Apokatastasis?

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

I heard/read somewhere that Anabaptists are one Christian group that believes in this (apokatastasis). Basically in a nutshell apokatastasis is the belief that eventually ALL will be reconciled to God somehow, even Satan and the fallen angels.

Is this true? Is this part of what Anabaptists believe? If so, could someone explain how that works please?

Apologies in advance if this isn't what you all believe or if it is an offensive question somehow; it is not intended to be. Thanks.

 

[MrJim]

Greetings to you Moriah_Conquering_Wind,

Nope, never heard of apokatastasis nor any sort of its teaching amongst anabaptist writings.

Now it is surely possible there were factions of anabaptists early on that held to such beliefs, for the early movement had a plethora of different ideas until some leaders like Sattler & Simons began to bring it to order.

 

[arunma]

Is it just my misconceptions, or are you anabaptists generally good about rejecting universalist doctrines?

 

[Danfrey]

I can tell you that this Anabaptist is good at rejecting Universalist doctrines.

 

[MrJim]

Is it just my misconceptions, or are you anabaptists generally good about rejecting universalist doctrines?

but that's a good thing, right?

 

[catlover]

I thought The Trinitarian Universalists taught this concept...

 

[arunma]

but that's a good thing, right?

That was a poorly worded sentence, now that I think of it. I certainly agree that universalism is unbiblical. What I meant to say was that according to one of my preconcieved notions, anabaptists reject universalism (so in this case, I had a positive misconception). I was hoping that my misconception would turn out to be accurate.

Anyway...

universalism = bad
salvation by faith in Christ (false religions don't count) = good.

 

[Adara]

universalism = bad
salvation by faith in Christ (false religions don't count) = good.

Salvation by faith in Christ AND caring about those who believe in other religions = Best.


*smile*

 

[arunma]

Salvation by faith in Christ AND caring about those who believe in other religions = Best.


*smile*

I couldn't agree more. It's very important to care about people who practice false religion. But unfortunately, the modern church seems to be accepting the heretical belief that salvation is possible through the practice of false religion. This belief is prevalent in both Catholic and Protestant churches. In the Catholic Church, it is easy to simply say that unbelievers can be saved by good works. However, the Protestant heritage requires all Protestants to at least nominally believe in salvation by grace through faith. I've seen many Protestants attempt to alter the definition of faith in Christ, claiming that even righteous unbelievers, by means of their good works, have some sort of faith in Christ that they aren't aware of. It troubles me quite a bit that so many Christians believe that salvation is possible without confessing that he is Lord, and believing that God raised him from the dead.

I agree that it is required for us to love unbelievers. At the same time, I think it's important for us to not abandon the Biblical doctrine that unbelievers will go to hell if they don't also confess Christ as Lord. By no means am I suggesting fire & brimstone fundamentalism (or any other brand of fundamentalism). But I think that it would be unloving for us to pretend that false religions are valid paths to God.

 

[Adara]

I agree that it is required for us to love unbelievers. At the same time, I think it's important for us to not abandon the Biblical doctrine that unbelievers will go to hell if they don't also confess Christ as Lord.

I agree.

Moral relativism and universalism go hand in hand with a pluralistic society. It could be seen as a sort of survival mechanism. If we can find common ground in our beliefs, the reasoning goes, we can avoid disagreement and thereby avoid any eventual deadly conflict that might arise from the disagreement.

The sad outcome of this way of thinking, however, is that Jesus Christ becomes just another "wise teacher" in the footnotes of history -- not the saviour of the world.

My response to this is to strive to demonstrate, every day, what true Christian meekness and love really are. All the theological debates and conferences (and, as you said, "fire and brimstone sermons") in the world will mean nothing if I do not back up my professed belief with actions.

 

[Joykins]

Anyway...

universalism = bad
salvation by faith in Christ (false religions don't count) = good.

This may be accurate but I believe that God *does* want everyone to be saved, and those who are not saved are those who do not want to be saved (who reject God for whatever reasons). So I can't go with universalism= bad. I *can* go with universalism = overly optimistic.