Summary: Christ will redeem all created things. Judgment should not be seen as a final end but as a tool used to make the all things new.

Might Everything Come Out Okay in the End?

Most churches have some sort of written creed but this is not what they believe. If you want to know what a church believes, observe its behavior. What do they emphasize? What do they actually do? Viewed this way, very few churches believe that most people wind up in an eternal place of torment, no matter what their written documents say. 

This hit me way back in college. I remember the exact place I was sitting when I read these words:

… The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)

The way I understood it back then, this meant that everyone who did not receive Jesus into their heart was bound for eternal torture in hell. If this was true then I was the most selfish person in the world. How could I not spend every waking moment warning people of this and begging them to ask Jesus into their hearts so they would go to heaven? Evidently, since I had my place in heaven I was content to sit back and watched the rest of the world go to Hell. 

But I wondered if there was more to it than this. I went to funeral services for people who were clearly not followers of Jesus. Nothing was said about them being tortured in hell. Instead they were spoken of in glowing terms and every impression was given that they were smiling down at us from heaven. If we really believed in the doctrine of hell, most funerals would be weeping and gnashing of teeth as we contemplated our dear departed in eternal flames.

Christmas also puzzled me. It was the time of year when we celebrated Jesus, the Son of God, who came to our world to rescue it. A few people would be saved and the rest sent to hell. This was the “good news of great joy for all the people?” It seemed to me like very bad news. When the World Trade Center collapsed, most people died and a few were saved. No one called the collapse of the World Trade Center good news. Soon, God would blow up the world like terrorists blew up the World Trade Center. A tiny minority would escape to heaven. This was good news? But again, no one said this at Christmas. We ate cookies, drank punch and sang about peace, love and joy.

Why do we say one thing and do another? Because our hearts are better theologians than our heads. Truth speaks so clearly in our hearts that it is nearly impossible to live in contradiction to it. If our minds create some crazy belief system we simply ignore and follow the truth. If we want to be consistent, we must adjust either our behavior or our our creed. In this case it is our creed that needs the overhaul. 

In this chapter, I will explain why I believe in universal reconciliation. I will start by giving three common ideas of the fate of the wicked. Next, I will give the evidence that in the end, God saves everyone and everything and show how this might look. Finally, I will share the drastic ways that belief in universal salvation has changed my attitudes toward other people. 

Judgment: Endless Suffering, Annihilation, or Redemption?

As I pointed out in the chapter on hell, there is no way to erase the fact that the Bible not only contains thrilling inspiration; it is also filled with stern warnings of coming judgment. Here are a couple of well-known examples. Review the chapter on hell for more. 

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.