Universalism

Some folks, perhaps most, won’t know the meaning of the word “universalism” but it is the foundation of their theology. They are progenitors of a doctrine that may be the root of a new book – Love Wins, by Michigan pastor, Rob Bell.

The doctrine (read: truth, which of course it isn’t) is that God is one dimensional, that is, has only one attribute or characteristic, and that is “love.”  Since He (God) is only capable of “loving” no one could ever be condemned or separated from the love of God.

It follows then that every individual, regardless of what they believe, practice, or how they choose to live their lives, will, in the end, be reconciled to God via His love. Separation from God for eternity (what Believers call Hell) is simply not a part of the equation. All people will ultimately “go to Heaven, and while some may need an “attitude adjustment” (people like Adolph Hitler and Jeffery Dahmer) in a place we can call Purgatory (for example), in the end everyone will be redeemed.

Universalism then encompasses all those who “don’t know” (agnostics), “don’t care” (atheists), those who are trying to “be good more often than they are bad,” and along the edges scooping up those who have a “go to Hell and I’ll meet you there” attitude as well.

That a Pastor with a vast following who claims to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ would write such tripe is shocking. But then, the Scripture said those kinds of thing would happen near “the end of the age.”

I trust you’re ready for that – the end, I mean. If not. . .Universalism is a long way from the Truth.