How has the Good News of Universal Reconciliation Changed Me?

I am often asked this question.
When asked by those who hold to the view that only a relatively few will be saved, it is usually designed to shame me into admitting that I no longer share the gospel with unbelievers and have lost my evangelistic drive.

As mentioned on page 20 of "The Really Good News About God", my motivation to share the gospel has actually increased.
Why?

• I now have a better gospel to share, which is much more exciting and satisfying than the old good news-bad news one, because it's all good news.
• I now see each person as a creation of God, made in his image, for whom he has a definite, positive purpose.
• I now understand my role in the Body of Christ better. I am not here to help God save the lost before they die, but to announce the good news so that those who have been chosen to be early believers can hear it and be given the faith to believe it and be added to the Body. (I am engaged in Christ's Body-building program.)
• I am no longer stressed when people fail to respond to the gospel, knowing full well that their time will come, either in this age or in a later one, depending on whether God has chosen them as a first fruit or as part of the main harvest.

And I now have a greater appreciation of God's love and sovereignty, and, of course, a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of God's purpose for his creation.

So, how has the really good news of universal reconciliation changed me?
It has given me a better gospel to share and a greater enjoyment in sharing it.

As an aside, I guess the thing that surprises me most since receiving this understanding is the lack of determination and urgency in sharing the good news-bad news message by those who are convinced that the majority of their neighbours (and families in many cases) are on the way to "eternal damnation" if they don't "get saved" before they leave this planet. And they are often the first to suggest that I might have lost my drive to share the gospel now that I see that all will be eventually reconciled.

Blessings, Barry

Can Christians Fall From Grace?

We often hear the expression "he/she has fallen from grace" when referring to a follower of Jesus who has become lukewarm or antagonistic towards their previous Christian faith or lifestyle.
Even Paul accuses the Christians in Galatia who have reverted to following the law as their means of remaining in right-standing before God as having fallen from grace (Gal 5 : 4)

Since grace is God's gift, his undeserved favour toward us, and completely under his control, how can we fall from it? No matter what we do God doesn't withdraw his love or grace. It is determined, guaranteed, by his character.

So what can possibly be meant by the expression "fallen from grace"?
Because it is an action taken by the once-believer, and not an action taken by God, it can only mean that people in that position no longer appreciate God's grace and, of course, have foregone all the benefits that God's grace showers on us.

So, can we fall from grace?
Most definitely YES.
We can turn our backs on what God has provided for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus, as the Galatians did, and miss out on the blessings of living in union with Christ during the ages, the realm of time.
And this would be a great shame to have tasted these blessings and then let them go.
(I don't really understand how people manage to live in this corrupt world with all its dangers and heartaches without a relationship with God.)

But does this mean such a person is eternally lost?
Most definitely NO.
God eventually abolishes death and becomes All in all at the completion of the ages. (1 Cor 15 : 20 - 28)
So although people might miss out on eonian life (age-during life), life exists for all after death is abolished.
And how does this eventuate?
Not sure, but I offer some suggestions in Chapter 5 of "The Really Good News About God".

Blessings, Barry

Foundation Stones for Future Scenarios

I am currently writing some articles for the website on "The Future". As always, I am interested in your feedback on my thoughts before I publish them.

I know I have posted on some topics more than once.
Indeed, topics concerning the future are certain candidates for multiple posts because I am always discovering fresh clues from the Bible which either make me more certain about the content of previous posts or require me to amend them, sometimes significantly.
And, let's face it, we can only speculate about the future as there are not many clues to begin with, and those we have are open to seemingly endless interpretations.

However, we must have a starting point for our speculations.
What are the basic "givens" on which all other facts and/or opinions must stand?

1.  God's ultimate purpose, his end result, is clearly revealed in the New Testament ...

    God desires all to be saved. (1 Tim 2 : 1 - 6)
    God is the Saviour of all. (1 Tim 4 : 10)
    God will bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth. (Eph 1 : 9 - 10)
    God will become all in all, that is, everything to everybody. (1 Cor 15 : 28).

2.  God will achieve this purpose through Jesus, who is ...

    The Reconciler of all (2 Cor 5 : 18 - 19; Col 1 : 19 - 20)
    The Drawer of all (John 12 : 32)
    The Sacrifice for all (1 John 2 : 2)
    The Saviour of all (1 John 4 : 14; John 12 : 47)
    The Light of all (John 1: 4 - 9)
    The Giver of Life to all (1 Cor 15 : 20 - 22)

3.  God always remains true to his character ...

    God is love. (1 John 4 : 16; Matthew 5 : 44 - 45)
    God is in control (Proverbs 19 : 21; Ephesians 1 : 11)
    God is kind and merciful to all (Luke 6 : 35 - 36)
    God's grace completely saves us (Romans 5 : 15 - 21; Ephesians 2 : 4 - 8)
   
To me all other events or opinions that I wish to include in my picture of the future must stand on and be consistent with these three "givens". 
For example ...God has already reconciled the world to himself. (2 Cor 5 : 19)
All those who know God and Jesus Christ have eonian life, that is, are alive and will be alive in the coming ages. (John 17 : 3)
The Book of Life increases in size at the Great White Throne judgement. (Revelation 20 : 11 - 15) *
The Lake of Fire is God's refining or purifying process, the death/destruction of all that offends God. (Malachi 3 : 3; Revelation 20 : 14) **
Death itself will be finally removed, so that only life remains.
(Revelation 21 : 4; ! Cor 15 : 25 - 26)

What do you think?
    Are there other "givens" that need to be added to the list?
    Do any of mine not stand up to scrutiny?
    What other events or opinions that are consistent with the "givens" could be
    included in the examples?
   
