Best products from r/ChristianUniversalism

People usually recommend The Evangelical Universalist. I haven't read it myself, but it appears to have a good mix of both Biblical support and philosophical arguments.

Hope Beyond Hell is all about the Biblical arguments, and you can get the pdf for free.

The Inescapable Love of God is another I should mention, since Thomas Talbot still engages in debates online.

There have been a ton of books released on universalism in the past two or three decades; it's hard to say which one to pick. I did read Destined for Salvation by Kalen Fristad and liked it, and it's rather short.

Learning to read Christ figuratively. Spiritual language is symbolic, for example:

"Enter the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the [true] gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." -Jesus, Matthew 7:13

In my view, "enter the narrow gate" is not about exclusionary sectarianism, but rather a call to live a life dedicated firmly to spiritual ideals: compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, and love. This world is a difficult place. The easier, broader way is to be spiritually complacent, judgmental, selfish, indulge in temptations, and fall victim to negativity in general. The ego is a very worthy adversary-- in this world, living a life of unity and Oneness with God takes a repeated, concerted effort.

Additionally, reconciling Christ with other spiritual masters, the Buddha and a variety of Hindu saints... as you continue your interfaith research you'll see more and more similarities.

This book eloquently explains Eastern and Western philosophies and their connective precepts in a digestible way:

The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta https://www.amazon.com/dp/0874810507/ref=cm_sw_r_api_PLvLxbNPSEPQK

i think this is probably the best book i've read on it:
https://www.amazon.com/Inescapable-Love-God-Thomas-Talbott/dp/1498222412

of course many people like robin parry:
https://www.amazon.com/Evangelical-Universalist-Gregory-MacDonald/dp/149821553X

good luck

You should start reading Christian Universalist books. I think it will help calm you down and give you some new grounding. Here's an easy read: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Wins-About-Heaven-Person-ebook/dp/B004IWR3CE

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And here's one by an article by a respected philosopher: http://campuspress.yale.edu/keithderose/1129-2/

The Evangelical Universalist Forum — A Christian forum for discussing Evangelical Universalism—inspired by The Evangelical Universalist by Gregory MacDonald (Robin Parry).

Facebook groups:

Evangelical Universalism (Invitation & Debate).

Fans of David Bentley Hart. (It is not entirely about universalism, but it definitely comes up and as others have noted here his new book, [That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation](That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300246226/), comes out in September.)

This book on various views of election including comments by universalist Thomas Talbott may be of interest:

https://www.amazon.com/Perspectives-Election-Chad-Brand/dp/0805427295

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https://books.google.ca/books?id=RKW4AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT235&lpg=PT235&dq=thomas+talbott+election&source=bl&ots=dG82Az8q72&sig=Ko7shJ5EYoBJQxnm4UgwtQHvWtQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj0t57qwcjZAhVN7WMKHY2LALM4ChDoAQgxMAI#v=onepage&q=thomas%20talbott%20election&f=false

I’d definitely read: A Larger Hope?, Volume 1: Universal Salvation from Christian Beginnings to Julian of Norwich by Dr Ilaria Ramelli

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1610978846/

Salvation And How We Got It Wrong. It doesn't really deal with eternity so much as with how God sees us and how we should see God; that he isn't an angry old man in the sky waiting to whack us and having to vent his wrath on his own son. But the funny thing is, inevitably, when I do a seminar on this book, people end up asking questions about hell and the afterlife.

I’ve been reading the book Patristic Universalism by David Burnfield. He goes through a lot of scripture and provides the ECT and annihilation points of view along with the CU View. Looks at counter arguments for each. Pretty thorough.

https://www.amazon.com/Patristic-Universalism-Alternative-Traditional-Judgment/dp/1517547113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520520457&sr=8-1&keywords=patristic+universalism

Depending on what your idea of "Conservative" means, you might like Christ the Conqueror of Hell, which is written by an Orthodox Archbishop.

There's also the faq (on this subreddit and /u/cephas_rock's here); it doesn't seem like it would be a problem for "Conservative" (again, depending on definition) Christians. The subreddit's faq lists a number of other books.

Part: II

Now, more directly about what I was saying.. you have not grown up with this ultimately redemptive view of the Bible (basically none of us have!) There are many verses that I could use to support a Christian Universalist view that don't directly address the afterlife, but I still see them as evidence as such because they're all part of the overall narrative. If one does not see the theme in the Bible that God will not lose to death or time or the devil or whatever (or thinks that a scenario in which the vast majority of humans throughout history spending an eternity in torment and separation from God is counted as a victory and not a defeat), then a lot of the Universalist arguments won't make sense.


For me, a verse or two here and there won't convince me of eternal damnation because it contradicts my entire view of God, Christianity and the Bible. In order to convince me, one would have to first show me how all those verses and themes are wrong. One Bible verse may mean different things to different people depending on the approach we take. You are clearly coming from an approach that the Bible inherently teaches eternal damnation (which, again, most if not all of us originally came from this position). That means a few verses we point to here and there won't make much of a difference. One debate about a single word, even if it is mistranslated, certainly doesn't destroy the rest of the Biblical narrative.


So I suggest trying to approach the issue without any preconceived notion of Hell. I'm not saying you should approach it from our point of view (yet ;) but to do your best to just open your mind and try to see the general message of the Bible. I originally came from the point of view that eternal damnation was inherent within the pages of the Bible, but to be honest, I couldn't tell you why. At best, I could point to a few verses that I thought indicated that. It was simply what I had been taught. But I had absolutely zero explanation as to why so much of the Bible was headed in a different direction.


