condemn everyone who does not agree with what he thinks is right. Based on Ephesians 2:8-9, we know that no one earns the passage to Heaven. But that is not the focus of my post. 

Back to universal salvation. Even though I loved the concept of automatic salvation, I had a lot of questions. I simply cannot agree with a view based on its popularity or because it’s the new fad. Initially I ignored the questions thinking that it must be the religion that is holding me back from receiving the new revelation and that what I felt had to be right. But this is a topic that cannot be taken lightly or can be viewed as another "doctrine". This topic affects people’s destinies. In the end, if the universalists are right, all is well! But there is still a huge chance where the well-meaning universalist position may not line up with God's plan and I could not pretend to ignore that. So I asked the Lord to shed light on this matter. The clearest answer and the confirmation of what I believed (even though it is not what I would love to believe, if I had a say in the matter) came in the form of a book titled Erasing Hell, by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle. The book dissects and explores the core scriptures that the universalists use to base their positions on. The author does not do a lot of interpretation for the reader. His views are based on clear scriptures from where we can form our conclusions inspired by the Holy Spirit. If you are curious about the topic of universal reconciliation and hell, I recommend this book. It is a short read, but to the point. 

It was a very sobering read for me as well. This book stripped me off of my need to portray God solely in the light of how I thought everyone wanted to see Him. The Christian religion may need a new PR agency, but in my view, I don't think the Creator of the universe is a weakling who needs our defense so that He can reach many people. He is The Truth and Truth is capable to stand on His own. It was very small and ignorant of me to think that I had to promote and encase God in a package of my choice, even though the package was biblical. This does not mean I am joining the 'turn or burn' bandwagon. There is a middle ground between the extremes of 'turn or burn' camp and the 'feel-numb' camp, where the apostle Paul and the other writers of the New Testament stood unabashedly.