Hi Tentmaker Forum Members,
I'm new to this universalism stuff, and I'd like to say I'm extremely grateful for all the resources Gary Amirault has put on the Tentmaker website. My background is quite varied, and my most recent trek was through the world of the Young, Restless, and Reformed, and I have to say I've been quite helped by their outlook. However, the idea of Hell and eternal torment always bugged me, even the kinder, gentler C.S. Lewis version wherein people send themselves to Hell. But on May 2, I listened to Rob Bell and Adrian Warnock (British reformed guy) on the Unbelievable radio program, and it seemed the scales fell from my eyes. The one (Adrian Warnock) who I thought would be true to scriptures would always revert back to an argument like, "Who are you, Rob Bell, to attack the orthodox view that has been held for centuries?" Rob Bell brought, in his usual fashion, asked a bunch of questions rather than gave answers. One thing he brought up was the range of meaning of the word aionios, and that was when the Lord broke chains that I had in my outlook, and I realized that the Scriptures don't have to be interpreted the traditional Augustinian way, at least in this matter. This matter came to the forefront, and now I'm kind of obsessed. So for the past 5 months I've been investigating the matter, and realizing that the traditional case is very flimsy. I'm amazed that so many people still fall for it. But then I fell for it, too, so I guess it's not so strange.
I'm looking forward to participating on this forum.
cheers,
John
