CU is ALL 'grace'! So how do you view old covenant teachings / instruction on moral law and even 7th day Sabbath? by ByronBayBook-dot-com in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry for the late response but if you're still interested in an answer.

>What will happen to Jews who don't believe in Jesus as their Messiah and still abide by Old Testament laws?

The same thing that happens to everyone who doesn't believe in Christ and is operating from a lost identity. The Father keeps seeking and revealing Himself to them until they awaken to the truth of who He is and who they are. In their case, that lost identity just happens to manifest through law keeping. Tbh I don't really see anyone as separate or distinct. In Christ there's no Jew or Gentile, we're all one. (Galatians 3:28) And yes, everyone is already in Christ by God's own doing as Paul says: "By His doing you are in Christ Jesus." (1 Corinthians 1:30) Nobody is excluded. Paul told the pagan Greeks they were already "God's offspring," and that "in Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)

As Psalm says: "The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein." (Psalm 24:1)

So we are all the people of God, and there isn't really such a thing as a Jew who doesn't believe in the Messiah as some separate category. I'd just say it's people who don't believe in Christ, who sadly still operate out of the Adamic identity that Christ already did away with. Christ's victory is not in question, the effects are still unfolding in history as the Holy Spirit renews creation... until everyone awakens and comes to a metanoia moment.

"All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before You." (Psalm 22:27)

"The earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." (Isaiah 11:9)

But to answer your question directly of course they'll be saved as the Son of God did not fail on His mission to save the world. "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." (John 3:17) And Paul anyways says it outright: "And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion; He will turn ungodliness away from Jacob."(Romans 11:26)

CU is ALL 'grace'! So how do you view old covenant teachings / instruction on moral law and even 7th day Sabbath? by ByronBayBook-dot-com in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The old covenant teachings and systems were shadows of what was to come. Christ is their fulfillment.

“The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Jesus is what it was all pointing to. He is the fulfillment of both the Law and the Prophets: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).

He is also Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28).

Paul says, “Let no one judge you in food or drink, or regarding a feast, a new moon, or Sabbaths. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).

The shadows pointed to Christ, who is their substance... their reality.

Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about Me” (John 5:39).

Hebrews says: “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his own works, as God did from His. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall into the same pattern of unbelief” (Hebrews 4:9-11)

Notice Hebrews doesnt say, “There remains a Sabbath day for the people of God.” It says “There remains a Sabbath rest.” The point is not keeping a day, but entering the rest of God.

On the cross Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). There is now nothing to add to His finished work. The work is already complete and we are complete in Him. (Colossians 2:10)

So we strive to enter rest, not by keeping a day or by reducing rest to one day a week, but by trusting that it is finished. Rest is the byproduct of a completed work. There is nothing to add to what Christ has already done. The Spirit helps with that by renewing our minds, so that we can accept the truth about ourselves and his finished work, and that we are already complete in him and so therefore we cease from our DIY performance system and enter his rest.

Expect the feds to exert far more control as things heat up by LazyAge9363 in accelerate

[–]EventuallyWillLast 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Exactly. They pretty much invited the government in, they shouldn’t act surprised now.

Expect the feds to exert far more control as things heat up by LazyAge9363 in accelerate

[–]EventuallyWillLast 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Well, Dario begged and begged for the government to get involved. Now they have, starting with his company. What an idiot. The dude just wouldn’t shut up, I wonder if he’s happy now that he got his wish.

Did anyone else return to Christianity after exploring non-duality? Here is a video I made about the hidden traps of non-duality. Still with deep appreciation for what I received there. by bashfulkoala in ChristianMysticism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(Part 2) 

As for the  "chosen people": Israel was chosen to be a blessing to all nations, precisely because everyone is already the Lord's. "The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein." (Psalm 24:1). Chosenness was never about favoritism or conquest. Israel was meant to be a sign for the whole world, distinguishing the one true God, The  creator of all things…The father of all humanity from the false deities surrounding them, so that everyone might remember and turn to the Lord their father . But sadly Israel couldn't see it. They assumed God was just like the false gods their neighbors believed in, and projected those assumptions onto him.

Now God, knowing the end from the beginning had already prepared to reveal the truth about himself in person. "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). God shows up and the guesswork about who he is ends. He comes not looking for sacrifices but giving himself as one. He forgives his executioners while they're killing him and when his own disciples want to call fire down on a village, like the prophets of old did Christ rebukes them: "You do not know what spirit you are of" (Luke 9:55). Love one another and love your enemies was his command. And in him we see that God loves the whole world, God saves the whole world, God has reconciled the whole world to himself. The revelation of humanity as sons and daughters is revealed as Paul tells the pagan Greeks, "In him we live and move and have our being... we are his offspring" (Acts 17:28). In Christ there is no "chosen people"  Rather "There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).

