The Theological Principle of Universalism - Assignment Example

Universalism By Henry Nabea Summary Universalism is the theological principle that all humanity will be saved. But does this principle express the truth about salvation? Is the principle consistent with the teachings of the Bible, especially biblical teachings on the nature of God, the nature of humanity, and the nature of Jesus Christ and His teachings? By a mean of a disputation, this paper explores, critically, this controversial theological theme of Universalism. The disputants are Gregory Macdonald, and David Clotfelter. Universalism The theological principle of Universalism holds that, eventually, all humanity will be saved. But what are the theological and logical implications of this principle in the light of the biblical teachings on the nature of God, the nature of humanity, the nature of Jesus Christ and His ministry, and other biblical teachings? By a mean of a disputation, this paper critically and thoroughly explores these questions in an attempt to arrive at the truth in regard to this theological principle. The disputation is carried out by two disputants with diametrically different views on Universalism. The Interlocutors are, Gregory MacDonald, and David Clotfelter. MacDonald: I think that, ultimately, everybody will be saved because God as a loving father cannot condemn His children to perpetual sufferings. If God were to do this, it would be contrary to His loving nature because God is love. Drawing from our experiences of human fathers, no loving father would condemn his children to endless sufferings and so God as a loving father cannot, so cruelly, punish his beloved children. Clotfelter: Macdonald I really like your argument because it is quite logical and self- sufficient. From a purely human perspective, it is true that a loving father can never subject his children to such perpetual and horrendous sufferings. You are also right that God is love. But when we look at the teaching of the Bible on the relationship between God’s love and His wrath, we find that although God is love, He nonetheless, unleashes suffering for his children when they go wayward and disobey him. The evidence in the Bible on this fact is overwhelming, for instance you may look at, Ex.3447, Hebrews, 12:5-11, or Deut. 32:41. Macdonald, due to all these evidences that we find in the Bible that seems to contradict your position on the relationship between God’s love and God’s wrath, don’t you think that your position on this issue is not consistent with the teachings of the Bible, and therefore is wrong? The Bible, also, is replete with warnings for sinners to repent lest they die in sins and Go to hell, for instance in Matt. 25: 41, Jesus firmly asserts that on the last day, the wicked will be cast into hell where they will live forever with the Devil and its agents. Macdonald, although God is our loving father, He however, punishes us for our iniquities. Your position on this issue overlooks these important facts about God that we find in the scriptures. MacDonald: But why would a loving and an omnipotent God create us, fully aware of our weakness, and allow us to sin and to go to Hell? What would be the purpose for our creation any way? Can a loving and a merciful father subject his children to such cruel and perpetual sufferings? God understands our weak human natures and cannot subject us to perpetual sufferings only because of the sins that we commit due to our frail human natures. And, since God is aware of our weakness, He does not punish us for our sins, but only as a mean of bringing us back to himself. Clotfelter, I don’t deny the fact that God allows the sinners to suffer, but I am of the view that all human sufferings are meant to reform us and to make us grow more and more in holiness. This view is quite consistent with the loving nature of God. But I don’t hold the view that the wicked will perpetually suffer in Hell as a punishment from God for their sins. Although, there are a number of references in the Bible to this kind of punishment for the wicked people who will die without repenting, I don’t think that these references should be interpreted literally. In interpreting the Bible on the issues dealing with the relationship between God’s love and His wrath, we should always be guided by the fact that, God is love. And we should, therefore, make interpretations that are compatible with this guiding principle. Your position Clotfelter on this issue is contrary to this important guiding fact on the relationship between Go’s love and wrath. So, ultimately, all of us will be indeed saved because God will not punish us perpetually for the sins committed due to our weak human nature that he gave us. Clotfelter: But Macdonald the Bible says clearly that the wage of sin is death, you may look at (Romans, 6:23). And death here means both physical and spiritual death. Spiritual death refers to losing one’s soul through sins and ending up in a state of perpetual sufferings in Hell. The Bible has many examples of people who suffered due to their sins. And if all kinds of sufferings are for reformation and restoration, then death should not be a restorative mean since death is the end of one’s life and no further reformation can take place after one has died. The Bible is quite explicit that sin deserves punishment; you may look at, 2 Thessalonians 1:8. I agree with you Macdonald that as human beings we have week natures and we are susceptible to falling into sins, but then, God is ready to forgive us whenever we sin and call upon him for forgiveness. God created us so as to relate with him well as His father, God intends to have a loving relationship with us. But when we sin, our sins make us to suffer and if we die without ever repenting our sins, we end up in endless sufferings, in Hell. Macdonald: But Clotfelter, there is one fact that you Ignore. The fact that we are all children of God, and as children of God, God cannot allow some of us to be saved while allowing others to end up in Hell. God cannot elect or choose some of us to be saved while neglecting others. This is not what a loving father would do to His children. Since it is within the power of God to control and to prevent His children from sinning and since He is fully