I wanted to post this page to list what I believe so those who may be wondering, based on any posts I may make, can know implicitly exactly where my faith stands. Please note these are my personal beliefs as I’ve researched the Bible. I may update this periodically as I grow deeper in a relationship with Father, in the Holy Spirit, and by Jesus.
-I do not believe that “Hell” is eternal torment. See this post on the original Greek words. Also see the bottom of this post about fire. The original words for hell have been sorely misappropriated. See this post.
-I believe that all of the prophecies of the Bible have already taken place. I believe the Bible was written specifically to and about Israel. Yes, we are the continuation of God’s followers, but we have to take into account, first and foremost, to whom the Bible was speaking to and about. Here is a general overview of how I’ve come to this.
-I believe in Universal Reconciliation. A post briefly describing my view.
This is the sum of my beliefs, though possibly radical to much of current Western Christianity. I believe that God is good, that he is love, and that his plan will not fail. Yes, I believe he punished people with wrath in this life, but I also believe his wrath ends after the corrective punishment has taken place. As for the afterlife, we are given scant few details on that. Most of what has been adopted as afterlife punishment wasn’t referencing such (see Hell and Fire posts linked above).
On the surface, it may seem so and some universalist may take that view.
For me, Universal Reconciliation is a reflection of God’s love for us. The “aionios kolasis” meaning more of an “age of corrective punishment” rather than “eternal torment.” After all, the concept of hell is destroyed in the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:14). Much of the concept of hell has been mixed with the statements of fire and brimstone (which was making reference to a physical destruction) and the Lake of Fire (which references the spiritual).
In addition, we see the concept that every knee will bow (kampsē (a derivative of kamptó) is used here—which seems to represent a willing bowing as opposed to sugkuptó—a forced bowing) and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (only possible by the Holy Spirit according to Paul). It would seem that God gives us hints of his eternal plan throughout the Bible (Eph 1:9-10, Col 1:20, 1 Tim 2:4).
So in other words, my view is that man has free will (as can be readily observed), but God’s love wins in the end and his love never fails. If it appears that love has failed, then perhaps it’s not yet the end.
This aligns with the general view of God being infinitely loving, merciful, and powerful. People are still (correctively) punished, but eventually all of the spiritual corruption is burned away and what is left is love.
I hope that clarifies my personal view some. It goes much deeper but I don’t want to post too long of a wall of text here :p.
What do you think of the view that heaven and hell are just the experience of God’s love from different perspectives, in the first from the perspective of someone who longs for and loves God and in the second from the perspective of someone who despises and rejects God?
In a way, I do believe that “hell” is the other perspective of God’s love. His (corrective) punishment is in love in the way any loving father would punish his children.
Reading over some of the articles, it seems the stance is that because of orthodox tradition, we should continue to believe in eternal torment. I don’t really see him making many direct points but just using a lot of verbiage and appeals to tradition.
He seems to be starting from a point of view that Revelation is still future, but I don’t personally hold that view as Jesus states the timeline of those symbolic events as soon in respect to a 1st Century time frame (Matt 16:27-28, Matt 23:36-39, Matt 24:1-3, 34, Rev 1:1; 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20). I hold more to the “70AD” view of the judgment that referenced Israel’s physical punishment and the destruction of the Old Covenant system (Heb 8:13).
In addition, the author starts off one of his articles with:
“I would very much like to be a Universalist. In terms of my Christian hope, in terms of my emotional attachments,”
This seems to come off as, “I wish God was as good as I want him to be.” But in fact, God is better than we can ever hope to imagine.
For 30-something years, I did believe in those things (hell, future rapture), but as I began to study the Bible myself, the overall story of God’s love for us began to become apparent to me. It’s hard not to see it now in every book of the Bible.
I hope this doesn’t come off as cold or harsh. I tend to be rather logical at times (as hinted at by the INTP reference in the blog name 🙂 ).
Christian INTP 
Doesn’t universalism deny people have free will?
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On the surface, it may seem so and some universalist may take that view.
For me, Universal Reconciliation is a reflection of God’s love for us. The “aionios kolasis” meaning more of an “age of corrective punishment” rather than “eternal torment.” After all, the concept of hell is destroyed in the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:14). Much of the concept of hell has been mixed with the statements of fire and brimstone (which was making reference to a physical destruction) and the Lake of Fire (which references the spiritual).
In addition, we see the concept that every knee will bow (kampsē (a derivative of kamptó) is used here—which seems to represent a willing bowing as opposed to sugkuptó—a forced bowing) and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (only possible by the Holy Spirit according to Paul). It would seem that God gives us hints of his eternal plan throughout the Bible (Eph 1:9-10, Col 1:20, 1 Tim 2:4).
So in other words, my view is that man has free will (as can be readily observed), but God’s love wins in the end and his love never fails. If it appears that love has failed, then perhaps it’s not yet the end.
This aligns with the general view of God being infinitely loving, merciful, and powerful. People are still (correctively) punished, but eventually all of the spiritual corruption is burned away and what is left is love.
I hope that clarifies my personal view some. It goes much deeper but I don’t want to post too long of a wall of text here :p.
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Have you seen the recent posts on https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxyandheterodoxy/ about this topic. I know they gave me a lot to think about.
What do you think of the view that heaven and hell are just the experience of God’s love from different perspectives, in the first from the perspective of someone who longs for and loves God and in the second from the perspective of someone who despises and rejects God?
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In a way, I do believe that “hell” is the other perspective of God’s love. His (corrective) punishment is in love in the way any loving father would punish his children.
Reading over some of the articles, it seems the stance is that because of orthodox tradition, we should continue to believe in eternal torment. I don’t really see him making many direct points but just using a lot of verbiage and appeals to tradition.
He seems to be starting from a point of view that Revelation is still future, but I don’t personally hold that view as Jesus states the timeline of those symbolic events as soon in respect to a 1st Century time frame (Matt 16:27-28, Matt 23:36-39, Matt 24:1-3, 34, Rev 1:1; 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20). I hold more to the “70AD” view of the judgment that referenced Israel’s physical punishment and the destruction of the Old Covenant system (Heb 8:13).
In addition, the author starts off one of his articles with:
“I would very much like to be a Universalist. In terms of my Christian hope, in terms of my emotional attachments,”
This seems to come off as, “I wish God was as good as I want him to be.” But in fact, God is better than we can ever hope to imagine.
For 30-something years, I did believe in those things (hell, future rapture), but as I began to study the Bible myself, the overall story of God’s love for us began to become apparent to me. It’s hard not to see it now in every book of the Bible.
I hope this doesn’t come off as cold or harsh. I tend to be rather logical at times (as hinted at by the INTP reference in the blog name 🙂 ).
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