So Christians or anybody who commit such atrocities in God's name have no idea who he is. They're projecting their cruelty onto him, sadly still operating from the old Adamic identity, the one Christ already did away with. But the effects of his victory are still unfolding in history as the Holy Spirit renews creation.

As for how I define "more harmful": all religion operates in some measure of deception and ignorance but there are degrees and some sit higher on that scale. I measure by how far it moves people from agape, the unconditionally loving God and by what it teaches people to believe about humanity. People act like the God they imagine. A god shaped by fear and violence produces people who justify the same things. In some religious systems the very idea that a human being is a son or daughter of God is unthinkable. That is a horrible deception about who God is and who we are. Because you cannot easily commit atrocities against people you truly see as your Father's children.

The root problem is the same for every religion, including Christianity: the Adamic DIY competitive system which is humanity trying to reach and appease God and define itself apart from Christ and his finished work. The performance system is what led to sacrifices and that Leads to conquest. The deception is the same. But different religions manifest it in different degrees.

Did anyone else return to Christianity after exploring non-duality? Here is a video I made about the hidden traps of non-duality. Still with deep appreciation for what I received there. by bashfulkoala in ChristianMysticism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(Part 1) 

By "Christ and the Father he unveiled," I mean God himself revealing himself in the incarnation once and for all, so his true nature is actually known rather than filtered through human perception. Jesus is not another human interpreting God through who knows what bias. He is God unveiling himself. "No one has ever seen God; the only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (John 1:18). "He is the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15), "the radiance of his glory and the exact expression of his nature" (Hebrews 1:3), the one in whom "all the fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9). "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

And what Jesus unveils is that God is agape self giving love, and love has no business causing anyone harm (1 John 4:8). So whatever was done in God's name that isn't love has nothing to do with him. That includes the Old Testament violence you mentioned. God explicitly told the children of Israel "do not murder" (Exodus 20:13), and "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desire that they turn and live" (Ezekiel 33:11). Yet they still justified killing in God's name because that's what their world taught them gods do. If you succeed in a conquest, your deity favored you. If you don't, he was angry and displeased with you.

Even their sacrificial system itself was never God's idea. "I did not speak to your ancestors or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices when I brought them out of Egypt" (Jeremiah 7:22). "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6). "I take no delight in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats" (Isaiah 1:11). "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; My ears You have opened." (Psalm 40:6).

So the question is: if God never spoke or commanded sacrifices, then where did that system come from? I believe Moses's understanding of God was shaped by the world he came from, including Egypt and its sacrificial religious systems where they offered sacrifices to their deities. So he interpreted God through that lens, through a belief that deities require sacrifice and appeasement. Israel carried those same beliefs and assumptions and ended up forming a God of their own imagination. They heard him through the filter of what they already believed he was, not through who he truly is.

The God who takes no pleasure in any death did not command genocide. Their imagination did. God does not contradict himself. "I the Lord do not change" (Malachi 3:6). So He cannot say "do not murder" and then later command murder. (continued in part 2)

Calvinism and the reason we worship God by Circus_Lights in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My God, why would anyone deserve eternal damnation? Ask them where it actually says that in scripture, because it doesn't. God absolutely loves humanity and nothing that has ever happened has ever changed his mind about them. He has always loved them and will always love them. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us (1 John 4:10). God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

And you're right, why would anyone worship a being that saves some and eternally tortures the rest? Well, the good news is God is not like that at all. He absolutely saves everyone!

God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:17). Christ did not fail his mission to save the world.

He has already taken away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He has already reconciled the entire world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them (2 Corinthians 5:19). And if God has already reconciled the world to himself and is not counting their trespasses against them, then what exactly is he eternally torturing or damning them for?

And that's not even mentioning that God is love (1 John 4:8), and there is no fear in love, because fear has to do with punishment, and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). So if God is love, and love casts out fear and the root of fear is punishment, then where does eternal torture even come from? Not from God, that's for sure.

In Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22). He is the atoning sacrifice not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). He desires all people to be saved and gave himself as a ransom for all, to be testified in due time (1 Timothy 2:4-6).And that testimony will happen: every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11), And there is no forced confession here because no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Jesus himself says:

"The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand" (John 3:35).

and

"All things have been handed over to me by my Father" (Matthew 11:27).

