Reddit mentions of God's Final Victory: A Comparative Philosophical Case For Universalism (Continuum Studies in Philosophy of Religion)

Yes, salvation isn't lost due to suicide, this is never taught in scripture. God's love is unconditional, nobody can earn it. Even the best Christian didn't earn God's love, it just is. It also goes against an all-loving God whose mercy endures forever. It is taught by people that hold a classical doctrine of hell, which is a very indefensible doctrine in many ways. These people live in fear, even though Perfect love casts out fear. Love is a much more powerful motivator to do/be good than fear of punishment. The Doctrine of Univeralism would say that all will eventually be reconciled to God, and it is biblically sound - though not the majority view.

I'm also reading a book called God's Final Victory: A Comparative Philosophical Case for Universalism (Continuum Studies in Philosophy of Religion) that makes a compelling case for Universalism vs eternal hell, and also annihilationism. It goes into pretty good depth, though it claims to be still introductory.

With all that said, I hope things improve for you. I'm sorry that you have to go through this, and I wish I could help you (I also am poor, and sometimes struggle with a lack of hope for this life). I hope my words have been encouraging and helpful.

I pray that God will be with you and that He will comfort you and give you his peace. I pray that He will lift up your spirit and fill it with love and that you will be strengthened by Him. I pray that, no matter what happens, you will find peace in this life or the next. I pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.

God bless you.

Hi Greg - I wanted to humbly offer my opinion as to an answer to a question you brought up, and I do this as a fan of sorts (I love your work). You asked:

> If a free agent has the power to reject grace today, why think they suddenly won’t have it tomorrow

There is a book called "God's Final Victory: A Comparative Philosophical Case for Universalism" that is most likely the most thorough argument for Universalism out there, although it is a bit difficult to read (lots of Philosophic terms, and it's very dense). In this book, the authors present an argument to answer this question which I will try to summarize. The idea is that the choice between "heaven" (which I would like to note that I do not think of this as a place, but rather a state of being in union with the Father - which is the wish Jesus expressed in the Garden of Gethsemane in the Gospel of John) and "hell" (again - I define this not so much in terms of a place as a state), when thought of in completely rational terms, there is no rational reason why anyone would choose hell. If hell is truly as awful as theology says it is, why would anyone in their right mind choose it? To choose hell would imply that it is not a free choice - either the person is ignorant, deceived, or they are irrational as a result of physical or psychological damage. And why would a loving God hold this against anyone? On the contrary, if God is love, God would continually extend his mercy towards this individual in an effort to remove the barriers of ignorance, deception, physical or psychological damage. And if God's salvific will is in any way effective, given an infinite amount of time, salvation is mathematically guaranteed. Now, I realize that you are a Conditionalist (or at least you were at the time that you wrote "Letters From A Skeptic" as well as your contribution to "Across the Spectrum"). So this makes things a bit trickier - in this case, the argument is that God allows some to cease to exist when they reject Him completely. This is a bit more difficult to argue with, but I would still question - if we believe God creates, why couldn't God guarantee the continuation of the existence of these souls, and if God is love, why wouldn't He continue to seek their salvation? Combine this with the argument that those who love the lost would not be able to experience bliss due to their sorrow over the lost, and I would argue that God would never cease to strive for the salvation of the lost.

You've probably read Thomas Talbott before (?), but in case you haven't read this article, one of my saved links is a similar argument made by him which can be found here.

If you're at all interested in giving universalism another chance, I can't recommend this book highly enough. There's a whole chapter devoted to justice, and another on free will.