And old friend of mine, Martin Zender, recently spoke at the Sacramento Concordant Conference and says exactly what I’ve been thinking recently. Just a warning for those who aren’t familiar with Martin’s trademark odd-ball humour, the little introduction he gives at the beginning will seem a little over the top, but his brief presentation is worth…
Just because it's "orthodox" doesn't mean it's true
Category Archives: universalism
Love Wins. Does Justice Prevail?
There’s been a lot of controversy over the last week, both in the blogosphere and the twitterverse, about an upcoming book by Rob Bell called Love Wins (that’s an affiliate link by the way, so if you decide to order it using that link then you’re helping support this site, though please keep in mind…
Dialogue With an Evangelical: The Movie
Three years ago, I shared a little dialogue between myself and a random evangelical on the subjects of hell and Christian Universalism. For the fun of it, I decided to make up a short video of that discussion using those talking bears I’ve been seeing around the web over the last few months. It seems to…
The Christian Religion is a Failure
This might come as a shock to some, but the Christian religion can’t help you. It won’t help you live a better life. It won’t bring you peace of mind. It won’t even help you get to heaven. In fact, odds are it will do just the opposite. Sure, it’s got its benefits (well, depending…
We Are All Innocent
Those who know me well know that I don’t believe in free will, or at least that I think it’s the biggest misnomer there is, philosophically and theologically speaking. Every person alive is a victim of their genetics and past experiences. In other words, every choice we make is predetermined by our nurture and nature….
Dialogue With an Evangelical – Part 1: Hell
The following is a dialogue between myself and “Bob,” an Evangelical Christian, about the subject of hell: Bob: Hi, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions. Me: Sure, why not? What’s up? Bob: If you were to die today, do you know for sure where you’d end up? Me: Creepy question,…
Do Universalists Need Jesus?
Someone I know recently said that if Universalism is true then we don’t need Jesus and, since I’ve heard this statement too many times from too many traditionalists, I felt a need to give a short response to it here. As a Christian Universalist, I like to respond to assertions like this one with a…
TULIP
Believe it or not, I find that there is quite a bit in Calvinism to agree with, particularly their take on free will. There are a couple points where we disagree though, what with me being a Christian Universalist and all, so I thought I’d give my Universalist take on TULIP: 1. Total Depravity/Total Grace:…
Let’s See What You’ve Got
In my experience, really thinking over the implications and ramifications of their own doctrines doesn’t seem to be something most Christians do. Likewise, theological consistency doesn’t appear to be a virtue among most Christians either. These observations are probably made the clearest when it comes to the topic of hell. The fact that interpreting the…
If You Were a Universalist
Brian, over at The Beautiful Heresy, reminded me of a great old (possibly apocryphal) story about the 19th century Universalist Hosea Ballou in a recent review of Martin Zender’s newest book: Ballou was riding the circuit in the New Hampshire hills with a Baptist minister one day, arguing theology as they traveled. At one point,…
I’m Not Here to Convert You
Believe it or not, my goal is not to convert anyone to Christian Universalism (as if I could, anyway). It might seem like this is my goal but my actual reasons for discussing the topic of Universal Reconciliation on this site are a little different. My first reason is to provide some explanations to those…
