On Universal Salvation

Recently, I’ve had conversations with two individuals–one devout Christian, one atheist–that touched on my beliefs about salvation. Here are some thoughts I’d like to share.

First, let me say that everyone is wrong in some way, myself included. There are things that we cannot know with any certainty this side of the grave. The reason to be concerned about our final destination, then, is not to be right, but to act in ways that lead to the maximum joy: abundant life.

There are three main Christian understandings of what happens when we die:

1. Some go to heaven, a place of eternal joy in God’s presence. The rest go to hell, a place of eternal conscious torment in God’s absence.
2. Some go to heaven. Others cease to exist.
3. Everyone goes to heaven.

There are many variations of each, but these three capture the essential options. You can find plenty of Biblical support for each position.

Another aspect in the Reformed branch, which descends from Calvin and includes Presbyterians, is the doctrine of election, or predestination. This doctrine also has various forms that I will not pretend to understand in their entirety.

The essence of predestination is that God, who knows the end from the beginning, has already chosen who will be saved. Under salvation option #1, the logical conclusion is that God has also already chosen who will be damned. My problem is this: What kind of being chooses “winners” and “losers” before the “game,” but lets the game proceed anyway? Are we all just some sort of cosmic entertainment?

Under salvation option #2, the situation is a bit better, but not much. The implication is that God still chooses winners & losers, but at least there is no punishment for the losers.

Let’s look at option #3. Everyone wins! How can that be? Karl Barth, one of the greatest 20th century theologians, explained it something like this: God the Father predestinated one human for salvation: God the Son, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. In Him, all humanity was reconciled to God. By simply being human, we are all children of God, predestinated for salvation to the eternal joy of God’s presence.

This makes sense to me. I find the other versions of predestination unpalatable at a visceral level, and illogical in ways that are difficult to reconcile with my understanding of who God is.

Some will argue, “What about Jesus saying that ‘nobody comes to the Father but through me?'” I think that still works with Barth’s form of predestination. Others will say that you must “accept Jesus in your heart.” Sure. But who says it has to happen before you die? In 1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6, the writer indicates that Jesus preached to the dead. Whether you live a few hours or a hundred years, this life in these fragile bodies (“treasures in jars of clay,” 2 Corinthians 4:7) lasts for just a moment, compared to all eternity. As it says in Amazing Grace:

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
  Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
  Than when we first begun.

That’s a hundred lifetimes. A just and merciful God would not punish you forever for something that happens in a blink of an eye.

“What about Hitler? Stalin? Pol Pot? ISIS?” There is redemption and reconciliation waiting for us all. ALL. Maybe it takes longer for some than others. I don’t know. But I will choose to act as thought ALL people are beloved children of God, destined for heaven, and therefore worthy of my love, too.

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I just returned from an elk hunting trip. During the trip, I drafted the above post. When I got home, I saw that the latest issue of The Christian Century (a wonderful gift from Rev. Robert Rogers) has an article on this subject. I will follow up with some thoughts after I have read that article. Meanwhile, I wanted to get this out.