One standard anti-universalist argument can be summarily dismissed--the argument that universalism trivializes the urgency of embracing the Gospel. Does the prospect of spending long periods of Hell time in unimaginable conscious torment trivialize the Gospel? Please!
Back in 2008 I experienced a very small taste of this chastisement and wrote about it in my book:
THERE IS HELL TO AVOID
In online discussions with those believing in eternal hell, I have constantly received the comment “So you believe there is no hell?” It is often expressed with what can be seen as a fair amount of sarcastic indignation. This accusation is not in line with traditional belief in Apokatastasis.
[For some, perhaps many, the return of Christ Jesus in glory will ignite a gehennic conflagration in the depth of their souls There is Hell to Avoid!. Imprisoned in their egoism and malice, they will hate the Son and with all their might will attempt to extinguish the love born in their hearts. And so they will burn. They will know the torment of hell, a torment of love, guilt, and self-condemnation. Guiding Bulgakov’s reflections here are the homilies of St Isaac the Syrian, which he knew in Russian translation. He refers to the following passage several times:
I say that those tormented in gehenna are struck by the scourge of love. And how bitter and cruel is this agony of love, for, feeling that they have sinned against love, they experience a torment that is greater than any other. The affliction that strikes the heart because of the sin against love is more terrible than any possible punishment. It is wrong to think that gehenna are deprived of God’s love. Love is produced by knowledge of the truth, which (everyone is in agreement about this) is given to all in general. But by its power love affects human beings in a twofold manner: It torments sinners, as even here a friend sometimes causes one to suffer, and it gladdens those who have carried out their duty. And so, in my opinion, the torment of gehenna consists in repentance. Love fills with its joys the souls of the children on high. (Quoted in Bride, p. 466; emphasis mine)
[1]
This is but one of many quotes of the early fathers you can find which declare that for the wicked there will be suffering. Its intensity will correspond to the degree of sin with which the soul has pleasured itself in this life. This is the Orthodox faith and eschatology. There is no place called hell. There is something far worse for the sinful–the very presence of God which strips away every lie, every self-delusion, and every falsehood.
I know this personally because I was given a minuscule taste of it after the death of my first wife. I had spent years being driven by Christian fear-mongers who threatened me with eternal fire if I did not believe correctly and did not win souls to Christ. One even went as far as to say that nothing was more important than serving Christ, even one’s own family. In the grip of this brainwashed farce of a religion, I became driven and self-righteous. I was sure I had the correct religion, and since my family didn’t share my views, I was cold and indifferent to them. I gave more time to my church and its activities than to them, desperately working to be sure God loved me and would receive me into His Kingdom rather than toss me into hell. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was a judgmental boor, constantly badgering people about “getting right with God” so they could go to heaven. While the message was technically correct, the insensitive way I clubbed people over the head with it was not.
It was only after Karen died that I was brought one night to see what a jerk I had become. At the urging of two friends who were Carmelite nuns, I went back to a monastery I had visited before, wondering if the life of a monk was now God’s plan for the rest of my life. On my last night of a three month stay, I had an interior illumination which shook me to my core. In this illuminated moment, with clarity I remembered my poor wife, sitting alone upstairs, watching TV, without her husband there to be with her. Every night I came home, made dinner, and went downstairs to spend hours on the computer. For the first time I clearly realized how selfish this was.
The knowledge of this truth was like waves of fire raining down on my conscience. I cannot begin to adequately describe in words the agony of this knowledge, but fire is a good description. That is exactly what it felt like. There was nowhere to run or hide. All I could do was weep and beg God to forgive me for what I had done. All pretense of being a good Christian was stripped away in the raw, naked truth of how selfish I had been. True Christian, self-giving love would have put aside my desires and would have given my time to Karen.
Believe me, if I could make you feel what I felt that night, you would run to your church and fall on your knees to beg God to forgive whatever sin has you in its grip with its false delights. For the deeply wicked, I cannot begin to imagine what they face when the stand in the presence of the One who is Truth. Every petty tyrant will see himself not as the bold warrior or great defender of his country he fancied himself to be, but as a murderer, thief, and beast. Every fornicator, adulterer, and sexually impure person will see the truth about himself and how he simply used others for his pleasure. It will be agonizing beyond any earthly description to face this raw truth.
Yes, there is hell, but the good news for all is that it is not just raw punishment or vengeful justice, but is designed to reform the sinner, to free him from his lusts, to change his very person into the likeness of Christ. St. Athanasius said, “God became man so that man might become god.”
[2]Because of sin, the process of becoming deified is a long, arduous, and sometimes quite painful one. It can be carried out here, with difficulty and pain, or in the next age, with a suffering that anyone who tasted even a small bit of it, would run from, casting himself into the arms of Christ.
The Fram Oil Filter Corporation ran a television ad years ago in which the punch line was “You can pay me now. . . or you can pay me later.” In the ad, a mechanic delivered this line, standing in front of a disassembled automobile engine. The idea was simple. Pay now for the filter and protect your engine or pay later for a complete engine overhaul when it fails, which will be far more expensive to your wallet than a few dollars for a Fram filter now.
In Matthew 5:19–26, Jesus is teaching about sin and judgment. He ends this section of the Sermon on the Mount with this warning: “Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.”
[1] Kimmel, “Hell as Universal Purgatory,” Para. 2–3
[2] Athanasius, “On the Incarnation.”