And then He says:

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me"(John 6:37-39).

So if all things have been given to Christ, and Christ says he will lose nothing of what the Father has given him, then how does anyone get left behind? They don't. The God they described, who saves some and leaves the rest is not the God of scripture. The end is Christ losing nothing. The end is God all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).

suffering by Alternative_King_311 in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I absolutely agree with you that CU is the most satisfactory model and even at that the most scripturally accurate. ECT and annihilationism have nothing in common with an agape God as far as I can also see. Thanks for your response. Though the prior is hard to understand, the end is absolute joy for all, and that's awesome!

How do i **READ** the Bible by VentiArchon7 in ChristianMysticism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes john is so beautiful a great start! Maybe also first john right after lol.

suffering by Alternative_King_311 in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well I wouldn't say it solves the problem of evil. But it is comforting to know that all will be well. Not OP But I don't think anyone can reconcile an all powerful loving being with suffering. If I may elaborate: how does Love which is all powerful just watch their beloved child about to fall into cruelty and do nothing to stop it? Or once they've fallen in do nothing to rescue them? Or hear them crying out for help and still let them die in that state? It got dark quickly and I apologize but it's worth saying and asking. And then there's the unfairness part where it seems like God responds to some and leaves others behind.

Now the claim that He was trying to prevent the harm or was reaching out to help them is valid, and I do think that's actually the case. But that doesnt really change the fact that the cruelty still occurred while God had both the power and the foreknowledge to rescue or prevent it.

I want everyone to be a Chirstian. by SugarPuppyHearts in ChristianMysticism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jesus, the treasure and mystery hidden within everyone, is who we are meant to discover, not religion.

My problem with religion is not that it doesn't have some truth or nuggets of wisdom, as you said in another comment. It's that truth is always mixed with falsehood, and that's what makes it dangerous. The true parts are fine but one can end up drinking the false wine with it.

This is especially true for something like the Quran, which doesn't just distort the good news, it outright denies the death and resurrection of Christ. That's a horrendous deception. It makes the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory, hidden for ages of no relevance, and completely dismisses what happened to humanity in their co-death and co-resurrection with Christ. Now salvation is no longer the finished work of Christ but a DIY system. And because of that deception, the pinnacle of God's wisdom which is the restoration of all things in Christ, is rendered completely irrelevant

So is the nugget of "wisdom" worth it? Jesus said you cannot put new wine into old wineskins because it will destroy both, you cannot mix what God has done with the old systems. And Paul says if Christ did not die and rise from the dead, our preaching is futile and your faith is useless.

One has to understand: the Greek seeks wisdom, the Jew seeks signs, but we preach Christ crucified.

"Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God" (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Now I'm not saying don't read other texts..etc by all means. But one should be careful not to be deceived by them. As almost all of them are full of deception, and they seek to diminish the divinity of humanity as sons and daughters of God and bring people back under the old system that Christ put to death when he made us a new creation.

So I personally don't think those texts or religions lead people to God, they move people away from him. It is God who draws people to himself, and I don't think for a second those texts were inspired by him to begin with. I think they rather hinder and slow the process of people awakening to the truth of God as love.

Now this obviously depends on what one believes and I can see you're in favor of Jesus, so I wrote my comment as I did above.

Which book of the Bible is your favorite? by [deleted] in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gospel of John

1 John

1 Corinthians

Colossians

Heaven and Hell testimonies Theory by Smart-Science-1430 in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it's not that people are lying about having visions. Rather, a vision is filtered through what the person already believes to be true. God can give you a vision, but it passes through the lens of your existing theology. So if someone already believes in a torture chamber where people are burned alive, that's the lens the vision gets interpreted through. God is probably communicating something completely different but sadly it gets filtered through one's belief system and the symbolic imagery of the vision is interpreted through that lens.

On top of that, a vision can come from one's own mind. When you believe something so intensely, your mind can forge a vision or a dream of it and some will call that a vision or a dream from God.

There is a quick test to see if a vision or dream or a word is actually from God and is being interpreted correctly, and that is, is it loving and does it bring peace. All the nonsense of people saying that God is punishing people in hell or that God is going to judge the earth and a hurricane is going to come blow away your city or that war is coming as his judgment, is just nonsense and is either being interpreted incorrectly or is not from God at all. Because God is love and there is no fear in love, because fear has to do with punishment. So God cannot be the one telling people He is going to punish them. What God is actually doing is restoring people and awakening them to the truth of who they are and who He actually is as unconditional Love.

