The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Inserting 1 John 4:8 into 1 Cor 13

Evangelical Universalism Arguments for Evangelical Universalism
#1

I’ve been told I’m not allowed to do this & I’m not claiming this as a real proof, but I found it a thought provoking exercise anyway :sunglasses:

*If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not God, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not God, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not God, I gain nothing.

God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. God is not rude, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

God never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and God. But the greatest of these is God.*

#2

That is interesting, Alex! I think it is effective for insight into God’s character.

Sonia

#3

Hey Alex,

I think that is a great exercise - certainly calls to me more than some of the vitriol posted here.

#4

That fact that someone else likes it too, encourages me greatly :slight_smile:

#5

Hi Alex, good stuff, thanks for sharing. I did this verbally in chapel in the ministry I work in one day several months ago. It was powerful. The part about love/God not keeping a record of wrongs especially speaks to me. It’s so easy for one’s relationship with God to devolve into being works-based instead of grace-based where we subconsciously think and feel that His love for us is based on how we live our lives. And what’s worse is we relate to others that way, in that our love for them is based on how they act towards us. But thanks be to God that He doesn’t relate to us based on how we live but based on who He is!

#6

What is traditional hell, if not an eternal record-keeping of wrongs? In what sense does traditional hell demonstrate God’s patience and kindness? And how can it be said that God’s love never fails if multitudes reject it eternally?

I’m reminded of Paul telling us to overcome evil with good, presumably because it’s what God does. Paul says in the same breath that it is like piling burning coals on your enemies head. Extrapolating, God overcoming the evil in my life may well feel like a quick dip in a lake of fire.

#7

Nothing wrong with that at all Alex, that’s the art of theology, putting related concepts and verses alongside each other.