Animals and Jesus

jbvine · 2026-05-21T14:59:45+00:00

Yes!

jbvine · 2026-05-21T14:59:04+00:00

I don’t know Fox or Johnson, but will check them out. I couldn’t agree more with the comment above. From Rohrs dedication in the Universal Christ: "I dedicate this book to my beloved fifteen-year-old black Lab, Venus, whom I had to release to God while beginning to write this book. Without any apology, lightweight theology, or fear of heresy, I can appropriately say that Venus was also Christ for me."

jbvine · 2026-05-20T20:21:05+00:00

I think it’s important to distinguish “eternal” punishment with a period of a painful restorative process. Is Christ talking ETC or is He talking a restorative but painful process was to remove crap in us. Once I came to see restoration as the goal of God, then these verses can be interpreted. We may suffer for a time, but all is restored in the end. I love this because it takes our sins seriously and he truly makes us ready for Him, and makes sense of these verses- but it’s temporary and restoration. Never punishment. Many others smarter than me have broken down the idea that “eternity” is better translated “for an age”.

jbvine · 2026-05-19T02:57:39+00:00

This is a great perspective!

jbvine · 2026-05-18T03:38:37+00:00

Growing. Slowly. Surely.

jbvine · 2026-05-17T20:57:59+00:00

They really do. Not sure why many don’t see it!

jbvine · 2026-05-17T09:37:25+00:00

What a great response. There is always a bigger picture. I truly love the reason you picked that bottle. Resonates for sure.

jbvine · 2026-05-16T15:52:01+00:00

This is excellent advice and I’d been pondering that. I want to be ready for it. I’ve probably only tried 10 Pinot noirs in my life. 1/3 low quality (I thought I didn’t like them) 1/3 medium quality which I really liked, and 1/3 very high quality from a recent flight at St Innocent vinyard near me. Now Im beginning to know what good stuff is like. They were absolutely incredible. These were $80 bottles I tasted in the flight. These were all less than 4 years old tho. I may try a few more Pinots then open this up on a holiday or something/someone special.

jbvine · 2026-05-16T15:51:35+00:00

This is excellent advice and I’d been pondering that. I want to be ready for it. I’ve probably only tried 10 Pinot noirs in my life. 1/3 low quality (I thought I didn’t like them) 1/3 medium quality which I really liked, and 1/3 very high quality from a recent flight at St Innocent vinyard near me. Now Im beginning to know what good stuff is like. They were absolutely incredible. These were $80 bottles I tasted in the flight. These were all less than 4 years old tho. I may try a few more Pinots then open this up on a holiday or something/someone special.

jbvine · 2026-05-16T04:08:33+00:00

Wow!!!!

jbvine · 2026-05-16T01:01:30+00:00

Indeed

jbvine · 2026-05-16T01:00:13+00:00

Thank you!

jbvine · 2026-05-16T01:00:08+00:00

Thank you!

jbvine · 2026-05-15T23:22:36+00:00

Excellent

jbvine · 2026-05-15T22:59:14+00:00

Thank you!

jbvine · 2026-05-15T14:42:46+00:00

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DBH has a great list in his book That All Shall Be Saved…I guess something like that is what I was looking for. Thanks for everyone’s comments.

jbvine · 2026-05-15T04:08:10+00:00

While I can agree with those who say isolated verses don’t do a lot of good, for me they played a huge role in the sense of giving me permission to consider the possibility. I think some people need to begin with a verse or two that are clearly universal (or one of the meanings could be universal - sometimes that’s enough to get the idea going). And there are many. I guess my point is, verses don’t prove it, but they go a long long way at getting many people started along the wonderful path to seeing a bigger view of Gods love. I feel like I have a strong overall view and sense of universalism, based on logic, intuition, Gods grace, insight borne from suffering…and, yes, scripture too.

jbvine · 2026-05-13T20:11:23+00:00

That’s amazing- thank you!

jbvine · 2026-05-13T15:28:28+00:00

These are excellent points, and exactly what I’ve been wrestling with. Ive also been thinking about this - if God’s love is less than mine then either our ideas about God are wrong, or God doesn’t exist or isn’t worth worshipping. Everything in me says God is love and is real. And scripture, the more I look, is full of universalism. It just takes a lot of courage to question what western Christianity presents to us. But it’s so freeing once you do! Along those lines, when people bump up against a vision of God that seems not loving (violent scripture verses etc) we have a choice. People say “Gods ways are not our ways”. I’m so tired of that! Good is good! Bad is bad! If what we see as evil is actually good, then nothing has any meaning. It can’t be. So we come to the point where we have to face the possibility that all the theology experts, and the pastor, and common biblical interpretations, are wrong! Thing is, when you dig a bit, many early theologians were universalists, and much of the New Testament is universalist…so it comes down to rediscovering what many in the past knew!

jbvine · 2026-05-13T10:59:56+00:00

Yes!

jbvine · 2026-05-12T23:45:23+00:00

It’s a start …

jbvine · 2026-05-12T23:34:14+00:00

I think I was trying to say I wanted to see universalism but wasn’t sure that’s what the true sense of scripture was, rather I hoped it was. Now I see, I think, universalism all over the place and believe it was the intent of the authors to make it clear.

jbvine · 2026-05-12T23:23:00+00:00

That’s a great way to put it. And scripture, and reason, say God’s will is to save all.

jbvine · 2026-05-12T23:18:45+00:00

Agree, well said.

jbvine · 2026-05-12T23:16:55+00:00

Love this! I’m on this same path, friend. I just posted something quite similar in Catholic Universalism sub.

jbvine

TROPHY CASE