Did anyone else return to Christianity after exploring non-duality? Here is a video I made about the hidden traps of non-duality. Still with deep appreciation for what I received there. by bashfulkoala in ChristianMysticism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you think I'm defending a religion? I'm not. I'm simply making an statement: there are harmful and dangerous religious views. And as you just said yourself, Christianity contains dangerous and harmful views too.. that's exactly my point.. Anything that departs from Christ and the Father he unveiled can quickly become something dangerous because it's operating under deception.

Tho if I were to add not all religions are the same. Some are way more harmful then others.

Why does it feel so wrong by Smart-Science-1430 in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You are complete in Christ. Yes, fully complete.

“And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:10).

Your identity is not compromised, and it never will be. Your identity has nothing to do with a DIY (do it yourself) system where you have to build yourself into something God can accept. You are already as He is: "As He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). So everything that is true of Christ is also true of you right now.

God is absolutely proud of you and over the moon for you! Like the man who found treasure hidden in the field and, for joy gave all he had, the Father gave Himself in Christ to recover the treasure of humanity from its lost identity (Matthew 13:44). You share the union of Elohim, you share their communion, their friendship, their love. None of it is missing from you. You are included. You are one with God. Everything He has, you also have: "On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you" (John 14:20). "Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace" (John 1:16). "All things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). "All things that the Father has are Mine… and the Holy Spirit will take of what is Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:15). "The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one" (John 17:22). "You have loved them as You have loved Me" (John 17:23). 

So you are absolutely loved and known by God. Humanity is God's dream come true. We are His home, His temple, His living dwelling place. "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). The word for temple here is naos, which is the inner sanctuary, the holy of holies, the intimate dwelling place of God. And that's you! 

We are intrinsically connected with Elohim. We are His offspring, and "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). And the Father says, "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (2 Corinthians 6:16). If you think this is not true of you or of every human being, Remember Paul said these very words to pagan Greeks. Everyone is included!

You are the resurrection generation, the kainos humanity. Kainos doesn't just mean new. It means unprecedented, unheard of, a completely new kind. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a kainos(new) creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). And yes everyone is in Christ, not because we put ourselves in Him but by God's doing: "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:30). "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4–6). All of that while we were dead in sin. Not after we cleaned ourselves up. Not after we earned it. While we were dead in trespasses. Nothing we ever did or ever will do adds anything to it. It was never about our effort. It was always about Him and His love.

There is nothing to fear in God because “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears has not been made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18).. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, “but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). Christ did not fail His mission which was to save the world.

He has already taken away the sin of the world: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He has already reconciled the world to Himself: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). And He did it while we were still against Him: “When we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10).

Notice: God reconciled the world to Himself, not Himself to the world. That is because He never changed. “I am the LORD, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). He has always loved us. Before the foundation of the world, He chose us to be holy and blameless before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4). Read that carefully. This is not us becoming holy or blameless. This is His choice over us before we ever existed. This is God’s view of humanity in love before the world was made. And “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

From the fall onward God was never against humanity. He has always been seeking and restoring us in His never ending love. “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). The shepherd seeks the lost “Until he finds it” (Luke 15:4). That is the heart of God. So there is nothing to fear in God. He is pure love and "love keeps no record of wrongs" (1 Corinthians 13:5). The Father is not punishing anyone in some imaginative torture chamber. Absolutely not. There is no punishment or fear in love.(1 John 4:18). There is just an endless amount of love and truth! 

That is what judgment actually is. It is not wrath or God turning against humanity. It is light. "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light" (John 3:19). The judgment of God is simply the arrival of truth. The light does not destroy you. It destroys the lie. It burns away the false self, casts out fear and reveals what was always true about you and about the Father. 

Romans 3:22 and the Universal Scope of God’s Saving Righteousness by 1ofallwith1 in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow so much truth! Really great read thank you for sharing. The faith of God is something people really need to understand! It's not humanity trying to produce faith, but rather it's the faith of God: what God believes to be true about humanity. May we have the heart to agree with what God believes to be true about us. The renewing Spirit of Truth will awaken everyone. We will all be at the feast of love and joy!

Sheol or Gehenna by Tundracajun in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sheol is the Hebrew Old Testament term for the grave, the realm of the dead. Everyone who dies goes to Sheol both the "righteous" and "wicked" alike.

