Without getting into all of the spiritual experiences that I've had, my first major vision of the Universal Restoration was after I'd read this. I was totally transported to the world of 1Corinthians 15:28 one day in 2003 after having read this in a book:
http://www.gtft.org/ElhananWinchester/Winchester016.htmlI've been back many times since. Yeah, I could talk visions, dreams, being caught away to heaven like Enoch or St. Paul, and countless other experiences for hours that I've had regarding the Scriptural truth of this, but if I go too far, then wouldn't your question be subject to the potential for twisting my words into making my beliefs in this a matter of subjective experience rather than "line upon line, precept upon precept"? So, I'll refrain always from sharing 99% of my experiences with the Lord in relation to this truth. As far as the nature and plain sense of the Scriptures:
Contrary to the central affirmation of some regarding the "plain interpretation" of Scripture necessarily leading to a belief in eternal destruction, the depth of Scripture is such that it can perplex angels (1 Pet 1:12), the Apostle Peter (2 Pet 3:15-16), and potential converts (Acts 8:30-35); requires growth in grace to understand (Heb 5:11-14) and special teachers to explain (2 Tim 2:2); and is susceptible to false teachers distorting it (1 Tim 1:7).
But as Tony N. has said, better translations like the Concordant, Scarlett's, Rotherham's, Young's, Hanson's, and the earlier editions of Weymouth's translation makes UR less a matter of "interpretation" and much easier to perceive than having to work around mistranslations in the KJV and other translations that in their forwards clearly admit that they're "following in the traditions of the KJV."
If it were a matter of experiences, though, then I'd share a hundred thousand words with you of all of the places I've been taken by each Scripture that speaks to me of the Universal Restoration. The restoration of all of humanity through Jesus Christ is only entry level UR. There's the issue of animals and angels that many people choke on because of bad information many of them entertain about the origins and nature of the "authority of darkness," who/what has a soul/spirit, etc. But the further you get into the Scriptures with this, it winds up having the Biblical depths that any other subject in the Scriptures has. It's consistent with the will of God that none should perish and that believers should pray first of all for all men. It's consistent with loving your neighbor and praying for your enemies. It's consistent with the meaning of the Greek word translated "Gospel" that only has a very small handful of uses outside of the New Testament in ancient Greek, that you can probably count on one hand, because the word literally carries the idea of good news that's "too good to be true."
A message of Christ only redeeming the pious while trashing and burning all of the rest for all of eternity isn't very extravagent good news, because many good and godly people would consider themselves excluded from that number being all too aware of their own frailties, etc. If He's there for people every time but the last time, then when is the last time for you? If in the end, He's only as faithful as you prove to be, are you faithful enough? Is the alternative message of being able to count on God if He can count on you really heart ravishing good news and the kind of love that you can leap into the arms of without worries of being dropped and/or not caught? I knew of nothing else but the message of eternal torment the first 25 years of my life.
The more that I meditated on the KJV and NKJV Scriptures, I never got a revelation of eternal torment that was consistent with the character, promises, and anointing of the Holy Spirit. My flesh only grew in greater bondage to the enemy as I entertained the mistranslation and exaggeration of endless torments and/or endless separation. When I'd be in revival services, the Anointing would be soooo intense and then suddenly the atmosphere would change in a way that was more akin to the Holy Spirit being grieved when the eternal Hell message would be used to blackmail people into conversions with the glad tidings of the Lord allegedly saying "Love Me or ELSE!!" Apart from the fact that that's more consistent with rape than with the Scriptural warnings against trying the Lord's patience, defiling the temple of your body, and setting aside His will for your life, it also would CONSISTENTLY dry up any sense of the anointing being present. The fear evident among the people wasn't the truly Scriptural reverential awe of the Lord, as though one were in the Presence of an Honorable and Admirable Father to be proud of. It was more the sense of being pushed alone into a dark room [alone] with Jack the Ripper.
Show me one person that's ever been baptized with the Holy Spirit in the 20 centuries of Christianity on the message of eternal torment. Show me one person whose body has been healed in the Name of Jesus Christ in the 20 centuries of Christianity on the message of eternal torment. Show me one person with a broken mind who has been restored to soundness of mind in the Name of Jesus Christ in the 20 centuries of Christianity on the message of eternal separation or torment. Show me one person whose relationship with the Lord has genuinely been enriched by the message of eternal separation or eternal torment in the 20 centuries of Christianity. Show me one person in the 20 centuries of Christianity who has believed in the message of eternal torment who has shared in the [identical] exuberance of the prophets and psalmists of the Bible over the judgments of God THAT WASN'T A SELF RIGHTEOUS PHARISEE.
No, people that have been healed, baptized with the Holy Spirit, delivered from mental bondages, drawn into greater intimacy with God, and encouraged in His purposes have experienced all of these things based upon aspects of truth that had nothing to do with the alleged fate of the wicked. Why wouldn't/shouldn't the Scriptures be consistent with themselves and with the nature, attentiveness, and wisdom of God presented to us in the Scriptures? You mentioned speaking in other tongues. Do you not see the contradiction with the Charismatic message even? Heal them now and eternally burn them later?? Are dozens of Jews and Gentiles that Jesus healed in His earthly ministry burning in never ending torments because their views of Him being the second person of the trinity, or God incarnate, or judge of all flesh never perfected in their understanding in this life??
Why is the message of eternal torment, if it's a true reflection of the mind and purpose of God, the only message in the Bible that one isn't edified by when one's heart is right with the Lord? Why are there no genuine faith, hope, and love building revelations that can be gained from the Holy Spirit by such an alleged Scriptural revelation? Why has it never enriched someone's spiritual life and promoted their sanctification
beyond the level of personal, self preservation where they simply didn't want to be among the eternally lost? Doesn't the message of eternal separation, eternal torment, or eternal destruction
more easily feed the spirit of "I thank God that I'm not as other men" than the message of the Universal Restoration that brings hope, peace, contentment, eagerness in one's God, total abandonment of self to this God, and readiness to obey everything that He tells one to do from a heart of love?? Knowing one's own frailties, which message would enable one to play the part of a real man when faced with execution for one's beliefs WITHOUT ONE DOUBT about how everything will turn out
that doesn't lend itself to having a gloating disposition like Tertullian and a small handful of others in the early Church that were eager to see Christ's return to massacre the wicked?
Which message screams that God is no respecter of persons and that it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance? When I believed in eternal punishment, my mentality was ALWAYS an "us verses them" mentality, no matter how loving that I grew. It was never a simple matter of the 2Corinthians 5 ministry of reconciliation in my understanding. It was more of a matter of them not being good enough if they rejected receiving Christ as fire insurance. If God gave up on them, then why shouldn't I? If they were irrevokably children of the devil, then why should I continue to pray and to look to the Holy Spirit for more and more resources to reach them, if I wasn't all of that sure of God's faithfulness to me, much less to them? If God's goodness is entirely different from man's goodness, then why did Christ Jesus appeal to the better parts of fallen human nature as a testimony to the mercies we could expect from a perfect heavenly Father? And on that basis, if one were to say that God's goodness differs entirely in kind from man's goodness, how is that not a subtle way of saying that perhaps God's not good after all?
http://www.gtft.org/ElhananWinchester/Winchester016.html
