Universalism

Barna Survey

In a survey conducted by the Barna Research Group in 1992, nearly 1/3 of all born-again Christians stated that all good people will go to heaven, whether they have embraced Jesus Christ or not.

While 88% in a recent Barna poll believe Jesus Christ was a real person, what they believe about him differs sharply from scriptural teaching. 42% (even 1/4th of the “born again” Christians) believe that while on earth Jesus sinned just like other people. 61% believe the devil is just a symbol of evil, not a living being. And 54% think that if people are good enough, they will earn a place in heaven regardless of their religious beliefs.

Barna Research Group, Nov. 2, 1994

Resources

•      Universalism and the Logic of Revelation, N.M. de S. Cameron, The Best in Theology, Vol. 3, pp. 153ff

•      Immortality, the Other Side of Death, G. R. Habermas, J. P. Moreland, Nelson, 1992, pp. 166ff.

•      Matthew 18:21–35 How long would it take the slave to repay a billion dollars??

•      Walvoord: A Tribute, Donald Campbell, ed., Moody, 1982, p. 169.

Which One Is the Right One?

Several cotton farmers were whiling away a winter afternoon around the potbellied stove. They soon became entangled in a heated discussion on the merits of their respective religions. The eldest of the farmers had been sitting quietly, just listening, when the group turned to him and demanded, “Who’s right, old Jim? Which one of these religions is the right one?”

“Well,” said Jim thoughtfully, “you know there are three ways to get from here to the cotton gin. You can go right over the big hill. That’s shorter but it’s a powerful climb. You can go around the east side of the hill. That’s not too far, but the road is rougher’n tarnation. Or you can go around the west side of the hill, which is the longest way, but the easiest.

“But you know,” he said, looking them squarely in the eye, “when you get there, the gin man don’t ask you how you come. He just asks, ‘Man, how good is your cotton?’”

Los Angeles Times Syndicate

Those Who Haven’t Heard

At a recent missions conference attended by thousands of evangelical students, only one third of the participants indicated their belief that “a person who does not hear the Gospel is eternally lost.”

Timothy George, in TableTalk, 1992

What Are You Asking God To Do

In the long run, the answer…is itself a question: “What are you asking God to do?” To wipe out their past sins, and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.”

C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

The Heathen Being Saved

Since Christ is the Word of God and the Truth of God, he may be received even by those who have not heard of his manifestation in the flesh. A proud and self-righteous morality is inconsistent with saving faith; but a humble and penitent reliance upon God, as a Savior from sin and a guide of conduct, is an implicit faith in Christ; for such reliance casts itself upon God, so far as God has revealed himself,—and the only Revealer of God in Christ. We have, therefore, the hope that even among the heathen there may be some, like Socrates, who under the guidance of the Holy Spirit working through the truth of nature and conscience, have found the way to life and salvation.

A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology, 1909, p. 843, quoted in Christian Apologetics in a World Community, W. Dyrness, IVP, 1983, p. 106.