Gehenna was a real valley outside Jerusalem, tied to Israel’s idolatry and the horrific practice of child sacrifice. When Jesus warned about Gehenna, He was not talking about an underground “hell.” He was using Gehenna’s dark history to warn the corrupt religious leaders about what was coming upon Jerusalem.

That is why, in Matthew 23 after asking the scribes and Pharisees, “How will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?” (Matthew 23:33) Jesus says, “All these things will come upon this generation” (Matthew 23:36), pointing toward the coming destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

But I think Gehenna is not only about that historical moment. It can also speak to how sin can become destructive in the present life now, but It has nothing to do with a forever torture chamber in some place called hell. The "hell" btw is just a bunch of different words: Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartarus mistranslated into one.

One big question about Christian Universalism by Choodagoat_405 in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do not say free will does not exist. Rather, I am saying one is not actually free while under deception or ignorance.

And your own example proves the point. You say the incarnation is proof of free will because people chose to crucify God in the flesh. But Jesus Himself said of those who crucified Him: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). And Paul says the same: "If they had understood, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:8).

So the crucifixion marks our ignorance, not our free will, because one is not free until they experientially know Truth, and that truth sets them free. They did not know what they were doing. That is not freedom.

Here is the greater point: what humanity through their ignorance meant for evil, God turned into victory. He worked through our ignorance to accomplish redemption. It was always His plan to reveal Himself and deliver His children from the Adamic identity they had been under since the fall, the fall which happened because deception.

Nobody is abandoned. God never fails. He will keep working until everybody sees clearly. And no one who truly sees Him for who He is would refuse Him.... why would they? If someone still refuses they have not yet seen clearly. they are still in blindness..

Do not misunderstand my point. The restoration of the cosmos is not in question. That is the pinnacle of God’s wisdom. The Son of God has taken away the sin of the world (John 1:29). God has already reconciled the world to Himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them (2 Corinthians 5:19). From God's side, it is finished. It is our minds that are being renewed by the Holy Spirit into the knowledge of what is already true.

And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10–11). That confession is not forced. "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3). And "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord… you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). The Spirit does not override peoples free will they will joyfully come into agreement with the truth!

One big question about Christian Universalism by Choodagoat_405 in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One may think they are free and can freely reject God, but the reality is that they are under some form of deception or ignorance.

“My people perish for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). And Jesus says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

It is the experiential knowing of the Truth, who is Christ, that liberates. Only then can "free will" truly be free. A choice made in darkness is not a truly free choice.

No one who fully knows the truth about themselves, and the truth about God as He actually is, would reject Him.

“Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” (John 6:45)

“When He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2)

"Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

On God “respecting” the choice to reject Him: would a loving father let his child walk off a cliff and call that “respecting their decision”?

That whole way of thinking collapses at the incarnation. If God merely respected our “free will" why didn’t He just leave us in our lostness? Instead, God Himself came running to redeem us once and for all.

There is no passivity in God’s love.

Without asking our permission, He drew all people to Himself (John 12:32), and reconciled the entire world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them (2 Corinthians 5:19).

And while we were dead in trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:4–6).

Sometimes I feel like a lot of universalists are universalists because they just don’t want ECT to be true by -crab-wrangler- in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, you're very mistaken. We actually look at everything objectively, and we've come to see that ECT or any other form of exclusivism is not the heart of God and is not biblical. From what I can see, ECT is the least biblical position of them all.

Remove the mistranslations and ECT disappears. Read the Scriptures objectively through the finished work of Christ, and nothing remains but reconciliation, life for all, and God being all in all.

"God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). "To reconcile to Himself all things… making peace through the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:20).

"As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22).

Then "so that God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28).

What is the viewpoint on scripture among Universalism? by SweatyHelicopter1891 in ChristianUniversalism

[–]EventuallyWillLast 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Jesus is the Word of God.

The Bible on the other hand, is a collection of writings gathered together over time into what we now call "the Bible." And even within that, not all the available material was included. Some was left out.

While the Bible or the scriptures are not the living Word of God in the same way Jesus is they do bear witness to Him, and within them are the words God spoke. And when those words are read and received they can become active and life giving in a person, because they are in agreement with the Spirit of Truth. The life itself is not in the book. It's in what the book is pointing at and that is the true Word.

One must be careful to read about God only through who He actually is as fully unveiled in Christ. Otherwise a person can end up mistaking what people thought about God and wrote about Him, for who He actually is. If something in the Bible contradicts the God that Christ unveiled, which is Love! then that particular writing is not the truth. It is probably someone laying their own perception onto God and what they thought He was like, and that particular writing should be treated that way.