If All Are Saved, What Happens to the Drama of Life?

Michie said:

Believing that Christ will save everyone calls into question the very meaning of life itself.

“Lord,” said the repentant thief on the cross, “remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Jesus. “Your life was not important. You and the other fellow both will be with me today in Paradise.”

“Father,” said the rich man from the fires of Gehenna, “send Lazarus over to cool my thirst with a drop of water.”

“I will do better than that,” said Abraham. “The road between us is a couple of steps, and souls go back and forth along it all the time. Why don’t you just come on over here?”

“What about my brothers back home?” said the rich man, who had once delighted in all the good things of the world, and who was content to have Lazarus beneath him, trying to catch a crumb or two that fell from his table, while the dogs, more merciful than he, licked the poor man’s sores. “If someone were to rise from the dead, they might listen to him.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Abraham. “They don’t heed the law and the prophets, so they won’t listen to someone who rises from the dead, either. So, what’s the point? We’ll have them over here just like you.”

Continued below.

If All Are Saved, What Happens to the Drama of Life?

By Anthony Esolen - Believing that Christ will save everyone calls into question the very meaning of life itself.

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I completely agree with you. Throughout scripture men are told to choose---choose life or death, choose good or evil, choose whom they will serve. The entire basis of God's relationship with man is grounded in the free will that God granted us when He created us in His image. I truly believe that most people who hold to the position that all humans will ultimately be saved do so not because God's word teaches it (it doesn't) nor because it is sound theology (it isn't). They choose to believe it because they don't know how to deal with the concept that there will be many individuals who go to their graves refusing God's offer of forgiveness, who will die lost, and who will spend all eternity separated from God. The final judgment is just that: final. I have to admit that even as a Believer of many decades and a man who loves God, the idea of eternal damnation still makes my blood run cold. Many times I have wished that God would have created some other way to deal with unbelievers. But ultimately, what is there to do? If He is to honor the free will He gave us, He has to honor our choice to reject Him. What man would tell a woman he desires, "I want you to be my wife, and yes, I know you don't love me or have any desire to ever marry me, but I am going to force you to marry me and live your life with me anyway." "Love" that has to be coerced or forced isn't love anyway. No---God gives every man all the awareness and information he needs to acknowledge Him. God will bend over backward to give light and understanding to anyone who seeks it from Him. God desperately desires that NONE should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance. But ultimately, God will respect the choice we make and give us what we choose---everlasting life in His presence or horrific, eternal separation from Him. We are asked to choose, and He honors our choice.