tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post960131609289357846..comments2024-03-28T10:44:30.518-06:00Comments on American Creation: Jeremy Belknap, Theological UniversalistBrad Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-60324968327395245332010-01-21T23:06:52.295-07:002010-01-21T23:06:52.295-07:00Universalism wasn't that big a fracturing in t...Universalism wasn't that big a fracturing in the theology, since it still postulated some sort of "purgatory" where you'd burn for your sins as a matter of divine justice for awhile, just not forever.<br /><br />The "future world of rewards and punishments" remained intact.<br /><br />It wasn't quite a Get Out of Hell Free card. Indeed, true love of God would <i>desire</i> some sort of purification before meeting Him face to face at last.<br /><br />Christians have some weird ideas, I admit, but to them, they all make sense and are entirely rational.<br /><br />In any case, universalism posed no threat to the republic, since it didn't remove the Christian obligation to behave morally.<br /><br />I like the idea of universalism meself, sometimes called "universal reconciliation," that every person can get right with God by the time of his or her death, or in that window shortly thereafter, that God's love--- manifested in this world as Jesus the Christ---is all-encompassing and irresistible.<br /><br />Universalism is not heresy. Even hard-core evangelicals today and the ancient church fathers have been intrigued by the possibility throughout all the history of Christian thought. <i>Apokatastasis</i> is so old a concept there's a Greek word for it.<br /><br />http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01599a.htm<br /><br />It's no deal-breaker, theologically or in political theology. The sensible Christian leaves the matter up to God, as no man is empowered to damn another.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.com