Written by: Terry Parkman
At the heart of a debate currently raging in the Christian world is a teaching that argues that, “God is love, and love wins in the end.”
True? Yes.
For God? Yes.
For everyone on the planet? No.
I say “no” because God’s love and redemption is for everyone, but not everyone accepts that redemption through repentance of sin and acceptance of Jesus as Savior.
After one’s final breath, there are no more chances. As it says in Hebrews 9.27, “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” This means that post-mortem salvation isn’t an option. Just ask the rich man who had a servant named Lazarus (Luke 16.19-31).
For the record, I’m not against people who hold to Universalism, but I am rather against Universalism itself. I highly disagree with this theology. I feel that combining what the Bible has laid out as a plan of salvation with Universalism is in essence a mishandling of the Word of God and falls short of rightly dividing the Word (2 Timothy 2.15).
To state that at the end of the day, even after death, one can walk into Heaven regardless of one’s antagonism towards God is to not balance God’s love with God’s justice. God’s love and justice is a “both/and,” not an “either/or.”
God’s love isn’t perfect if His justice in terms of judging sin isn’t complete. To say that all will eventually enter Heaven is to say that God tolerates sin. If, regardless of one’s antagonism towards God, one can still enter Heaven and cannot do anything to prevent themselves from choosing God through one’s actions, then free will is no longer free will. To force one to love, rather than allowing one to freely choose love, is no act of love at all.
What is going on here is not Universalism vs. traditional Christianity. It’s a teaching that challenges the Word of God. To say that we must be “open-minded” about a teaching that threatens to discredit God’s love and justice is to equate what Paul said in Galatians about Judaizers as hate speech. It’s like Galatians in reverse; instead of a stress on legalism, it’s now a stress on universalism.
It’s not a debate about what Sunday to have communion on or what to wear to church. This debate strikes at the heart of the divinity of God. It challenges His ability to allow free will and his intolerance for sin.
If Jesus did so little as to flip tables in a Temple, then God will do more to flip the hearts of His people.
As it says in Ephesians 4.14-15, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”
Love wins? Yes. But it wins on the heels of truth. And truth must be spoken. Every time.
-Pastor Terry Parkman is student ministries pastor at Evangel Assembly of God. You can follow his blog at www.unorthodoxsaints.tumblr.com.
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