Rest assured that the non-universalist does not use the fear of hell to keep him from sinning. There is a far greater sorrow than torment of the Lake of Fire involved.
Then why do they create the false argument that universalists have nothing to keep them from sinning?
Whether or not the universalist realizes it or not, the message of ultimate reconciliation is one of enablement for the sinner. If convinced of ultimate reconciliation, the sinner will continue to play and pay later.
That's the false argument. The exact opposite of what you've just said is true.
Whether or not the non-universalist realizes it, the message of universal reconciliation is
not one of enablement for the sinner. No one is convinced of ultimate reconciliation without also being convinced of the sad realities that temporal sin cause us here on Earth, and no one understands and accepts universal reconciliation without also being compassionate and loving of the word of Christ, and in that compassion, driven to kindness, and not to sin.
However, if you'd care to defend your statement, can you give me an example of anyone who is a universalist who has, say, been put on trial for committing murder, or who has been arrested for stealing, who used as his defense in a court room the belief in universal reconciliation, or who has simply proclaimed that, they don't care what they did because they believe in universal salvation?
I've known a lot of universalists, and I've never known one I would not trust not to take my life, who I could not trust with my small daughter, or who I could not trust to hold my wallet.
On the other side, I can give you examples of self-proclaimed Christians who were not universalists who have killed and committed a host of wrongful acts, who used their non-universalistic Christian beliefs in defense of the very actions they committed. Plenty of non-universalistic child molestors, including priests, are out there, but I know of no universalist child molestor arrested in the history of universalism. Do you know of one?
This is not to say that non-universalistic Christianity leads one to sin, but rather, that the doctrine of hell apparently is not an effective deterant to sin. The assurance of universal salvation is either an effective deterrant to sin, or is a doctrine which draws the sort of person who is not likely to commit such sin in the first place.
Certainly, I can name a host of historical Universalists -- John Murray, Benjamin Rush (signer of the Declaration of Independance,) John Adams & Thomas Jefferson (our second and third Presidents, both of whom denied belief in eternal punishment in their letters) Abel C. Thomas, etc. None of them, to my knowledge, used universal salvation, say, to defend robbing a store or killing someone, etc.
But, please, I may be wrong. Tell me about a specific universalist who committed a specific sin, and universal salvation was their primary motivator?
Charlie
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I found a few exceptions -- but this doesn't involve sinning, just being arrested for crimes involving living and preaching universalism, but they were crimes that could hardly be called "sins".
Such as the crime is heresy: Preaching Universalism in the first place.
George de Benneville was arrested in France for this crime, avoiding execution by a last minute reprieve from King Louis XV. So if it's a sin to teach universalism, yes, he was guilty as charged, and perhaps some would disagree with the King and support his execution.
Maria Cook, the first female Universalist preacher, was in initinerant preacher until she was arrested in 1813 in New York for the crime of vagrancy. So if it's a sin to be homeless while traveling and preaching the Word of God, then Maria Cook was such a sinner.
Elijah Davis, cousin John Mayo, and Jonathan Streeter were Quaker universalists who were arrested for refusing to report to the Continental Army. So if pacifism and being a consciencious objector to fighting in a war is a sin, they were universalists who were guilty as charged. (They were also guilty of being among those who created the Universalist denomination, building the first meeting house in 1792.)
So, sure, if teaching universalism and being pacifists are sins, then, yes, some universalists have been driven to that sin by their faith, and arrested for it!
Charlie
relax, take a deep breath, go outside and see the scenery. My wife tells me the graphics are stupendous.
