evangelizing to the evangelized

[blackwings]

as a christian universalist ive spent times in christian chat rooms, and writing letters to people connected with me, trying to convince them of universal salvation because of the troublesome qualities to dualistic thinking

unfortunately, ive failed miserably- i feel well spoken about the idea, but here are two of the things that tripped me up, maybe someone here mention how they responded to similar objections

1.  i believe its in john where it says 'god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whosoever believed in him would inherit eternal life'

and 2.  my exwife is a dualist, and she is teaching my sons to be dualists as well - her basic defense of universalism was that it was just too easy, and robbed christians of the martyrs life (if that makes any sense)  she basically said to me 'its a tough life, it should be selective'

thanks

[jabcat]

Hi Wings...I'll just briefly tackle #1...IMO, more accurate translations are either "believes" or according to an extremely literal translation from the Koine Greek, The Christian Bible (www.christianbiblesociety.com) "is continually believing".  I'd suggest that a thorough search of scripture shows some believe now, all will believe later once exposed to God's direct, holy presence (our God is a consuming fire)...then every knee will bow, every tongue confess Jesus is Lord...which can only occur (accurately translated) IN the Holy Spirit (not "by", as I believe the KJV puts it).  I'll let someone else take a whirl, hope this helps, God's blessing, James.

[martincisneros]

Hi,

The verse you mention is John 3:16.  The 17th verse says that God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world would be saved through Him.

There's nothing easy about believing in something that you can't see.  It's the ultimate call to walk by faith and not by sight.  In a world full of offenses where it's easy to slip into the natural mind and genuinely start wishing that you had an eternal Hell to send someone to, or that God would do that for you -- it's easy to slip into vengeful thinking that even if they're ultimately allowed into Paradise that God's still going to pay them back for this or that, etc.  What's easy about exercising faith in the promises, not being moved by what you see and feel, and believing that in the end every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father?  Jude's epistle says that a great day is coming, yet all around us all we see is death, suffering, cursing, damnation; the Book of Revelation scenario where inspite of all of these things that are coming down on people's sins, they're still not repenting of worshipping the work of their hands, their blasphemies, their lewd behaviour, etc., etc.  And yet, somehow, the Word of God given to us in Revelation 5:13 is a true witness of the mind of God and we're going to see that come to harvest and everything everywhere, in every demension of time; in every window of reality is going to sing the praises of God and of the Lamb.  There's nothing easy about taking the Word of God at face value and saying "I'm not moved by what I see.  I'm not moved by what I feel.  I'm moved only by what I believe.  And I believe the Word of God, that all of the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God; that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that in the Lord God they have righteousness and strength."

But, I wouldn't trade the lifestyle of the overcomer for anything