Universalists believe that all will eventually be “saved”, however there is a part in its doctrine that doesn’t satisfactorily explain the big gap that is between one’s death and eventual salvation. Traditional Christianity goes to the opposite extreme and says once the unsaved person is dead there is no second chance to be saved and that person is bound to hell for all eternity, which for them, solves the question of what happens after death (or raises a greater one).
For most fundamental Christians there are no second chances for those who have been so unfortunate as to have been born in a country that doesn’t teach Christianity. It is not within the scope this writing to show just how unlogical and unjust the doctrine of eternal torment is, but in this doctrine there is very wide gap of the inability to understand just what actually happens after death — and even worse, hopelessness. The unbeliever after death is simply either conscious of nothing until the day of judgment or the spirit of the one such person is held in some sort of dark prison or goes to a place of concious torment until the day of judgement. In any case, the “unsaved” are finally judged on that great day and is thrown into a literal Lake of Fire burning with brimstone tormented night and day in the presence of God and his angels.
The doctrine of Eternal Torment was obviously a horrendous fear story made up to scare people into subservience and to make it possible for the church to control and manipulate their subjects. This is a doctrine that has absolutely no basis of truth and there is no evidence for its proof without contradicting the very nature of God Himself.
Universalists, on the other hand, believe that there will be “some kind of hell” for unbelievers and the wicked, since there is actually reference to it in the bible, but they don’t know exactly what it is — they only know it is NOT a literal fire where men’s spirits are tormented for an eternity. Some believe if it is literal, it isn’t eternal. I believe that most universalists don’t believe hell is a literal hell-fire and brimstone and torment, nor do they believe the time in hell is eternal. However, it is very vauge as to what hell actually is and how a change comes about to get from the point of being “unsaved” to becoming “saved”, nor how long this process would take. Most importantly, the question is: “what actually is this ‘hell’ that the bible talks so much about?”
The strange thing is though, once an “unbeliever” is in a fiery hell (that is if it actually exists) and being tormented night and day without stop, I’m sure that any soul in such a situation would promptly turn into a believer and confess and repent and sincerely promise to do anything in order to get out of such a horrendous situation. I don’t believe there that there would be any unbelievers in Hell.
For Universalists, evidently there must be some kind of punishment or suffering that some must pass though but no one has any idea how many aions it could take, how long or how short that could be. Now what if the “unsaved” person in the process of his punishment for unbelief and wickedness says “uncle” to God within a week’s time? What if he says, “I believe, I believe. I’m sorry, now please let me out!”? Does God just say well according to your works you deserve to stay in your torment for another 2,000 years? Or does God have mercy and say, “OK, you can get out now”? Why is such an important question like this so vague?
Maybe there is no evidence in the bible as to what actually happens after the grave. Or does it? Many people believe that God purposely made it vague as to what exactly happens after this life, since if God made it clear it would interfere with our free-will and the whole plan that God put into effect in order to have creations of his that would love Him without being forced to. I’m not totally convinced that this is actually the truth of the matter since the church has covered up so much that God meant from man to know and has forged so many doctrines that have no basis in reality or in truth.
How is it that the unsaved are all eventually saved in the end?
Although Universalists believe that all will be eventually “saved” in the end, there is no information, that I know of, in the doctrines of Universalism that actually explains how this happens. For fundamentalist Christians it’s either you’re saved or you’re unsaved, so there is no information with them either since they believe God will send millions of his beloved creations to be eternally tormented in hell — nor do most really care.
Since there has been so much written on this subject and it is outside the scope of this writing about whether or not all souls are eventually saved in the end this will not be addressed in this article. But in fundamental Christianity there is very little alternative, one is either unsaved and goes to hell for eternity or he does not go to hell for an eternity and is eventually saved in the end. I am writing with the assumption that all souls are eventually saved in the end.
The only thing in the bible that could logically bring about an eventual salvation in the end is Reincarnation.
Think about it: if a person dies as an unbeliever, and hasn’t really done a lot of bad things in his life, maybe he isn’t really deserving of much punishment. The person doesn’t deserve to be with God, but doesn’t deserve an eternity in hell either. Why would a loving, merciful and long-suffering God NOT give a soul like this another chance to get it right. Long-suffering is an expression that means to wait patiently for a long time. In comparison to eternity, a lifetime is infinitesimal in comparison.
How about a soul that was a so-called “believer” but never did any good works in this life time? You know there are so many of these you see all the time. After all, they believe that to be saved all you have to do is believe and you go to heaven for eternity — no matter how bad you have lived. You know it’s the truth, there are Christians that “live like the Devil” all week long and go to church on Sunday. To tell you the truth these don’t deserve to be with God either. And if they really need to go back and do a grade over, to learn the lessons that they need to learn, to make amends for the things that they did wrong in their lifetimes, how much more just would it be for God to require that soul to come back to Earth and live another physical lifetime — maybe in the shoes of the one that he had wronged? And how unjust would it be for God to let a person like this enjoy all the undeserved goodness of God for an eternity, just because he said he believed in Jesus?
The bible actually does reference Reincarnation in so many places, even by Jesus. But there is no actual teachings of Jesus (in the bible) about Reincarnation and why it happens and to whom, although it is more than obvious that Jesus himself believed in it. The reality is that Jesus actually did teach these things and they were recorded in early writings. Until the 6th century Reincarnation was a very popular belief, even among many bishops and even a pope. However, the emperor Justinian in 545 AD decided to put a stop to it and threatened death to anyone who believed that “souls come from God and return to God”. That’s pretty severe for just believing that a person has existed before and his spirit continues on in a new body in the next life!
If anyone asserts the fabulous preexistence of souls, and shall assert the monstrous restoration which follows from it: let him be anathema. (The Anathemas against Origen), attached to the decrees of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, A.D. 545, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2d ser., 14: 318).
Since there is so much of Jesus’ teachings that was left out of the bible, and much evidence can be found that reveals that men hid facts so that it would not be known that gospels are not complete, it is necessary to go beyond the pages of the bible to find other teachings of Jesus that the church was not able to destroy. Despite the fact that the church rejects the gospel of the Nazarenes, there is something the rings incredibly truthful about it’s contents. The following are some passages copied from the gospel of the Nazarenes and translated directly from Aramaic that reveals the teachings of Jesus on the wonderful doctrine of Reincarnation.
37.2 And He said to them, “Blessed are they who suffer many experiences, for they will be made perfect through suffering; they will be as the angels of God in heaven and will die no more. Neither will they be born any more, for death and birth have no more dominion over them.
37.3 They who have suffered and have overcome will be made pillars of the temple of my God, and they will go out no more. I say to you, except you be born again of water and of fire, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
37.6 The light shines from the East even to the West; out of the darkness. The sun rises and sets into darkness again; so is it with man, from the ages to the ages.
37.7 When it cometh from the darkness, it is that he has lived before, and when it goes down again into darkness, it is that he may rest for a little, and there after again exist.
And the gospel of Thomas:
I shall give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, and what has never arisen in a human mind. So the disciples said to Jesus, ‘Tell us about the end.’ Jesus said, Have you already discovered the beginning that now you can seek after the end? For where the beginning is, the end will be. Blessed is the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death. Blessed is the one who came to life before coming to life. Jesus Christ – Gospel of Thomas (Saying 18-19)