aware of the perpetual dangers that His children face by sinning, He would protect them from sinning. But we find that people do sin everywhere and suffer for their sins. So their sufferings are merely a mean of returning them back to God, but not for any other purposes. And, although there are a number of biblical references referring to God punishing His people for their transgressions because sin deserves punishment, these references, also, should be interpreted in the light of a loving and caring father. If you interpret these references literally you are likely to grossly miss the point. Clotfelfer: Sure Macdonald, God is not discriminative and would not elect the ones who will be saved, while leaving the rest to perdition. This would be contrary to the loving nature of God. We are all sinners and none of us deserves heaven, none of us will go to Heaven because they deserve it, but only through God’s mercy. And God’s mercy is all-encompassing and is open to all. The decision, therefore, of who will be saved, and who will end up without getting saved, lies squarely on us. This is because God has given us freedom to choose whether we want to relate with him in obedience as His children and, therefore, get saved, or we refuse to obey him and to relate with him as our creator, and end up not getting saved. God loves us equally Macdonald, and would not discriminate against any of us. God send Jesus Christ as our saviour to save us all, and each of us is free to either accept the salvation of Jesus, or to decline it, and God does not force us to choose him, but leaves us free in making our choices. The atonement of Jesus, through the Cross, was for all of us and we are free to choose salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross of Jesus Christ is sufficient for all of us, but not merely for the select few, but we are free to either accept the salvation brought by Jesus Christ through the cross, or to reject it. And because not all of us will accept the salvation brought by Jesus Christ, not all of us will be saved but only those who will accept the salvation of Jesus Christ. Macdonald: I agree you with you Clotfelter that the atonement of Jesus Christ was for all of us. And this means that the atonement of Jesus Christ is sufficient for everyone and through the atonement of Jesus Christ all will be saved, but not only a few. Jesus did not come to save only a few of us, but all of us, and this in essence means that, ultimately, all of us, as the children of God, will be saved and not only a select few people. God as a loving and merciful Father could not leave the decision of our salvation to us because He is quite aware of our weaknesses and the dangers that we face in case of a mistake in this important decision. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ, actually, all will be saved; the salvation brought by Jesus Christ was an all-inclusive salvation. With the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the loving father saved His children from all the dangers that they were bound to face as a result of their sins. The punishments that we currently face, therefore, are merely to restore us back to God, our loving father, and not for any other purpose. A loving father would not send Jesus to come and save only a few of us while leaving the rest, but since God is aware of our weaknesses even to accept the salvation made by Jesus Christ, He send Jesus Christ to save us all, without leaving out the option of one deciding whether to get saved or not. This position is more consistent with actions of a loving father. A loving father dealing with frail and ignorant children would do anything possible to help his children from the danger that lies ahead of them. Clotfelter: Macdonald, when the Bible talks about ‘’ the children of God’’, what it refers to is the people who have freely decided to follow God in obedience. These are the people who will receive salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ. And the Bible is quite clear on this and talks about, the people who God has chosen for himself. These are the people who have decided to freely obey God and commit themselves to his ways and precepts. Although the Bible, also, asserts that we are all crated in the image and likeness of God, and in this sense we are all children of God, the proper meaning of the ‘’ children of God’’ in the Bible are the people who have been converted and embraced Jesus Christ as their saviour. Before we embrace Jesus as our saviour, we all stand before God as criminals before a just judge. This is because we are born as sinners due to the sins committed by our first ancestors, Adam and Eve. Until we embrace the salvation brought about by Jesus Christ, we are all sinners and we don’t merit the title’’ children of God’’. Macdonald, God, therefore does not deal with whole of humanity as His children, but only those who have received conversion and embraced the salvation brought by Jesus Christ. Macdonald: But Clotfelter, just as you have clearly said, in the same Bible there are a number of verses referring to us all as the children of God. It seems that there are some contradictions in the Bible. Why do you misinterpret the Bible by saying that only those who have been converted and embraced Jesus can be referred to as the children of God? I think that God is primarily called our father because He is the author of our lives and for that reason He is rightly addressed as ‘’ our father’’ and that is indeed what He is to us. You seem to be quite biased in your interpretation of the Bible. But, not withstanding our differences, I really wonder how we are to interpret the Bible when there are seemingly contradictory verses. Do some Biblical themes have priorities over others? Clotfelter: I am really not biased Macdonald; the point is that we should not read the Bible selectively. But we should read each chapter or verse in the context of the whole theme in the Bible. As I have said above, by the virtue of having been created by God we can be referred to as the children of God in the loose sense of the term, but in the strict sense of the term, the reference is reserved only to those who have embrace the salvation brought by Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus Christ in the Gospel categorically said that, for one to enter into the kingdom of Heaven, they should first be born again through baptism. In essence what Jesus meant in this chapter of the Bible is that, for one to become the’’ child of God’’, they should accept the salvation brought by Jesus Christ, and get converted. Again, to avoid making wrong interpretations on seemingly contradictory verses of the Bible, we should focus keenly on the teaching of Jesus Christ because Jesus is the full revelation of God that we find in the Bible. When we read the Bible this way, we will get a fuller picture and a clearer message of whatever theme that we are looking into. Jesus Christ is the son of God, and as such he represents His father. The teachings and ministry of Jesus, therefore, can give us a perfect guide on this issue of Universalism. And in Jesus own teachings, He preached about the need to repent and to return to God so as to obtain salvation. Jesus also talked about people who will not be saved, and who will lose their souls due to their own personal choice of not choosing God in their lives. The teachings of Jesus, therefore, show that, although, salvation is open to everybody, we are free, however, to either choose to embrace salvation, or to discard it all together. This means that all will not be saved. Macdonald: I totally agree with you Clotfelter that, Jesus Christ represents his Father, God the father. But remember that Jesus himself taught His disciples to call God their father when they pray. Jesus also represented God as an infinitely loving and merciful father. And, for that reason, I am not yet persuaded that such a loving father would allow His children to end up in Hell. Why do you think, Clotfelter that an omnipotent and infinitely loving father would fail to control His children and to protect them from sinning so as not to go to Hell? God has the power to protect and to prevent his children from sinning, why could he create them so weak and susceptible to sin and then throw them to Hell when they sin? Would this not be an irresponsible and unloving father who would be more of a sadistic tyrant? But Clotfelter, that is not the nature of God our father. That is not the description of God that we get in the Bible. I am still of the view that, ultimately, everybody will be saved because our God is an understanding, caring, loving and merciful father. He is not a sadistic tyrant that you seem to imply He is. Clotfelter: Well, Macdonald my believes on these issues are based on the teachings of the Bible. I have drawn all my arguments from the scriptures. But concerning your last question, about why an omnipotent and infinitely merciful and loving God would allow his children to sin and yet He has the power to prevent them from sinning, I sincerely respond that, I don’t know why. The questions that even confounds me even more is, why in the first place did God allow Adam and Eve to sin? Secondly I don’t understand why God could punish the whole of humanity and make all human beings guilty of sin, only because of the mistakes of their first parents? Is it really right to punish one person because of the mistake of another? If not so, why then did God decide to punish the whole of humanity because of the mistakes of their first parents? I find these questions intractable and I think that they a mysteries that I don’t think that any of us will ever give a satisfactory answer. Macdonald, it is not understandable even to me, why God would subject His creations to such a vulnerable and precarious situation, where they are likely to sin and to end up in perdition. But Macdonald I think that the explanation that we are given in the Bible about how sin entered into the world is quite significant. Although the explanation given in the Bible leaves many questions answered, it is, however, very important in explaining many mysteries of human beings and their relationship with God. But in humble reply to these mysteries, I would say that I believe that God is a loving father indeed, and He has a reason for doing whatever He does. And I would also say that, trusting him as a loving and caring father, I am confident that whatever He does is for my good and for the good of humanity and He will always do the best to ensure that I have been saved, and will live with him forever. I strongly believe that God is a loving father, but He is more than earthly father, and His ways are quite different from the ways of earthly father. Many verses in the Bible support this view. And from the scriptures, it is crystal clear that not all people will be saved. This is my position in this issue, and I think that the best way to arrive at the truth on such an issue is only by remaining faithful to the scriptures in our interpretations and not to interpret the scriptures selectively. What do you think about these mysteries Macdonald? Well, Clotfelter, I am also aware that, there are a number of mysteries in the Bible, and especially on the question of God’s love and His wrath, and the final destiny of man. In my approach to these mysteries, I am primarily guided by the believe that God is love, and that He is a loving father. And secondly, while I rely so much on the Bible as the basis of my believe, I also rely so much on reason, and I find it really hard to hold believes that seem contrary to reason. And for this reason, I try as much as possible to balance faith and reason. And in this view, having considered Bible teachings on these subjects, and cognisant of many seemingly contradictory Bible verses, I hold the view that God relates to human beings as His children, and He would not allow any of His child to suffer perpetually in Hell because, this kind of suffering would be pointless, it would not enable the sinner to repent, nor would it destroy sin. This kind of suffering would be brutal and sadistic and I don’t think that any loving father would ever meet out any such kind of suffering to his children. My position on this view is that, ultimately, all will be saved. Reference Clotfelter, D 2004, Sinners in the Hands of a Good God: Reconciling Divine Judgement and Mercy, Moody, Chicago Gregory, M 2012, The Evangelical Universalist: The Biblical Hope that God’s Love Will Save Us All, 2nd ed. SPCK, London Read More