I just finished Rob Bell's "Love Wins."
I loved his approach to salvation.
He asks the tough questions, and points out that if our faith is really just about getting the ticket in, past the bouncer at the gate, then we've missed something very important about salvation.
He points out the primary reason why universalism doesn't work: Even if we assumed everyone makes it to the party, we still have to choose where or not we are going to participate in the party or not, and there are definitely those who will refuse to party with God. (I want to emphasize that Rob Bell points to only one way to get into that party: the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, who died and was resurrected on our behalf)
To make this point about the party, he uses the example of the Prodigal Sons:
The younger son came home to be a laborer because he no longer believed himself worthy to be a son. So, when his dad throws a robe over his shoulders and a ring on his finger, and throws a party in his honor, the son has to decide whether he is going to go on believing he is not the man's son, or accept the father's invitation to be his son again.
The older son believes that he has been a slave of the father's, doing everything in his power to earn his father's blessings, and refuses to enjoy his dad's party. His dad reminds him that he has no reason to feel like a slave because everything the dad has had has been his son's all along. The older son has to decide whether he is going to believe that.
So, whether lost in your own sin, or in your own religious misconceptions, whether you are perceived as in or out, the tough question is: Do you want to participate in the party or not?
Bell concludes that love will win in that it will give us what WE want. If we accept God's invitation to be sons, he will provide that lovingly. But, if we insist on rejecting and refusing God, his love gives us freedom to choose that, too.
So, I would say that an emphasis on just getting in, having a ticket that gets me past the bouncer at the gate, is simply not enough. I desperately want to fully participate and enjoy God's party. I'm determined to party with God, and I'm confident in his love to get me there!