Please consider and send me feedback.
Blessings, Barry

* See previous post "The Great White Throne Judgement" in December 2013.
** See previous "The Lake of Fire" posts in 2010 and 2011.

What "Christian Universalism" is Not

I usually describe the position I promote as Christian Universalism (CU) or Universal Restoration (UR).
But sometimes I am careless in casual conversations by agreeing/conceding that I'm a universalist (without the "Christian" or "Restoration" bit).

I am finally learning to be more careful with the terms I use.
By using or allowing the wrong ones, I leave myself open to criticisms that are not applicable to the correct position that I believe the Scriptures teach.

I do not believe in universalism, as the word is generally used.
Universalism most often describes the position that all will be saved, regardless of the work of Jesus - in other words, all roads lead to heaven.

This is not what the Bible teaches.
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14: 6)

Equally, I do not believe in inclusivism, as the word is generally used.
Inclusivism usually describes the position that all are saved now as the result of the death and resurrection of Jesus - and all have the Holy Spirit indwelling them right now.

This is not what the Bible teaches either.
Jesus said, "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew 11: 27)

I definitely believe that all are forgiven now through what Jesus has done and will come to know the Father eventually - all will be included eventually, but not yet.
Clearly, I need to be using the word "eventually" constantly to keep distinguishing CU or UR from inclusivism in my conversations, preaching and writing.

Yes,

God genuinely and unconditionally loves us,
Jesus has dealt with our sin,
God has completely forgiven us, holds nothing against us, and
has opened the door for us to enjoy life in union with him forever,

but most of us have not walked through that door ... yet.

Another random thought.
By definition, inclusivism is the opposite of what is true - exclusivism. 
Access to eternity in fellowship with God (and each other) is exclusively available through a relationship with Jesus.
And this is still to come for most.

For those who are not believers by the time they leave the planet, knowledge, faith, repentance and worship will come some time later, more than likely at the Great White Throne.

So this probably raises the question, "What is salvation?"
I will tackle that in the next post.

Blessings, Barry

Glenn's Tricky Scripture

2 Thessalonians 1 : 6 - 10
Background .....
Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonian saints about the middle of the first century AD, either in the year 50 or 51, only a short time after he had written his previous letter to them.
These saints were clearly under great stress due to "religious" persecution from non-Christian Jews (verse 4 and Acts 17) and were being encouraged by the promise of  relief and a just end-result (verse 6).

The tricky verses .....
Here is the NIV translation of these verses, amended to reflect a more literal rendering of the underlying Greek text.

God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.
This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful messengers in blazing fire.
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
They will be punished with age-lasting ruin and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed.
This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

Explanation of amendments .....
Messengers (verse 7).
The Greek word here is 'aggelos' and is most often transliterated as 'angel' rather than translated as 'messenger' or 'agent.'  Not using 'angel' is wise as sometimes the messenger or agent is not a celestial courier, but a human one (for example, John the Baptist).  In the case here, the text does not reveal what type of messenger is meant.
Age-lasting ruin (verse 9).
The Greek word here is 'aionion.'  It is the adjectival form of the noun 'aion.'  Aion is 'age' or 'eon' in English, an unspecified period of time which has a beginning and an end, so 'aionion' must be related to an 'age' or 'eon' in some way.  It should never be translated as 'eternal' as 'eternity' is the timeless realm, having no beginning or end.  Unfortunately, most popular, volume-selling English Bibles translate 'aionion' as 'eternal' in order to give strength to the theological position of their translators and publishers, and of their potential church market.

My Comments .....
The events discussed in these verses had great relevance to the Thessalonian saints, and of course, to all other saints of that era who were being persecuted by the Jews.
The relief promised would have been in their lifetime or would have been of little comfort to them.  Indeed Jesus confirmed this timeline to his disciples when he said, "Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom [or sovereignty]." [ Matthew 16 : 28 ]
It wasn't suggested that the relief would come when they died and left this planet and moved into the peaceful presence of God; it would come when the Jesus-empowered agents came and took away their enemies in blazing fire.
This fits the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish centre of religion by fire in AD70 by the Romans, who were Jesus' agents of the fiery judgement that had been predicted by Jesus and several OT prophets.  Indeed Jesus warns the Jewish leaders about this fiery future judgement quite often, using the fire of Gehenna as his illustration.

So, although many in mainstream Christianity see this passage as dealing with yet future events, I don't agree.  Persecuted Thessalonian saints of the first century would hardly be comforted by promises to Christians living thousands of years later.

The punishment administered to the Jews would be their ruin or destruction as God's chosen people through whom the nations would be brought to God, and would last until the end of the next age.  Jesus had earlier confirmed this when he said to their chief priests and elders, " ..... the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit." [Matthew 21 : 43]
Consequently, the Jews will not enjoy God's presence or his powerful rule in the kingdom age.  Anyone reading Matthew's Gospel can't miss the constant references to the kingdom in many of Jesus' parables and his repeated warnings that Israel would miss out on the kingdom age if they refused to change their ways.  The parable of the weeds in Matthew 13 is probably one of the best known.  
(Nevertheless, Israel will be all saved after this age, as Paul reveals in Romans 11 : 25 - 26.)

So, although many in mainstream Christianity see this passage as forecasting the eternal, future destruction of all unbelievers of all ages at the end of time, I don't agree.  The age-lasting fate of Jewish persecutors of first century followers of Jesus is the focus here.

Please do not hesitate to offer any of the C's to this post - comment, clarification, correction, criticism, challenge, cross-examination - as the discovery of truth is the name of the game for me.

Blessings, Barry