Craig, I know you are passionate about Universalism.
Thanks. I am passionate for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it just happens to preach universalism.
If I am not mistaken, you adhere to a Kingdom/Sonship version of UR, correct?
You could be mistaken, I don't know what Kingdom/Sonship version of UR is. I can tell you what I know, but I can't tell you what it is classified.
I admit that if one looks at Scriptures in a literal, non-allegorical way, they do seem to paint a such a doctrinal picture at first glance.
Oh, it isn't what most people think, I agree.
I'm sorry, but that is just not going to work for a man like me (even though I am currently celibate and probably won't ever be in a relationship). However, I still just can't love a God who is going to cast gays and lesbians into a lake of fire till He burns the homo out of them.
TSD
Your funny (honest). There is no homo
or hetro in heaven.
They are not in marriage nor given to marriage in heaven, whether homosexual or hetrosexual. There are no fornicators in heaven, just as there is no virgins in heaven. There are no adultarers, just as their are no partners (homosexual or hetrosexual).
If you were ever in the Kingdom of God, you cannot be kicked out of it. Jesus said, "A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand," and that phrase does not just apply to the kingdom of Beezalbub, but the Kingdom of God as well.
I am going to re-answer the questions above. I agree that people have abused fear tactics, especially fundementalists. Passion for the Gospel must be tempered with knowledge.
Proverbs 19:2
It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.
Romans 10:2-4
For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
It is not you, who has to worry about missing the way. It is not you, who the warnings were given to. It was those who sought out to establish a righteousness of their own, who did not submit to the righteousness of God, who have found themselves on the brink of destruction.
No one can kick me out of a kingdom,
Reality states, if you belong to a kingdom, the only one who can kick you out of the kingdom is not the citizens, not the ambassadors, but the King. So we must trust on the Character of the King, and we must recognize that a Kingdom divided against itself will not stand. Too many citizens and ambassadors think it is in their power to kick you out of the Kingdom, this power and authority is in the hands of only One. This does not mean no one can kick you out of a kingdom, it just means that not anyone can kick you out.
deny me a first resurrection
Not any one can deny you a first resurrection, only the one with the power over life can grant or refuse the first resurrection. The reality is, you have no control over this authority, so only the 'One' with the authority to grant life, can deny you a first resurrection. We must trust on the character of the one who grants life, to give it.
Tell me to depart from them or relegate me to retribution.
No man has the execute this. Though sometimes you have no choice to be relegated to retribution. We all recieve rewards, some rewards are better than others, but our reconciliation, our salvation, is not based on the reward but on what Jesus already did. So whether you have rewards or not, is not ultimately important, but if you trust in the Lord, you will not be ashamed.
That is how I believe brother, you may think that I sound legalistic by the fact I state facts and information. The reality is, though I may think something is a sin, I have sinnned even greater. Scripture does not say we are judged in accordance to our sins!
2 Corinthians 5:18-19
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
So we will all be judged according to our words and deeds, but our sins are not counted against us. This is something Christianity has messed up in presenting.
Right now we have an uneven balance.
1) One one side, we are not judged by works and deeds, and unless we have Jesus Christ our sins are counted against us (Most Eternal Torment Doctrine).
2) On the other side, we are not judged by works and deeds, since Jesus Christ died for all, our sins are not counted against us (Most Christian Universalist Doctrine).
The truth according to Scripture is:
3) We are all in Christ Jesus, we are judged by our works and deeds, and our sins are not counted against us.
So we need to understand, if our works and deeds are counted against us, but our sins are not what does that mean? It means God will track the positives, and ignore the negatives. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we can only live the life we live and control the things that are in our control. That is why even if we give a cup of water to someone who is thirsty, we will not lose our reward. God remembers are good things.