When I see arguments for eternal damnation, I almost never see someone pointing out what the ENTIRE Bible is heading towards. They usually just mention separate verses, and certainly not the message of an entire book! So I decided to put my views on hold for a while (I still believed in an eternal Hell, but whenever I came across a verse which seemed to imply one way or the other, I would step back and say... 'now why do I think it's saying that?') and I noticed that a lot of verses are not actually talking about the afterlife at all.


For example, your questions about John 3:3-5.. I have would never had read that as supporting an eternal Hell unless I approached it with the mindset that the Bible teaches eternal damnation. Same with the your commentary on Philippians 2:10. I would never see that unless my mind was conditioned to see everything through the lens of eternal damnation. But, honestly, I don't see any reason to interpret is as Paul talking about it at all. Same with Timothy 6:3-5.


I don't mention those to make fun of you or shame you or anything, but just because those are examples where I saw you personally reading eternal Hell into a passage that doesn't seem to talk about it at all.


We need to make sense of who God is, how powerful God is, what God promises and what God has done in order to appropriately answer this question in my opinion. I suggest you step back for a bit. Work on understanding who God is and what he's trying to accomplish. As far as I can tell, most books that don't mention Hell at all talk about God as someone who is all powerful and all loving. As a God who deeply loves and cares about each and every one of us. Heck, even if the book does discuss eternal Hell, the other parts of the book are almost always directed toward God's love, mercy, slowness to anger and desire to save each and every person. The narrative only changes on the chapter about Hell. Once you dwell on God's character for a while, I think many of the verses you find troublesome, though not all, will disappear (Matthew 25:46 won't for example). You'll find that most verses aren't talking about the afterlife, but simply about God's character and desires. Then, when you actually approach a section which talks about the afterlife, you can approach it within the context of God's character, NOT in the context of Eternal Damnation or Eventual Reconciliation.


It seems as though you are already beginning to notice this general trend that God's love and power are ultimate. That's why a verse about eternal damnation sticks out like a sore thumb. It seems so contrary to the rest of the message! So instead of finding a verse and accepting it if it seems to point towards eternal damnation and becoming skeptical if it teaches universal redemption, just take a step back and figure out how it fits within the entire narrative of the gospel (and whether it’s discussing the afterlife at all)! To me, if there were no verses directly mentioning Hell or the afterlife, I would see the eventual saving of everyone as fitting in just fine. The vast majority of the population being sent to eternal torment would really not make sense to me, and thus I would need lots of evidence to prove that I had actually misread the entire Bible, and that these verses promoting eternal damnation do in fact say what I think they say. If your view is that God is not all loving or all powerful or will not, for whatever reason, be able to achieve his overall desires, show us where you find that narrative in the Bible.


So what should you do when you come across a verse that seems to contradict the entire message of the Bible? Make sure the original words say what the translation you're reading says. See if there are implications the author may have included because of his or his audience's world views (i.e. what did first century Jews think the afterlife looked like). See what the early Christians had to say about it. And, of course, researching when/why eternal Hell became the dominant view will be helpful as well.


There are books/websites to help you. As has already been suggested, Hope Beyond Hell is a great book to start with. It will walk you through the author's, a Christian Universalist, view of the Bible. Here is a free kindle ebook, a free PDF and free audiobook of the book.


I don’t think you’re being particularly stubborn or trying to read eternal Hell into places it’s not present, but that it’s what we all do with respect to how we view the scriptures. I just suggest continually working on understanding the overall message of the scriptures and being open to going back on views that you previously held when they begin to contradict everything else.


Hope this is helpful! It’s a long journey and one that will never end!

I wouldn't consider Craig Truglia to necessarily be that representative of Orthodox thought. Compare his views to those of Metropolitan Kallistos Ware – who unlike Hart, does not think it is certain that all are saved, but at least thinks we ought to hope for that – whereas Truglia speaks as if it is certain that not all are saved. Also, consider his use of 2 Clement as some sort of prooftext against the possibility after-death repentance – a text which most scholars don't consider to have been written by St. Clement of Rome, and doubts about that were even expressed in ancient times (by Eusebius) – and compare that to Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev's argument (in his book Christ the Conqueror of Hell: The Descent into Hades from an Orthodox Perspective) that there is still a possibility of repentance for those in hell. Now, consider that both Metropolitans are senior Bishops of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and esteemed theologians, and Truglia is a layperson (and I don't know what qualifications he has).

I mean, not all forms of Christian universalism deny that hell exists. Some consider it to be something more like purgatory, but still an experience that nobody would want to go through. So on the surface, the notion that the author could have seen/experienced hell in some way does not on its own contradict universalism.

From the back cover:

>Heaven or hell? Over a period of forty days, God gave Mary K. Baxter visions of hell and commissioned her to tell all to choose life. Here is an account of the place and beings of hell contrasted with the glories of heaven. It is a reminder of the need each of us has for the miracle of salvation.

Soooo...did she heaven too, or just hell? The book emphasizes hell but it says it's contrasted with the glories of heaven. How would she know unless she went there too?

I've read two reviews just now which say the book portrays those in hell as being repentant, but Jesus telling them it's too late. If that's the base, then it sounds like the book's theology is in conflict with not just universalists but also most folks who do believe hell is eternal, since they would say those in hell either cannot repent or never will. The idea that they do repent in hell but Jesus turns his nose up at them is not one I have ever heard articulated, and just sounds extremely bizarre and suspect.